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.
Under the Further Education Teachers’ Qualifications (Wales) Regulations 2002, teaching staff in further education (FE) colleges in Wales are required to hold a recognised teaching qualification.
For teachers in other forms of adult and community learning or work-based learning, there are no centrally set mandatory qualification requirements.
For teachers of Welsh for adults, there is a specialist qualification, recognised and approved by the Welsh Government. Known as the National Tutors Qualification, it is not mandatory and is a part-time course lasting two years.
Workplace assessors assess skills and knowledge acquired on the job. They are trained in the assessment approach required for the award of a qualificatIon, but do not necessarily deliver any teaching. Specific qualifications for workplace assessors include Level 3 awards and certificates in assessing competences and achievement. They also include Level 4 certificates and awards in internal and external quality assurance of assessment processes and practices. This article does not deal further with workplace assessors.
Some colleges choose to use instructors / demonstrators to support the delivery of learning. They are not teachers, but complement their work by taking responsibility for overseeing agreed learning and/or training activities.
Framework of qualifications
Teaching staff in further education (FE) colleges in Wales are required to hold a recognised teaching qualification. The minimum qualification requirements for full- or part-time teachers in further education (FE) were established by the National Assembly for Wales and are set out in the Further Education Teachers’ Qualifications (Wales) Regulations 2002. Depending on the post held, the required qualification may be one of the following.
a.) The Level 3Award in Education and Training (AET) is an introductory, knowledge-based teaching qualification (12 credits). It has no minimum teaching practice requirement, so can be undertaken by individuals who are not in a teaching role. There is an ‘observed teaching practice’ requirement, however, which takes the form of micro-teaching, that is, teaching a short session to peers on the teacher training course.
b.) The Level 4Certificate in Education (Cert Ed) is a 36-credit qualification, which focuses on practical teaching skills and requires a minimum of 30 hours of teaching practice.
c.) The Level 5Diploma in Education and Training (DET), often called the Professional or Post Graduate Certificate in Education for Post Compulsory Education and Training (PGCE PCET), is a longer, 120-credit qualification lasting one to two years. It is the main, full teaching qualification for the sector and involves 100 hours’ teaching practice. Students can choose a university- or college-led pre-service training route, or work as an unqualified FE teacher whilst training part-time. Higher education institutions are required to base their qualifications on the mandatory and optional units for the diploma, but are not required to use the title Diploma in Education and Training. They usually offer two versions of the qualification – one for graduates and one for non-graduates.
d.) The Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training with specialist pathway is similar to the Diploma in Education and Training described above. It allows students to specialise in literacy, numeracy, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) or teaching disabled learners.
Financial incentives in the form of grants are available for some students to undertake specified postgraduate FE initial teacher education courses in Wales. Welsh Government guidance provides further information.
FE teaching qualifications are aligned with Professional Standards, first introduced in 2007. Revised non-statutory Professional Standards for FE Teachers and Work-based Learning Practitioners in Wales were published in November 2017. For more detailed information on the Professional Standards for FE teachers, see the article on ’Conditions of Service’.
Article last reviewed April 2021.