Explore the Professional Standards

For teachers and trainers

The Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers have been developed to help you excel in your teaching practice by enriching your professional development.

View Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers

For leaders

The Professional Standards for Leaders are designed to provide guidance for you and your organisation about professional expectations of leadership roles.

View the Professional Standards for Leaders

National Standards for the sector

Both sets of Professional Standards have been developed with sector professionals and experts to support and inspire professional learning and career development. Whether you work in an FE College, Independent Training Provider (ITP), within Adult Education or an Employer training team, the standards are a compass and map to support reflection, self-improvement and CPD. 

Providing consistency for individuals and across organisations, from Initial Teacher Training and Education (ITE/ITT) through to CEO impact. The Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers were introduced in 2014 and were updated in May 2022. Professional Standards for Leaders were launched in September 2022. 

At ETF they are the building blocks for everything we do. From professional status formation (QTLS and ATS) to the design of our professional learning and development interventions.  

The three core principles

 

The Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers and Professional Standards for Leaders both follow a similar structure in order to highlight the synergies and distinctions between the roles. Each set of Professional Standards is built around three core principles: 

  1. Professional Values and Attributes
  2. Professional Knowledge and Understanding 
  3. Professional Skills

The Professional Standards have been developed with sector professionals and experts to support and inspire your professional learning and career development. The Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers were introduced in 2014 and have been updated in May 2022, and the Professional Standards for Leaders were launched in September 2022.

Professional Standards Self-Assessment Tool 

The ETF Self-Assessment Tool helps teachers and trainers reflect on their practice using the Professional Standards for FE and skills educators. It provides a simple framework to explore what effective teaching looks like, recognise strengths and identify areas for growth. Results can support discussions with colleagues or managers and help plan future professional development. 

Start the self-assessment

Standards are ‘the golden thread’

Steven Wallis, Executive Director of Quality at NCG, discusses how NCG drew on ETF's Professional Standards for the further education and skills sector when recently setting the college group’s own standards. 

Read the story