Institute of Education London

Continuing and Professional Education

Head of Department
Professor Ken Spours

The main activity of the Department of Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) is teacher education and professional development; we train teachers to teach in Further Education (FE), in particular - in general education, vocational education, adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL. We are also launching a Continuing Professional Development offer so that existing practitioners can update their skills on knowledge in, for example, the areas of pedagogy, curriculum, mentoring and wider changes in policy. CPE lead Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) programmes, which prepares people seeking to become teachers in FE and adult education. In addition the Department provides a number of masters degrees in higher, further, adult and professional education for existing teachers and lecturers from FE and adult education looking for CPD opportunities.

The scale of our operation across the different levels Foundation Degree to Doctorate) and the range of specialisms in post-compulsory education – 14-19, FE, ESOL/numeracy/literacy, professional and higher education, played a part in helping us to achieve a Grade 1 in the recent Ofsted inspection. This is a great achievement for such a large-scale provider.  

In addition to the courses we offer, we are currently collaborating with Learning Plus UK on 'Promoting Excellence and Development in Leadership 14-19'. This is an innovative research and development Programme at the forefront of the changing political landscape aimed at enhancing the quality of leadership within the 14-19 phase, view the flyer here.  This Programme is aimed at middle and senior managers in school sixth forms, sixth form colleges, general further education colleges and work-based learning providers. Please register your interest in this Programme here