There is a wide range of roles and job titles linked to teaching in adult and further education and training in Wales. These include teachers, trainers, lecturers, tutors, mentors, coaches and workplace supervisors, who may work for different types of education and training provider. They also teach across a wide range of academic and vocational areas, and from basic skills through to degree or higher level qualifications. They are often referred to as ‘dual professionals’, being skilled as both teachers and technical professionals in their own right. In this article, the term ‘teachers’ encompasses all such roles and contexts.

For teachers in the adult and further education and training sector, as in other sectors, continuing professional development (CPD) covers a wide range of staff development activities. CPD activities are designed to improve practice and are usually identified during the performance management process.

The revised Professional Standards for Further Education Teachers and Work-based Learning Practitioners in Wales, published in November 2017, aim to provide a framework for continuing professional learning. Their primary purpose is to support individuals in making the most of their personal professional learning and as a basis to inform professional learning needs analysis. The Professional Standards are not statutory, but employers are encouraged to consider how they can use them to support and embed professional learning in their professional development systems and processes. See the article on ‘Conditions of Service’ for further information on the Professional Standards.

CPD and performance management 

Under the Wales national contract, teaching staff employed in further education (FE) colleges are required to undertake an agreed amount of continuing professional development (CPD) each year. Section 5 (pages 3 to 4) of the (2013) National Agreement on Lecturers’ Workload Allocation for Further Education Colleges in Wales stipulates that staff must take part in CPD in accordance with their employer’s policy, and that this must include a minimum of 30 hours of CPD each year. Pro rata arrangements apply for part-time (fractional) staff.

Individual programmes of CPD are agreed by the staff member and his / her line manager to accord with college, departmental and personal CPD requirements. They are determined during the annual process of staff appraisal / performance management and review.

All FE colleges in Wales have an agreement on performance management and review (PMAR) and a PMAR system in place. The system aims to support and assist in the annual setting of targets and performance review of FE teachers. The agreements in place are expected to reflect the Model Agreement on the Implementation of the National Agreement on PMAR Systems in FE in Wales.

A performance management system typically involves a structured approach to:

• planning and defining expectations and setting personal objectives,
• implementation and action,
• monitoring performance,
• reviewing performance.

CPD in other types of further and adult education and training provider is a matter for the provider, but is similar to CPD for staff in FE colleges. Development needs are normally identified during the performance management and review or appraisal process.

CPD organisations

The Education Workforce Council (EWC), which has a number of regulatory and supervisory duties for the education workforce in Wales, is also responsible for promoting careers in the sector. It has developed the Professional Learning Passport (PLP) for all teachers registered with the Council. This is a non-mandatory online portfolio to record and support individual teachers’ personal and professional learning. 

The Professional Learning Passport was developed as part of the ‘New Deal’ for the education workforce. This aims to offer teachers, leaders and support staff in schools and further and adult education and training an entitlement to high quality, professional learning opportunities to develop their practice throughout their career. 

ColegauCymru/CollegesWales promotes CPD by arranging conferences and international study visits which focus on raising quality in teaching and learning; and by identifying and recognising good practice. Until 2016, it also delivered a master’s  and a postgraduate certificate programme in leadership and management for middle and senior managers in FE. Similar programmes are now offered by some Welsh universities, such as the master’s programme in education leadership and management offered by the University of South Wales.

Article last reviewed April 2021.