At the 2015 Annual Conference members asked the network to challenge the HEA over its position on Fellowship for Foundation Year Practioners. At the moment the HEA considers Foundation Years as level 3 courses and requires HEA Fellows to be teaching on level 4 courses. This postion effectively denies Fellowship for Foundation Year Practitioners, despite the fact that they are teaching on a level 4 course within HE institutions. The executive committee duly wrote to the HEA asking them to reconsider their position and have now recieved the following response:
Thank you for your letter of 20 November 2015 addressed to Mr Simonds. I am responsible for Fellowship accreditation and recognition services at the HEA.
I attach our current guidance, which is clear at Page 4 that Fellowship must be based on experience at L 4 and above. It states:
All the experience and evidence included in your APP [Account of Professional Practice] must relate to HE provision such as:
- level 4 or above within the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ);
- level 7 or above within the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF);
- first cycle or above of the Qualifications Framework in the European Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA);
- level 6 or above of the Australian Qualifications Framework;
- level 5 or above of the New Zealand Qualification Framework;
- other equivalent higher education frameworks;
- delivery of non-accredited continuing professional development for academic and learning support staff may also be considered as evidence equivalent to the higher education academic frameworks.
However, we are currently reviewing our guidance, and will reflect carefully on the points you have made about whether we should include Foundation Years [and the first year of extended Foundation Degrees] as relevant experience. Revised guidance will be published in the early part of the next calendar year.
The executive committee will continue to pursue this issue on behalf of the network and look forward to the HEA’s guidance review.