Working in FE

What makes a good mentor? Is an effective mentor born or made? What values, attitudes, beliefs and qualities characterise the best mentors? Most of us have had at least one mentor during our lives, whether this is a formal arrangement or an informal relationship. Reflecting on my own experience of being mentored,…>

Starting an initial teacher training course can be daunting. Everyone embarking on initial teacher education brings with them a range of expectations and experiences. If you’re about to begin training, you may be coming fresh from university or have several years of teaching experience. You may be working full-time, part-time…>

The path to becoming a Further Education (FE) teacher can be a confusing one, yet the routes into the profession can also be tailored to suit a candidate’s experience and qualifications. The Government removed the requirement to gain teaching qualifications for the FE sector in 2013. However, most employers continue…>

Which qualification is right for me? What are the qualifications, how and where do you gain them and how much do they cost? Here we look at the practical elements of each course. Make sure you read part one of this guide for the pathways into FE. FE-specific qualifications These…>

“Improve drawing, C+”. This was a teacher’s comment on a picture of a lion which I had carefully drawn at age 7 and is a perfect example of poor feedback, with a meaningless grade with no information as to how I should improve. There is a distinction made between formative assessment, or “Assessment…>

There is currently a significant demand within the Further Education sector for teachers of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). STEM disciplines affect virtually every part of our lives. As an example, our economy revolves around mathematics and our efforts in renewable energy comes from the sciences. STEM skills play…>

Differentiation is integral to the principle of inclusion – it is about ensuring that all learners can access the curriculum. However, whilst a principled intention of education, it is a complex and often confusing term. The pursuit of accommodating the differences, and resultant needs, of every learner can seem challenging and also…>

Successive government policy reforms over the past two decades have changed the conditions in which teachers teach. These conditions have increased workload pressure on teachers and are a major contributing factor to the current recruitment and retention crisis in the profession. Despite these conditions, most teachers do not leave the…>

We have all engaged in reflection, whether as part of our teacher training or as part of our ongoing professional development once in the job. According to Schön (1983) we reflect-in-action, which is reflecting on the situation whilst it can still benefit that situation, and reflect-on-action which is reflecting on…>