STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Most colleges and new universities have staff development units offering courses and programmes to enhance your professional skills. There are professional staff development agencies for both FE and HE which can provide general advice and, with the advent of FENTO and the ILT, there are also now national bodies supporting the professional development of lecturers in both further and higher education.

FENTO, the further education national training organisation, is responsible for the development, quality assurance and promotion of national standards for the FE sector. It has published Teaching and Supporting Learning Standards and has recently piloted FENTO Management Standards. FENTO is currently developing other standards relevant to people working in FE.

The Higher Education Staff Development Agency (HESDA) is the national training organisation for higher education. HESDA promotes 'strategically planned staff development and training provision across universities and colleges and other strategic human resource initiatives across the UK higher education sector.'

The Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, ILT, accredits programmes of training in learning and teaching in higher education; these will usually be run by your employing institution. Membership of the ILT is automatically available to anyone who has successfully completed one of these accredited programmes.

The ILT has also set up a Learning and Training Support Network, LTSN, to promote high quality learning and teaching through the development and transfer of good practices in 24 subject disciplines, and 'to provide a "one-stop shop" of learning and teaching resources and information for the HE community.'

MANAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Most lecturers can progress through their career by becoming senior lecturers (further education) or senior and principal lecturers (higher education). There are also the opportunities for management posts, although these will mean less time spent in teaching and contact with students and more time spent in administration and paperwork.

Institutions should support staff seeking to move into management through continuing professional development (CPD) and other training opportunities. FENTO has devised national occupational standards for management in FE. A recent study by FENTO found that, on average, 87 per cent of college managers had participated in CPD during the last year, and all managers had taken part in CPD in more than half of colleges. HESDA, the national training organisation for higher education, supports the professional development of managers in HE. The ILT is currently consulting on the development of CPD in higher education.

If you are appointed to a management post in further education you will be placed on a separate management spine pay scale. In higher education senior staff, such as professors, are usually on the principal lecturer or head of department grade.

NATFHE represents staff in management grades and can advise members appointed to these grades on their terms and conditions.