ILF take over learning and development standards and qualifications

 Following the closure of Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) and its subsidiary company Standards Verification UK (SVUK) on 31 March 2011, certain responsibilities previously held by them will be transferred to the Institute for Learning (IfL), to ensure continuity of the work on standards and qualifications for the learning and skills sector.

IfL will take responsibility for three important areas of work previously carried out by SVUK for the sector:

• Managing the quality assurance arrangements for endorsing qualifications offered by providers of initial teacher training, including the creation and maintenance of a register of approved teaching qualifications for further education and skills.
• Managing the process for mapping legacy qualifications and teaching and training qualifications awarded by bodies outside the further education and skills sector in England, to the national standards. This includes the transfer and ongoing development of the Tariff of Qualifications previously hosted by SVUK.
• Supporting candidates in the final stages of SVUK’s General Professional Recognition Learning and Skills (GPRLS) scheme, ensuring that those who began GPRLS are not disadvantaged by the closure of LLUK and SVUK and have the opportunity to have their knowledge and expertise recognised. IfL has committed to explore an alternative to GPRLS through the creation of an experiential route to the full professional status of Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS).

Lee Davies, deputy chief executive of IfL, said, “We have been working with SVUK, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) and other national partners to agree on the final details of the transfer of responsibilities.

“It is important to recognise the contribution made by LLUK and SVUK, through the talents and energies of those who have worked there, to advance initial teacher training in further education and skills. IfL is delighted to have the confidence of the sector in taking over these three key areas and that LSIS will be working with and through IfL more widely on standards and qualifications for teachers and trainers and on data. IfL's new set of responsibilities cements the professional body's place in teacher education and training and gives our members a strong voice in the future of initial teacher training.”

In addition, some functions previously held by LLUK will transfer to LSIS to ensure coherence in standards, qualifications and frameworks across the constituencies that make up the lifelong learning sector.