Councillor Ian Maher, Sefton Council leader and Liverpool City Region Portfolio Holder for Employment, Education and Skills has welcomed the extension of a pioneering scheme to train further education (FE) tutors across the City Region.

Second year

After 34 students, many of whom were already working in teaching jobs and studying for advanced qualifications, successfully completed the Pathways to Teaching course in its first year, the programme is being rolled out for a second year.

Pathways to Teaching is a £290,000 initiative funded through The Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram’s devolved Adult Education Budget (AEB) to help fill local skills gaps. It was designed in conjunctions with local councils to attract residents of the city region to a career in teaching in response to a local shortage of FE tutors.

The six-month course serves as a stepping stone into the adult learning sector – providing the skills to become a tutor and enabling funded progression to advanced teacher training courses.

Innovative ways of supporting people

Councillor Maher said “Because we have control over how adult education funding is spent locally, we’re able to pilot new and innovative ways of supporting people.

“This pilot is a perfect example of that, giving local residents the opportunity to consider a career in the FE sector and develop their teaching skills.”

Devolved

The Adult Education Budget was devolved to the Liverpool city Region Combined Authority over four years ago and is currently around £53 million annually. It has enabled innovative new ways of teaching and learning.

Pathways to Teaching was developed to address a shortage of tutors to deliver English, maths, English for speakers of other languages and digital courses. The programme includes preparatory qualifications from at level 3 (equivalent to A-level) with the opportunity to progress to level 5 (HND/second year of degree), including Certificate in Post 16 Education (Cert Ed) and the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA).

After its successful first year, enrolment is now open for a second year.

You can email our Adult Learning team, to find out more about the course.