Teaching (Further Education and Skills) Pre Service - Level 5*

Summary

The current L5 Diploma in Education and Training (DET) is being replaced by the Diploma in Training (DIT). This DIT, created by NCFE, is fully aligned to The Learning and Skills Teacher L5 Occupational Standards (LST), which has been developed by a trailblazer group comprising employer representatives from across the FE sector and approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. This qualification has been developed for those intending to work in the post-16 further education and training sector.

The standards specify the high expectations of a competent practitioner in the sector and are expressed in terms of overall professional duties elaborated by means of the relevant knowledge, skills and behaviours expected of a teacher in the FE and Skills sector. These set the benchmark to judge the competence of trainees and hence this qualification is designed to enable you to reach these standards.

If you are aspiring to be employed in a lecturer role, this is the qualification for you. It is suitable for:

Level 3 and/or 4 FE students who seek a teaching qualification in order to progress into a professional teaching or support role within an appropriate-phase educational setting
Current final-year degree students from a range of disciplines

This programme is delivered over 2 days per week over one academic year, with the addition of the placement requirement outlined below.

Course code ST1EC20
Duration 1 Year
Day/s of week Thursday and Friday
Time 12:00 - 18:00

Next course dates

Start date	Location	Duration
Sep/Oct 2024	Bispham Campus	1 Year	Enquire now
16 Sep 2025	Bispham Campus	1 Year	Enquire now

Where can this subject lead?

Career progression

The majority of trainees who study this programme will progress directly into teaching roles within the Further Education & Skills sector.

The opportunity to progress to Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills status (QTLS) is an important part of this programme. QTLS is a Professional Status recognised in the Further Education sector and accredited by the Society for Education and Training. Trainees can achieve QTLS status after successfully completing a six-month period of Professional Formation and maintained through membership to the Society for Education and Training.

Trainees who achieve this qualification could progress as a tutor within:

Further education colleges
Adult and community education providers
Offender education
Work-based learning providers
The third/voluntary sector
Independent training organisations
Higher education

Future plans from September 2025 include the potential to add level 6 and/or level 7 modules to this Diploma to achieve either a Professional Graduate Certificate of Education or a Post Graduate Certificate of Education.

Key information

Entry Requirements

You are not required to have achieved a Level 3 Award in Teaching or a Level 4 Certificate in Teaching before undertaking a Level 5 Diploma in Teaching. However, you may have already completed one or both of these qualifications.

This is a level 5 qualification and therefore you need to demonstrate an ability to study at level 5.

Grade C/4 or above in GCSE English and Maths - or a Level 2 Functional Skills qualification in English and Maths
Minimum Level 3 specialist qualification

You will need to undergo a DBS check before commencement of teaching.

Qualification obtained

Diploma in Teaching (Further Education and Skills)

Extra costs and equipment

None

What will I learn?

You will study the following modules:

Teaching my subject
Understand students in the further education sector
The role of teachers and teaching
Professional practice portfolio
Effective digital and online pedagogies
Developing, using and organising resources in a specialist area
Action research
Meeting the needs of students for whom English is not their first language

Industry placement, field trips and guest speakers

This qualification requires you to complete a mandatory work/industry placement experience in a real work environment (RWE) throughout the duration of the qualification before certification.

The minimum required placement hours are 250 hours. This must include:

At least 150 hours of teaching practice, of these: at least 100 hours must be in the student’s subject area.

A minimum of 20 hours of remote synchronous (live) delivery should be included, alongside a minimum of 80 hours face-to-face delivery.

The balance, constituting professional practice, includes activities such as team meetings, planning, interviews, assessment meetings, observations, centre wide sessions (for example, continuing professional development (CPD)). The purpose of the professional practice hours is to gain a full sense of the wider activities of a teacher on a day-to-day basis.

The placement requirement includes a minimum of two locations: you should gain experience in more than one teaching location. The second placement must be for at least 20 hours and ideally would be at a different centre but in extremis at a large centre, which could include a different subject area and/or venue in the same centre. It should be noted that the 20 hours at the second placement are not specified as teaching hours so could be observation, Continuous Professional Development and other activities to give a sense of the approach within that area.

10 observations of your practice will be carried out during your programme.

How will I learn?

This programme offers high quality technical education and clear connections to the Further Education & Skills (FES) sector.

You will be engaged in a dynamic, interactive and reflective learning experience. This experience will effectively prepare you to successfully engage in the assessments, which will measure depth, as well as breadth, of knowledge and skills. Teaching will stimulate academic engagement, develop challenging yet constructive discourse and encourage you to reflect on your own performance in preparation for, or to develop, a professional career in FES. All resources will be available on Canvas to support you through this qualification.

The range of learning methods will include:

Cross specialism discussions designed to encourage you to share strategies, resources and ideas that work in your own specialism and adapt those used by colleagues to fit your own area of specialism where appropriate.

Case studies to illustrate how a range of concepts, theories and perspectives can be applied in the explanation and evaluation of real-life examples from FES teaching.

Peer learning workshop sessions and practical role play sessions will be facilitated in order to foster collaborative active social learning, the co-creation of knowledge and the sharing of good practice, allowing you to explicate your ideas, arguments and perspectives.

Lectures will be used to provide current developments in the FES sector, practices and processes, theory, empirical research and the wider social-political context in which these are located. Lectures will aim to promote an understanding of a range of perspectives that influence the industry.

The embedding of guest speakers will continue to be an integral feature of the programme, as these serve to give you valuable insight into the sector, and the development of useful employment links.

How will I be assessed?

You will build a portfolio of evidence towards this qualification using Onefile to track evidence against each criterion.

The assessment consists of one component; an internally assessed portfolio of evidence, which is assessed by centre staff and externally quality assured by NCFE. You will participate in a final assessment involving a 30-minute oral discussion relating to any aspect of professional practice.

You must be successful in this component to gain the Level 5 Diploma in Teaching (Further Education and Skills).