Many lecturers in further education are now having to work their way through a new scheme of qualifications. The content is mostly sensible, although grossly over-specified, but the way in which these qualifications are being run is simply appalling.
Take the basic qualification, the PTLLS. Page 16 of this document
www.lifelonglearninguk.org/documents/itt/interim_information.pdf
prescribes 60 hours of learning, of which at least 30 must be guided (ie, in class). This prevents lecturers from completing the course more efficiently if they can. The content is very straightforward, and it would be easy to fit the whole course, including completion of the assignments, into ten hours of reading and writing, with no class time apart from observation of the lecturer in action.
The people behind this nonsense have gone far beyond those who argue that ends can justify means. They have decided to prescribe the means to achieve the end (a certain level of knowledge and skill), regardless of whether there are better means. Charitably, this reflects a culture of wasteful and controlling perfectionism that has long flourished in enterprises subsidised by the taxpayer.
Another example of the same culture can be found in the new professional standards:
www.lifelonglearninguk.org/documents/standards/professional_standards_for_itts_020107.pdf
This worthy 20-page document achieves little more than would be achieved by a postcard to lecturers which said:
Know your subject
Teach it well
Respect your students
But I think we knew that much already.
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