IfL and 157 Group publish paper on building expansive learning environments
18th May 2012
For immediate release: Friday 18 May 2012
IfL and 157 Group publish paper on building expansive learning environments
BEGINS
The Institute for Learning (IfL) and the 157 Group have published a report of the Leading learning seminar they jointly hosted at the Institute of Education on 29 February 2012. The report was launched on 18 May 2012 at a follow-up event, Great teaching and learning in FE, where teachers, learners, senior leaders and managers gathered to share their views about what works in further education and how the future FE learning experience can be improved.
Leading learning and letting go: building expansive learning environments in FE provides an account of the presentations and discussions at the 29 February 2012 seminar, from which the following key themes arose:
• The further education and skills system requires a cultural shift to enable it to improve further the quality of teaching and learning.
• Leaders in further education should make the leading of learning for staff and learners their top strategic priority.
• Good teaching is born of innovation, and this involves a degree of experimentation that is unlikely to happen if an organisation is highly controlling or risk-averse.
• Expansive workplaces encourage teachers and trainers to work creatively as teams taking responsibility for their own professional development, and they facilitate and reward innovation and experimentation in teaching and learning.
• Leadership support for research-informed professional practice and development provides a strong basis for the type of step-change required in teaching and learning.
Toni Fazaeli, chief executive of IfL, said, "When teachers' professional learning thrives, so too does their students' learning. Grounded evidence from IfL's research and practice in FE in England, backed by international research, shows the effectiveness of more inclusive approaches that allow staff to play a far greater role in shaping and delivering their own professional learning and development. Also, when they are empowered and trusted to exercise their professional autonomy to learn collaboratively and deliver improvements in teaching and learning, teachers are more likely to support the strategic goals set by leaders, and so drive organisational success."
Lynne Sedgmore CBE, executive director of the 157 Group, said, "The roundtable discussions about expansive cultures set a clear direction for how learning can be led to best effect over the coming years and decades. Professional development is a key driver of high-quality teaching and learning, and the development of a growing research base and more networks for teachers and trainers will help create a professional territory beyond organisational boundaries, for the ultimate benefit of teaching professionals, their organisations and their learners.
"I hope that our report and today's follow-up event will help frame and inspire the debate in future, encouraging a collaborative and inclusive approach to understanding the conditions that enable great teaching and learning to flourish."
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Leading learning and letting go: building expansive learning environments in FE can be downloaded in PDF format at http://www.ifl.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/27485/LeadingLearningAndLettingGo.pdf
About the 157 Group The 157 Group represents 27 of the most influential colleges in the FE sector. It was formed in 2006 in response to paragraph 157 of Sir Andrew Foster's report on the future of further education colleges, in which he argued that principals of large successful colleges should play a greater role in policymaking.
Contact the 157 Group
157 Group press office:
Gemma Knott
07581 354 750
Email [email protected]
About IfL The Institute for Learning (IfL) was formed in 2002 by further education teachers, trade unions, employers and others, and is the professional body for teachers, tutors, trainers and student teachers in the further education and skills sector, including adult and community learning, emergency and public services, FE colleges, the armed services, sixth-form colleges, the voluntary sector and work-based learning. IfL supports excellence in professional teachers' and trainers' practice for learners.
All teachers and trainers working in Skills Funding Agency funded further education and skills provision are required to register as members of IfL, undertake continuing professional development (CPD) each year and abide by the IfL Code of Professional Practice. As a key partner in ensuring an expert further education workforce, IfL is responsible for registering teachers and trainers, for keeping an overview of teachers' CPD, and for conferring the professional licensed practitioner status of Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) or Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS). An independent professional body, IfL is governed by an elected advisory council and non-executive board with the large majority from its membership, and works closely with several sector organisations, unions and employer bodies.
Contact IfL
IfL press office:
Lindsay Baugh
01707 392 552 or 07736 246 697
Email [email protected]
Membership and other enquiries:
The Institute for Learning First Floor 49-51 East Road London N1 6AH
Telephone: 0844 815 3202
Website: www.ifl.ac.uk Email: [email protected]
Previous Article Colleges deliver high quality apprenticeships
