About the IfL
The IfL - Institute for Learning - is an official body that oversees the professionalism of the teaching and learning sector. Here are the key points:
- If you are a tutor for Devon ACL, or elsewhere, you need to be registered as a Member or Associate of the IfL.
- You also need to renew your membership each year and should be notified by the IfL about this. If you are teaching for Devon ACL you normally qualify for free renewal.
- To maintain your 'licence to teach' you need to do a specified amount of CPD (Continuous Professional Development) each year. This varies from 6 hours to 30 hours depending on your averaged contact hours.
- In order to count towards your CPD hours, CPD activities need to have a positive impact on your learners' experiences and success.
- Each year you need to 'declare' your CPD to the IfL in order to show you are keeping up to date - see below.
Declaring CPD
For full details, go to http://www.ifl.ac.uk, log in using your membership details then click 'Careers and CPD' (or just do a Search for CPD). The following points are a brief summary:
a) Your declaration must be made sometime between 1st June and 31st Aug each year.
b) You must declare your CPD using one or other of the following:
- the online form at the IfL website, in which case you need to have some independent record of the CPD you have completed and the benefits it has given, OR
- the 'REfLECT' online portfolio - which helps you record details of CPD under the correct headings (see below).
Using 'REfLECT'
REfLECT is an online system for recording CPD in a form that is accepted by the IfL. If you are registered with the IfL you will automatically have a REfLECT account, which can be accessed by logging into the IfL website and looking for a link saying 'REfLECT'. There is information about this on the IfL website itself but you may also find the following useful:
- Recording and Declaring CPD using REfLECT (PDF - 20KB) June 2010;
- Adding a CPD activity to your IfL records (PDF - 150KB) Sept 2008 - but still applicable;
- Presentation - adding a CPD activity (PowerPoint - 1.5MB) Sept 2008 - but still applicable;
If the computer you are using doesn't have PowerPoint, you can download a free PowerPoint viewer from Microsoft or you could use a computer at a Devon ACL centre or a Devon Library.