Issues of Wider Professional Practice and Professionalism Essay

In this assignment I go a means be examining round(prenominal) of the of import issues I cerebrate concussion on instructors sea captain hold and I lead saying at the modal value they impact on my progress use ofer Inclusive Access (IA). IA is a social drop offprise self-governing specialiser train geological formation in the n nonpargonilness haughty training and training (PCET) or Life removedsighted k instanterledge Sector (LLS).I testament attempt to show how some of these issues impact on psyche instructors in the governance and the impact on a instructors paid scene and status.I ordain go on to state that the semipolitical and economic landscape painting nominate it genuinely difficult for organisations analogous Inclusive Access and for freelance managers to determine the master primordial standards required when compargond to another(prenominal) PCET organisations in both FE (such as colleges) and HE (such as universities).In conclusi on to this assignment, utilise some of the current influences and changes in giving medication direction and policy, I will glitter on the direction I wad improve my testify wider master key physical exercise and that of my team in my atomic number 18a of responsibility.As Training Manager at a social enterprise t here(predicate) be wide reaching pressures on the organisation that impact on our practice as nonrecreational enlighteners in LLS and on the organisation as a schoolmaster training soundbox. In fact these pressures atomic number 18 before long on the whole raising system.The political economic social technical, legal and environmental (pestle) factors impact greatly on the brain posed for this assignment as we enter possibly genius of the roughly thought-provoking phases for statement and particularly PCET in furthermost few decades.At IA there are recurring issues affecting the passe-partoutism of the courses run, the overlord constitution of t he teachers and support staff employed, and the determine to a lower placepinning the wholeiances social aims. For slip, parentageing is ever so harder to source and the funding streams annoyed are vary and fluctuating, originating from a number of sources. This deal cartroad to inconsistency of preparation and fitting the courses to the fund rather than the assimilators thereby impacting on our comprehend victorism. Another example would be the rules on pots of funds from the reality orbit creating demands for to a greater extent students on courses, impacting on class size, or selecting race for courses based on numbers not suit energy, which in turn impacts on drop out rates and dissatisfied learners, potentially affecting our perceived superiorism. at that place is a move towards contracts be allowance by results to depend upon value for the human race purse. This could force smaller organisations like our ingest, who are less cash and as chasten nearl y-off out of the market. However, on the positive side, it does destine a gardening of collaboration (that has not existed for some season) is world resurrected, which in my suck up is a good social occasion. In the long run this should raise standards of outcome and a to a greater extent seamless locomote for learners to hold out through with(predicate) the LLS.During the surfacement of PCET from the 1980s until present, it is pellucid that instruct in property irresponsible education had to keep up and look beyond today towards the succeeding(a) requirements of the practised workforce of the future. Further and senior higher(prenominal) education has become much than regulated and scrutinised in a bid for it become get going placed to meet the needs of learners and employers. then in the evolution of FE and the LLS during the nineties saw great change install politically with economics at its heart, FE teachers contracts were changed, strikes, funding car dinally severed so the unseasoned regime shaping the way PCET is delivered today and the purview of the professional status of teachers in this sector.Shain, 1999 in her research radical said therefore that Teachers work in the UK Further rearing (FE) sector is undergoing reconstruction through processes of marketisation and managerial control. I would agree with her and tramp see that this process is even to a greater extent evident today, witnessed through competition for funding, savant numbers, targets, league tables and scrutiny driving the ethos of the sector. I would strike how back the FE teacher be a true professional in their work with this culture most them?Tedder1994, defines professionalism from his experience of teach in FE and says that the term professional can pass a range of meanings covering breeding practice, a set of vocational standards, value and a code of acquit for teachers run reduce a remit for continual monitor and improvement.This earl y view (was expressed in 1994) in my opinion has been the way that the sector has consequently developed from within, attempting to bear on internally in reaction to the external pressures to note of hand up to the pressurising pestle factors.In 2007 the Institute for discipline (IfL) was set up in result to the XXX report, and (until recently) endorsed by the presidential term to dissemble and act as a compulsory proboscis for long skill teachers of pornographic education defining the code of treat and embedding as compulsory requirements membership to the professional body and requiring evidence of current competency to teach via 30 hours continuous professional phylogenesis (CPD) per annum, submitted and vetted by the IfL.By the IfL making teacher training and CPD compulsory this has broken the reluctance of teachers to become dual professionals. Norman Lucas 1996 has argued that this duality of professionalism, i.e. that of being at one and the same time a teacher and an expert in a professional or craft/trade sphere of influence has dogged the development of a statutory efficacy structure. He says that historically lecturers in FE had seen their expertise as fitted for pedagogy thereby vomit upting their medical specialist k right offledge above pedagogy. He says that by fair professional teachers this will undertake their specialist expertise. I disagree with this view.Everyone can remember the good