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Teaching Qualification for Adult Literacies - TQAL
Introduction
Available as either a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (Adult Literacies) SCQF Level 10 or Diploma in Higher Education (Adult Literacies) SCQF Level 8
This programme aims to build and contribute to the professionalisation of adult literacies practice in response to a Scottish Government Policy priority.
For further information please visit our companion web site at:
For further information contact:
Mabli Hall (administrator) mabli.hall@strath.ac.uk or
David Wallace (manager) david.wallace@strath.ac.uk
The programme of study aims to provide participants with learning opportunities and resources, and structured practical experiences that together with experimentation and reflection in workplace settings will enhance professional awareness and effectiveness and provide them with a recognised qualification. The programme provides engagement with theory, encourages critical reflection on practice and aims to develop the investigative skills of students for effective continuing professional development. Practice Tutors who are experienced fieldwork practitioners will provide systematic workplace mentoring and this, in conjunction with tuition by the course team, will facilitate the integration of new learning with practice.
Students participating in the course at SCQF level 10 (Scottish Higher Education Level 4) will be expected to focus specifically on their own continuing professional development, identifying ways in which they can become more effective within their profession and acknowledging that this will require the development of ‘process’ skills as well as the development of professional knowledge. Emphasis is placed on 1) learning from critical reflection on experience and 2) inquiry as a method of resolving professional problems.
Participants at this level will be expected to:
- show confident familiarity with the mainstream areas of their professional knowledge base;
- be able to bring together information from disparate sources in support of a critical argument;
- express their viewpoint articulately and address issues logically and systematically;
- combine literature searches with other appropriate investigative approaches and methods of data analysis and interpretation.
- show confidence in the ability to combine knowledge, understanding, skills and resources for the creative planning, implementation and evaluation of practice in a variety of settings;
- take responsibility for decisions about what they need to learn, how to learn and how to present evidence of their learning.
For those of you with a minimum qualification at level 7 (normally including the ITALL) and two or more years experience the expectation is that you will study at SCQF Level 8 – for the Diploma of Higher Education (Adult Literacies)
Participants studying at this level will be expected to:
- be familiar with the core areas of the knowledge base of their professional area;
- justify practice decisions;
- support their own point of view with evidence from a range of sources;
- demonstrate an awareness of sources of, and methods for the collection of, evidence of knowledge about practice;
- demonstrate an ability to respond appropriately to a variety of learning and teaching situations;
- evaluate their own capabilities and identify professional development issues.
This is a part-time programme in which 50 % of learning is work-based. There are three key domains of learning: study centre (in which students meet together on campus); work-based (in which students carry forward course principles (with support from practice tutors) and demonstrate learning through reflection on practice); and a virtual learning environment (that scaffolds learning and connects students in an on-line community).
The programme comprises four compulsory modules taken sequentially:
1 Learning Worlds
Exploring the diversity of socio-cultural learning experience and addressing aspects of informal learning, situated learning and aspects of professionalism.
2 Making Mental Models
Exploring the evolving stories of literacies, learning and education through a variety of lenses (e.g. sociological, psychological, philosophical). Theoretical perspectives form a means of critical engagement with and understandings of practice.
3 Expanding Our Repertoire
Working on the basis that no clear consensus exists about the best ways to develop reading, writing and mathematical concept, practitioners will build a repertoire of strategies for particular purposes, on which they can draw creatively in the specific situations they encounter.
4 The Enabling Net
This module further contextualise literacies and learning by recognising and appraising the need for comprehensive networks of development opportunities and support for literacies learners.
Each module has 30 credits and involves a notional student effort of 300 hours.
University of Strathclyde and Faculty Of Education Priorities
This course embodies a comprehensively researched pedagogy for professional development for adult literacies teachers. Through the development of the programme we seek to advance the University’s strategic goals regarding excellence in education and knowledge exchange.
The course will be delivered simultaneously in Jordanhill and at three other study centres around Scotland. Led from the department of Educational and Professional Studies, there is a particularly strong collaborative component in this programme through the Scottish Consortium partnership with Universities of Aberdeen and Dundee and with Colleges of Further and Higher Education at Forth Valley and Cardonald.
This programme takes account of the Faculty of Education planning to 2011. It is coherent with key strategic issues regarding the changing demography of Scotland and the demand for professional qualifications from new sectors. It demonstrates that the Faculty is responsive to Scottish Government initiatives, particularly the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (Scottish Executive, 2001) and Skills for Scotland: A Lifelong Skills Strategy (Scottish Government, 2007).
The mission of the Faculty calls for a lead in excellent teaching and a lead in knowledge exchange work for public and voluntary sector professionals – both of which are advanced through this programme. In this it represents a significant contribution to excellence in knowledge exchange (in enhancing the CPD portfolio of the Faculty) and excellence in teaching (particularly in more flexible routes to professional development and in developing learning and teaching strategies that promote student-centred learning).
For further information please visit our companion web site at: