Understanding the role of advanced practitioners in English Further Education

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) commissioned the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) to better understand how Further Education (FE) providers use advanced practitioner-type roles to improve teaching, learning and assessment (TLA). While advanced practitioners (APs) have been used in various guises across the FE and skills sector and anecdotal commentary describes these roles as being beneficial to the development of practitioners and useful in the improvement of TLA, there is limited current research or evaluation of these roles in practice. This executive summary presents an overview of the results of in-depth case studies and a survey at 19 provider organisations. The research outlines the use and perceived impact of advanced practitioners to date, highlights effective practice, and provides practical illustrations and learning points for others seeking more effective ways to work with teachers, coaches, assessors and trainers to develop their practice.