Lecturer (further education)

Further education lecturers teach academic and vocational subjects to young people and adults.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not compulsory to wear a tweed jacket with leather elbow pads once becoming a lecturer

Typical responsibilities of the job include:

lesson planning, preparation and research
contact/teaching time with pupils
checking and assessing pupils' work
encouraging personal development via tutorial/pastoral work
invigilating examinations
arranging work experience placements
attending staff meetings
liaising with other professionals/employers.

The job commonly requires working evenings and weekends. Opportunities for promotion to senior lecturer/head of department are relatively restricted.

What's required

The minimum academic requirement for entry into further education teaching is a degree that is relevant to the subject taught, although in reality only a small number of people become FE lecturers immediately after graduating. Most FE lecturers gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) via a secondary education level postgraduate certificate in education (see ‘Secondary school teacher' for more information) or are mature candidates who have several years' pertinent work experience.

Alternatively, a number of institutions offer specialist postgraduate FE teaching qualifications. (NATFHE publishes a list of these in their booklet Training to Teach in Further Education.) Some employers provide the opportunity to gain a teaching qualification via part-time study once in post.

Where to find out more

Employers include state-maintained and private sixth-form, adult and further education colleges, the Armed Forces and the Prison Service. There is strong competition for permanent full-time vacancies, so many people enter the profession via part-time teaching/temporary contracts, enhancing their salary with writing, private tuition and exam marking. Teaching vacancies are advertised in local authority jobs lists, TARGETjobs Teaching, Appointments for Teachers, the Times Educational Supplement, the Times Higher Education Supplement and national, regional and local newspapers. A few specialist recruitment agencies also handle vacancies.