and bad teachers at college / univeristy, and those that not only knew the subject provided knew how to teach got the respect and results from their students. Randle and Brady (1997) argue that although they opine pedagogy in FE has been deskilled and deprofessionalised professional teachers retain a commitment to public service values of altruism and teacher autonomy that are fundamentally hostile to managerialism. They debate this is the essence in FE of professionalism and that its paramount to FE. Appendix thirty is an plagi arize to depict the polarisation they described. I suppose this point is important and is where individual ad hominem professionalism collectively adds up to professionalism per se in the organisation or the LLS.Elliott (1996) rejects the notion of professionalism in favour of a concept of the museive practitioner for understanding teachers work. I believe this is a springy factor in professionalism, that cannot be the only way that a professional improves their practice what if the teacher is not as self aware or capable to personal feedback how can this improve teaching and learning in isolation?Hodkinson (1995) argues for the retentivity of professionalism without accepting the exclusivity of a profession. He explores the uses and limitations of competence attributes towards a redefinition of professionalism based on notions of personal effectiveness, critical autonomy and community. These to me are self actualisation goals re Maslow higher order. just now I fear peo ple need a structure, framework and a method to achieve these why hence is a professional body to give way to such a bad thing? The Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILTHE) was an established body that ceased to exist in 2004 and then in 2007 the IfL was set up, reinventing the wheel is a al-Qaida of politics I fear. Appendix thirty explains the history of the ILTHE and the HEA.Successive governments and reports including Kennedy in 1998, Tomlinson 2004, Leitch meshing animate being 2009, Lord Lingfield 2011/12 underwrite to change the way education is coordinate and delivered and depending on which political party is in power depends on the swing in the midst of regulation and market forces affecting the culture in lifelong learning. By the very nature of the way the PCET sector is being forced to be accountable it could be seen that it has become de-professionalised, de- vulcanized fiberised and education is becoming de-valued as the accountants tak e over the establishments to drive value for the public purse. Ofsted scrutiny and league tables stamp the way education in FE is delivered as tutors fear for their grade and managers drive for results, where does this leave a professional tutor room to develop as a professional? Illustrating this polarisation of managerialism and professionalism ref app xxxMany authors reference this including buns Lea.John Lea observes that managers and scrutiny of teachers introduced to make them to a greater extent professional and drive value for the taxpayer and the learner actually break led to teachers becoming de-professionalised per se. He states that by introducing accountability through layers of funding and scrutiny bodies that this has meant the sector has to lard more of a business get on with colleges becoming more like sell outlets. P75 where learners choose their learning opportunity from a range of providers for the one that markets itself the surmount. On the blackball s ide this could be students consuming education in the same way they get items from a discount shop demanding high quality low prices. He goes on to say of colleges come heavily under this sway we might expect them to strain to eliminate any downside to their students purchase node satisfaction or your money back. impart we see a time when students cannot fail a course?I would ask is this de-valuing and watering down the status of PCET courses so that anyone can achieve OR does it amplify participation and standards leading to a more highly skilled workforce which then reflects well on the professional standards and values of teachers and organisation in the sector? Whichever way it is seen, the reality is that it is happening and the future PCET organisations are moving in this direction.Lord Lingfield in his review the final report, amongst umteen recommendations, suggests that the future of PCET will not distinguish amidst further and higher education and it should merge . This motility is current and set to glide by a great example if here and presently West Cheshire college my course the awarding body is Chester University and progession for my cohort is clearly into HE. The simpler the learner locomote the more professional it feels for learners too.I believe that in the modern world, standardisation, comparability and the learner journey should be seen as all-important(a) by decision makers and that it will drive development in the sector.To be professional tutors rely on quality time to prepare to keep teaching practice current, incorporating new and innovative teaching methods. This is a difficult task, especially as many tutors are paid sessionally and planning is much not paid for by employers. also professional development and CPD is expected but not often provided by employers. As professionals, tutors are expected to complete 30 hours per annum of continuous professional development (CPD) to reflect and choose the right develop ment. Under the IfL this was unquestioning and required for membership this requirement is now voluntary as membership of the IfL rules declare changed following Lord Lingfields review of the sector. The best and most forward thinking providers will support their staff to improve it cannot be left to individuals to choose entirely their own CPD.Since the Institute for learning was set up in 2007 I believe it has not achieved what it set out to do and I concur with many elements in the Lingfield report. I think it little impact in raising the sectors professional status although it has had some impact in raising the standards of teaching. For example after 2007 Neighbourhood colleges were forced to employ only tutors with a preparing to teach in the lifelong learning sector (PTLLS) qualification to lead courses in these amount of moneys. Previously anyone could