Characteristics of teaching English in FE colleges
The course is generally delivered by a very limited number of staff, including part-time and sometimes temporary staff.
Staff in FE have heavy teaching loads, across all levels. A typical week for a full-time member of staff includes 24 hours of teaching, which may be in several different subjects and ranging from pre-GCSE to degree level.
Although preparation time required for HE teaching is generally greater, there is no allowance made for this.
Staff have no admin support and will be required to complete all admin associated with their teaching jobs themselves, including some marketing and selling of courses. This may include tasks such as writing and sending information letters out to individual students, as well as filling in registers, keeping course files, and making schemes of work and lesson plans.
Conferences aimed at FE lecturers tend to be focused around meeting government targets, linking with businesses, the skills agenda, and changes in relation to the development of Vocational Diplomas and HE in FE. They are less likely to be about new research, subject areas, or even teaching and learning.