Qualification Overlap
ESOL, FE, In The News Friday, February 23rd, 2007
It has come to our attention that in the FE sector established and experienced staff are being asked to update their qualifications or risk losing their jobs. That education professionals should continue to develop during their career is not questioned – the quality of qualifications is. In several cases, staff are being asked to complete whole courses when they have already achieved most of the course requirements on previous courses or are asked to complete courses which have already been completed but in another guise ie with another examining board!
With so many exams is it any wonder that there is overlap and repetition. We call for a return to PGCE’s as the main teaching qual, a commitment to APL (Accredited Prior Learning) and an end to the National Qualifications Framework. The latter is particularly pernicious. Have you ever heard of anything more meaningless than a ‘Level 4, Stage 2, Module (a) Bolt-on’ teaching qualification?