New FE teachers can spend substantial time studying for a teaching qualification, yet we still know surprisingly little about how these programmes shape their practice, identity and staying power in the sector (McGowan, 2021; Orr, 2012). Recent work on professional identity in ITE shows that becoming a teacher is not just about acquiring techniques; it is a long, emotional process of forming a new professional self through reflection, dialogue and participation in a community (Allison, 2023; Wright, Loughlin & Hall, 2018; Brown, 2018;

McGowan, 2021; Edwards, 2015). But in FE, these journeys remain under-documented and rarely quantified.

This new study builds on this recent corpus with a sector-wide investigation into the longer-term impact of FE ITT on teachers’ day-to-day practice, career trajectories and sense of who they are as professionals. It departs from previous studies by quantifying these experiences and using these to construct a detailed picture of the benefits, issues, insights and interconnections of ITT study and its effects on practice and teacher confidence. Combining this with qualitative data of teachers’ accounts, it aims to generate the kind of robust evidence the DfE’s FE ITT reform agenda and new curriculum content guidance are explicitly calling for (Department for Education [DfE], 2026a, 2026b). With this in mind, the research speaks directly to the DfE-convened FE teacher initial training and development benchmarking forum, which is seeking a stronger empirical base for curriculum design and for understanding what high-quality FE ITT looks like in different contexts (DfE, 2025).

References:



Allison, J. (2023). “Fragmentation or focus? The precarious nature of initial teacher training within the English further education sector”. Practice: Contemporary Issues in Practitioner Education, 5(1), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/25783858.2023.2177559

Brown, S. (2018). What does professionalism mean to teachers within further education? PhD thesis. University of Huddersfield. White Rose eTheses Online. https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/21357/1/Final%20amended%20thesis%20August%202018.pdf

Department for Education. (2025, October 16). FE teacher initial training and development: Call for evidence. https://consult.education.gov.uk/fe-workforce-division/fe-teacher-initial-training-and-development-cfe/ [accessed 24.02.26]

Department for Education. (2026a). Curriculum content guidance for courses of further education initial teacher education. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-education-initial-teacher-education/curriculum-content-

guidance-for-courses-of-further-education-initial-teacher-education [accessed 24.02.26]

Department for Education. (2026b). Overview: The initial teacher education

system for further education. ttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-education-initial-teacher-education/overview-the-initial-teacher-education-system-for-further-education [accessed 24.02.26]

Edwards, M. (2015). Recent-undergraduate to trainee-teacher: Exploring the complexities of teacher-identity-formation through narrative inquiry. Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive. https://shura.shu.ac.uk/10173/3/Edwards_Recent-undergraduate_to_trainee-teacher.pdf [accessed 23.02.26]

McGowan, A. (2021). The professional identity of the further education teacher in the UK. PhD thesis. London: Kingston University. Available at https://researchinnovation.kingston.ac.uk/en/publications/the-professional-identity-of-the-further-education-teacher-in-the-2/ [accessed 25.02.26]

Wright, V., Loughlin, T. and Hall, V. (2018). “Exploring transitions in notions of identity as perceived by beginning post-compulsory teachers”. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 23:1, pp.4-22, https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2018.1420621