Guidance

Diploma in Teaching (Further Education and Skills) qualification framework

Updated 4 September 2024

Applies to England

Summary    

This document provides framework guidance for awarding organisations (AOs) and higher education providers (HEPs) with degree awarding powers to develop Diploma in Teaching (FE and Skills) (DiT) qualifications for teachers in the FE and Skills sector.

This framework follows from the development of the occupational standard for the Learning and Skills Teacher role. It replaces the Diploma in Education and Training (DET), and any differently named HEP qualifications based on the DET.

AOs and HEPs will design qualifications in line with this framework guidance so that:

• qualifications can receive public funding, where they are also specified on the list of recognised further education teacher training courses eligible for student support
• students completing the qualification are eligible for progression to Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills status

The framework guidance may also be useful to:

• employers of teachers and trainers, including colleges of further education, independent training providers, local authorities, the third sector, the military, uniformed services, young offender institutions, prison education and the probation service
• human resource managers and line managers
• staff development managers
• newly employed teachers and trainers and existing staff
• course providers and teacher educators
• union branches and their branch learning representatives
• those considering teaching as a career

The Department for Education (DfE) commissioned this framework. The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) produced it, through the ITE Forum.

A previous version of this framework was published on the ETF website. This version differs in layout and structure. However the qualification requirements are unchanged at the date of publication. Contextual information included in the previous version of this framework is on the ETF website.

Direct all enquiries about this document first to FE.ITE@education.gov.uk.

Background and context for the guidance

It is now possible to match the content and structure of FE initial teacher education (ITE) qualifications to what employers have said they want from successful trainee teachers. This allows the FE ITE to provide training programmes and qualifications that map onto this occupational standard.

A group of employer representatives from across the FE sector has developed the Learning and Skills Teacher occupational standard. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has approved it. The standard specifies the expectations of a competent practitioner in the sector.

DfE commissioned ETF to produce an updated qualification framework that enables trainees to reach the standards of occupational competence set out in the Learning and Skills Teacher occupational standard. As the convening member, ETF worked with the ITE Forum to develop the framework content. The ITE Forum also includes representation from:

• awarding organisations
• employers
• funding and regulatory authorities
• other key stakeholder groups, including DfE, UCET, Ofsted and Ofqual

The ITE Forum provided proposals for this new qualification framework, which received sector input and general approval.

DfE will commission any required updates to this guidance, working with relevant sector organisations, including the ITE Forum. DfE will communicate any such changes directly to the sector through the usual channels, such as:

• FE ITE gov.uk page
• the ITE Forum
• UCET post-16 forum

AOs and HEPs will use this framework to generate qualification specifications for delivery from September 2024 (replacing the Diploma in Education and Training for all new course delivery from this date).

Providers in the further education and skills sector that will employ teachers with qualifications produced under this framework include:

• further education colleges
• adult and community education providers
• offender education
• work based learning providers
• the third or voluntary sector
• independent training organisations

The structure of the Diploma in Teaching should reflect the needs of all participating learners at each of these provider types.

Guidance for awarding organisations and higher education providers

AOs and HEPs will use this framework to create qualifications, including the elaboration of the content and any option units offered. AOs and HEPs should provide references to research and evidence they have used to justify course content.

This is a minimum level 5 award. The title of this qualification is the Diploma in Teaching (Further Education and Skills). HEPs can use alternative titles, for example:

• Certificate in Education (CertEd), if level 5
• Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PgCE), if level 6
• Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), or the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) if level 7

All of the above are recognised as full teaching qualifications for the sector if they comply with these guidelines.

Core knowledge and skills

Trainees must have achieved level 2 in maths and English when they start this programme. This matches the standard of those completing the Level 5 FE and Skills Learning and Skills Teacher apprenticeship. This means all trainees will have the skills to support their learners in these areas regardless of their training route. The selection and quality of trainees section of the guidance on expectations for the delivery of initial teacher education for FE has more information.

Within the qualification itself is a core unit relating to digital skills and educational technology (effective digital and online pedagogies).

Sustainability, and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), should be featured throughout the programme as embedded themes.

Study and placement hours

This framework recommends a minimum of 360 guided learning hours, and a minimum of 1200 hours total qualification time.