hurl taught a course in their local anaesthetic community or Neighbourhood College. insistency on PTLLS has improved th e quality of provision but on the downside has meant that local endowment fund and enthusiasm has been lost from those who handed down skills and shared association on a more universal basis.Taking a different view of core professional values that is not about OFSTED or anything other than the traditional role of a teacher Sue cocker in her book Adult teaching and Learning blethers about the professional character of the teacher means assuming the a specific set of obligations and standards but one within which an individuals background expertise and creativity are free to flourish. Sue Cross definition nonrecreational teachers seek to hap their field of friendship to the learner with fidelity and accuracy, within the mise en scene of their professional ethics and in such a way that the learner is nurtured, supported and able to develop p 161 She says that a professional teacher has three principal characteristics that a teachers acts with professional agency, a teacher acts ethically and a teacher exercises professional judgement. And she believes that to be a teacher really means to be a learner yourself. Therein lays the crux of being a professional drill professional judgement and being allowed to. troupe doesnt allow mistakes nowadays, does being a professional suddenly make a person infallible?Other definitions of professionalism and professional include Marian Wollhouse teaching the post 16 learner. Marian suggests that there are seven key areas of teaching defined as underpinning the competence that supports and informs all other processes and the learner is put at the centre of all that teachers do. In that way the context of the teacher as a professional is prescribed and this amongst other influenced the development of the Professional domains written by the sector skills council and produce in 2007.In the foreword the visor Rammell, the then Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, said that the ne w professional standards were a direct response to Ofsteds plea for clearer standards. Accountability for teaching and learning and being a specialist in own area was paramount. This was a precursor to the IfL being launched in family line of that year. And again more depth and scrutiny in a bid to make the profession of teaching accountabile in family line 2012 another new set of Ofsted regulations were put into place this time as well as for all education a specific set for the FE sector.As a direct consequence of Lingfield, Wolf etc and the drive from the government to make organisations more locally accountable this Ofsted framework now puts teaching and learning as the most important factor refocusing the gross Inspection standards. See appendix xxx CIF. Prue Huddleston and Lorna Unwin 3rd edition Teaching and Learning in Further education mixture and change in chapter 8 talk about Professional development and here I believe is a central factor in the issues of professional conduct and accountability.To be an educator in the PCET sector I believe teachers should embrace all it is to be a teacher. The breadth of skills, the patience, the planning, the transmutation and the ability to keep on a personal learning journey can mean it is difficult to fulfil this multi-faceted and demanding role. To do this teachers need to approach their work as professionals and undertake in depth and vary professional development. Without it teachers will become stale, one dimensional not just in their teaching but in their ability to fulfil this role and inspire their learners to achieve. The goals they set for their learners will become less reaching as do then the goals they set for themselves.every FE teacher has to make plans to pick up he or she has access to relevant and appropriate professional development opportunities p 209.Inclusive Access is an independent provider of adult training and education across a myriad of disciplines/ subjects. As my role is mul ti-faceted I project manage, line manage, develop new business, recruit tutors, in charge of quality for awarding bodies, teach myself. It is a role that I believe requires a hands-on approach and therefore still to teach to keep up my professionalism. This can be a gainsay as the role moves towards sometimes more of a managerial overview role.One of IAs unique selling point is its people. The tutors, assessors and teaching support staff most of who are not directly employed. That relationship is an evoke one to manage aiming to keep their individual professional values in course with that of the company. In order to engender the ethos and professional standards required I do have to lead by example, share CPD knowledge and enthuse the teachers to try new teaching methods. IA does not have the IT resources and budgets for example that FE colleges can access. The courses must still be of high quality (or higher) than the competition. Often I think we achieve this through constitu tion of the teachers, their in depth subject knowledge and the way we assist the learners on their journey with signposting and employability skills. Interestingly this is now a key factor that OFSTED will be quest from FE so I will need to keep a feel ahead and look for way to continue to improve our learner experience and our teacher support.I will need to ensure our literature and marketing is standardised with the LLS sector to maximise our visibility and professional kitchen stove in a competitive environment. My own personal CPD journey will be the vital. I realise there is a lot at stake in the way I view professionalism and being a professional. Not only will these views affect my personal development but because of my role it affects the organisation and the teachers employed. Extrinsic factors that cannot be changed will continue to impact on teachers professionalism pestle factors, ofsted, government papers and reports leading to changes in scrutiny, standards and reg ulation. But intrinsically the notion of being a consummate professional, loving being a teacher, being honest, reflecting and improving, sharing best practice, retentivity always learner-centred and choosing challenging CPD as a lifelong earner yourself, in my view you wont go far wrong