Roles and Responsibilities of a FE Teacher

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If you are working towards or have completed your Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET), you may know that educators teaching in the FE sector have to fulfill a range of role and responsibilities. A number of responsibilities and functions are shared across an organisation, or with the entire further education and training sector. There is a wide range of roles and responsibilities due to the variety of courses, as well as students and organisations involved with FE.

How can you understand roles and responsibilities in education and training?

Google defines a role as ‘the function assumed or part played by a person in a particular situation’. In contrast, defines responsibility as “something that one must do as part of a job, role, or legal obligation”. The role of a teacher is varied and you must wear many hats, be it from communication or a listening ear.

The teacher needs to create a safe learning environment, facilitate open communication and encourages students to discuss the material. Whilst also assessing learning styles in order to utilise the most appropriate teaching methods. It is important that all students have equal access to learning materials no matter their age or background.

Your role as a teacher is not just about teaching your subject or preparing learners for assessment. It is to also motivate your learners to develop their ability and aspiration to learn. As well as motivating them to change and develop their personal, social and professional skills to the best of their ability.

There will be boundaries that you need to stick to. Boundaries are about understanding where your role as a teacher stops, try not to get personally involved with your learners, you have to always remain professional and act with honesty and be partial. Boundaries are also about challenges you might face as a teacher, such as a lack from your administration work or having to meet criteria or targets by set deadlines.

It is also your responsibility as a teacher to follow your organisation’s policies and procedures, relevant legislation, regulations and codes of practice and conduct. As well as the requirements from the awarding/professional body you are associated with.

Adult Learning

As adult learners are much different to younger learners, they may need a more different approach to teaching, however they are also more keen to learn and get their qualification, for their needs and goals, because of this you will need to approach adult learning differently. In this respect, your ultimate aim is to enable your learners to take their own development into their hands. You may do this by planning and preparing teaching and learning activities that take into account the needs and well-being of individual learners as well as a group.

As a teacher you may be delivering lectures or classroom lessons, tutoring small groups, offering practical workplace training or providing 1-to-1 mentoring: many teaching roles involve a combination of these. You could be teaching in a range of areas such as vocational training, academic teaching, basic skills or recreational courses.

So what are the roles and responsibilities?

Roles of a FE Teacher

Since there is a broad range of roles in the sector due to the variety of courses available, you will be asked to do a variety of things in your role as a teacher. The teaching cycle can help explain some of these roles. What is the teaching cycle? Teachers go through a repeated process of assessing students needs. Such as: Planning instructions, delivering them, assessing outcomes and then evaluating student needs. This is a repeated process that happens throughout teaching.

Typical demands for teachers in FE, could include:

  • Making Learning enjoyable
  • Using varied teaching strategies with a focus on student-led methods
  • Understanding assessment criteria and using a variety of approaches, such as summative or formative
  • Carrying out initial assessments
  • Keeping records of progress
  • Promoting inclusivity
  • Interviewing learners
  • Self evaluation
  • Providing a safe learning environment

However, there are many more things you can do! This isn’t the end. Roles vary from teacher to teacher, and the sector you work in.

Responsibilities of a FE Teacher

So what are the responsibilities of a teacher in the FE sector? These may differ much like the roles, again due to the sector you work in being varied in itself. You will have a job description or a role specification which you will need to refer to, this is to ensure that you meet the requirements of your job role. It should be obvious that you should be qualified or occupationally experienced in the subject you want to teach.

Some of these responsibilities may include:

      • Adhereing to the organisations policies and procedures, relevant legislation and codes of practice
      • CPD
      • Setting and maintaining standards
      • Collaborating with a team/others
      • Following codes of conduct
      • Meeting individual needs of the learner
      • Accurate record keeping and maintaining
      • Planning and preparing lesson plans
      • Monitor, assess and mark learner’s work

Roles and responsibilities of a further education teacher will cross over. For example, being able to communicate with others is a responsibility but also a role. You have to be able to communicate to others, wherever possible. It is essential to know where a teachers roles and responsibility stops. You should be able to maintain boundaries. Try and evaluate where these stop and start. It is important that you make learning possible for everyone involved, but going over those boundaries may not be helpful.

So we hope this has helped when it comes to knowing the roles and responsibilities of a further education teacher. If you have any more questions or queries then don’t hesitate to contact our team on 01205 805 155.