The placement should be at least 250 hours in duration. At least 150 hours of this should be teaching practice. Of the 150 teaching hours, at least 100 hours must be in the trainee’s subject area. The trainee should also gain experience of remote teaching. A minimum of 20 hours of live remote delivery should be included, alongside a minimum of 80 hours of face to face delivery.

The teacher trainee should gain experience in a minimum of two teaching locations. This is to ensure a breadth of teaching practice experiences. The second placement should be for at least 20 hours and should be at a different provider. If this is not possible it can include:

• teaching a different subject area with the same provider
• teaching in a different venue with the same provider

The 20 hours at the second placement are not specified as teaching hours and can be used for professional practice.

Professional practice includes activities such as:

• team meetings
• planning
• interviews
• assessment meetings
• observations
• provider wide sessions – for example, continuing professional development (CPD)

The purpose of the professional practice hours is to understand the wider responsibilities of a teacher.

Mentoring and local support

All trainees should have the support of two staff at their placement and the support of their course tutor.

The first is the subject specialist. They will be competent and teach the trainee’s subject area. This enables subject specific support. This staff member will have time to support the trainee for the recommended 30 minutes per trainee per week. Additionally, they will have time to engage in assessment, particularly of the subject specific element.

Local pastoral support mentors are for more general areas of advice and support. This mentor may support more than one trainee in the placement. This mentor will have time to support the trainee for the recommended 30 minutes per trainee per week. This mentor is expected to work with the provider on ongoing trainee progress reports. Where the placement is small and resources are limited, ITE provider staff can provide the pastoral mentoring role, if enough additional time is allocated to this role.

All centres providing the qualification will provide adequate training to placement mentors and subject specialists to ensure they can meet the needs of trainees.

From November 2023, Cognition Learning Group are delivering the teacher mentoring programme to improve mentoring for early career teachers in the FE sector. Providers may wish to use resources such as those developed by Cognition Learning Group to support mentors within their partnership.

Qualification delivery models

The routes of delivery section of our guidance on expectations for the delivery of initial teacher education for further education has more information.

The qualification framework

The qualification framework includes core and options units. The qualification will have 120 credits minimum. The recommended 5 core units total 90 credits at level 5.

HEPs may choose to offer part or all of the qualification at level 6 or level 7. AOs and HEPs will determine suitable option units at level 4 or above to complement the programme and enhance the trainee’s ability to achieve the occupational standards.

Suggested core units and core content

Unit 1: Teaching my subject (15 credits) includes:

• curriculum development, pedagogic content knowledge
• threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge
• required wider or prerequisite knowledge
• embedding maths and English
• ensuring and maintaining subject expertise
• sustainability in your area
• progression advice

Unit 2: Learners and learning (15 Credits) has two parts.

Part A: Learners includes:

• getting to know your learners in FE
• their journeys to FE
• range of support needs
• safeguarding or EDI
• English and maths abilities
• their wider expectations

Part B: Learning includes:

• contemporary learning theory, neuro science
• role and currency of research and evidence
• application of theory to practice
• encouraging learners to be independent and aim high

Unit 3: Teachers and teaching (15 Credits) has 2 parts.

Part A: Teachers includes:

• the role of a teacher
• what makes a good teacher
• working with and learning from other teachers
• other sources of support

Part B: Teaching includes:

• rigorous curriculum thinking
• person centred approach
• planning and delivering sessions
• developing resources to meet learner needs, individual support (including special educational needs and disabilities, and mental health)
• teacher expectations of learners including classroom management
• face to face and remote delivery
• assessment and feedback
• embedding English, maths and digital

Unit 4: Professional Practice (30 credits) has 3 parts.

Part A: Teaching practice includes:

• micro teaches
• preparation for placement
• observation of other teachers
• team and solo teaching
• curriculum planning and review
• lesson planning and adaptations
• planning and conducting assessment
• using assessment to inform planning
• assessment feedback and advice or guidance
• application of evidence based methods
• managing and supporting learners, including behaviour
• placement log

Part B: Being a professional includes:

• the occupational standards
• developing expertise
• updating and CPD
• professional responsibilities
• working with colleagues
• professional status

Part C: The FE and Skills sector includes:

• overview of FE and Skills sector
• types of programmes
• timetables
• contracts
• government policy
• regulations (legal and local)
• funding
• organisational and wider support

Unit 5: Effective digital and online pedagogies (15 credits) includes:

• personal digital skills
• range of educational technology
• artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality and similar technologies
• managing digital delivery

It is for AOs and HEPs to set the fine detail and phasing of these units. However the subject-specific focus of Unit 1: Teaching my subject should continue across the length of the programme. It is necessary for teachers to be aware that they have a subject specialism.

The framework has been designed so that units 2 (learners and learning) and 3 (teachers and teaching) begin alongside unit 1 but are then absorbed into unit 4 (professional practice). This is to allow considerations of both teaching and learning to be applied within the context of teaching practice.

Unit 5 (educational technology) is brought into the framework as a means of supporting and enabling professional practice.

Ultimately, trainees demonstrate that they are meeting the occupational standard in the Professional Practice unit. The other core units exist to provide the background, context, and theory underpinning their ability to demonstrate competence.

Option units

The option units available as part of these qualifications have not been prescribed. The core structure is enough to allow the acquisition and consolidation of the knowledge and skills to achieve the occupational standards. AOs and HEPs are afforded flexibility to offer optional units that allow their programmes to reflect particular emphases in certain parts of the FE sector, that allows consolidation of the relevant knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) in particular areas.

Option units should clearly be in the realm of FE teaching and should be chosen to enhance the particular trainee’s chosen pathway within the sector.

An AO or HEP may decide to create a specialism in a particular strand of FE delivery, like English for speakers of other languages qualifications or Prison Education, and so select suitable option units with immediate relevance.

Trainees may choose to take further some of the skills developed in the core of the programme (units 1 to 5). Awarding organisations or higher education providers can also develop parameters allowing trainees to undertake action research.

Option units are separate from the core in terms of assessment and do not contribute to the final grade. This framework does not stipulate whether option units should be assessed by means of continuous or final assessment. However, trainees will have to submit evidence that they have passed 30 option unit credits to achieve the qualification.

Assessment

The assessment model used for this qualification requires all trainees to pass all modules through assessment, except the Professional Practice modules. The Professional Practice modules require the candidate to:

• complete and show evidence of all their practice hours
• complete a portfolio of evidence relating to the placements and submit it to the module assessors
• participate in a final assessment involving a 30-minute oral discussion relating to any aspect of professional practice

The portfolio will demonstrate when and how the candidate has met the occupational standard in their professional practice, counter signed by their course tutor.

The oral examination should be conducted in person by two people who hold a full FE teacher qualification. These should be either:

• a DiT, or a DET if training began before September 2024
• one of the HEP qualifications listed above, in the guidance for awarding organisations and providers

One person should be from the provider. The other should either be from the placement or from the AO or HEP. They will share the questioning and agree a final result.

The final judgement will say if the trainee has or has not meet the occupational standard.

Observations

All candidates will undergo 10 observations. In the majority of these, they should teach a group of at least 10 learners. The observations:

• provide developmental feedback to the trainee on where they can improve their practice
• establish whether the trainee is teaching at the level expected in the occupational standards

It is important that the earlier observations are mostly developmental. The observations will move towards the assessment approach later on, as their competence increases.

The programme should ensure all trainees are assessed against the KSBs across their observations. The tutor should provide an observation report for the professional portfolio, saying the trainee has met the KSBs relating to teaching practice. This assessment will be confirmed in the final professional discussion element of the assessment of this Professional Practice unit.

All observations should be at least 45 minutes long. Up to two observations may be live remote delivery. One other session may also be observed remotely, but appropriate arrangements must be made for prompt feedback and discussion.

The observations should be conducted by the provider tutor, subject specialist or placement mentor. The AO or HEP can also provide observation assessment process guidance.

Recorded sessions

Recorded sessions are not suitable for formal observations. They can be used as a learning tool:

• as part of Unit 3, to enable them to see themselves teaching to reflect on how they come across
• to show their application of a particular theory or technique
• as a means of demonstrating a trainee’s ability to reflect on their performance

Entry criteria and accreditation of prior learning

Qualifications developed under this framework will be at minimum level 5, and all entrants will, as an entry requirement:

• be able to demonstrate an ability to study at level 5 (or above in the case of relevant HEP provision)
• have achieved level 2 in both maths and English

All other entry requirements are for awarding bodies to determine.

The selection and quality of trainees section of our guidance on expectations for the delivery of initial teacher education for FE has guidance on:

• entry criteria
• accreditation of prior learning for FE ITE programmes