APL / APEL - an overview
When making an APL or APEL claim you are in effect endeavouring to gain academic credit towards Paisley's (or another providers) CT programme which then both enables you to by-pass (for want of a better word) some of the modules at a given level and also climb the CT payscale more rapidly.
Claims for APL / APEL must be considered in the light of the statement from the GTCS that: "there will be no automatic transfer of credit from existing qualifications to programmes leading to the award of Chartered Teacher". So although you may well have a range of appropriate and worthwhile qualifications and experience, to gain credit for these you must demonstrate how they relate to the Standard for Chartered Teacher.
APL in the context of what the GTCS has set out for all providers to follow is about the learning (formal or informal) you have undertaken over the years but more importantly how this learning has directly impacted on your classroom practice. It is about deep reflection and analysis and not about claims which are predominantly descriptive.
Making an APL/APEL claim
Within the university system you can claim credit for up to six modules and depending on individual circumstances to make such a claim should take one semester to complete. We would strongly urge claimants not to undertake a module at the same time as making a claim but ultimately this may depend on the size of the claim being made and will in any event be an individual decision.
Cost and Support
Cost
The initial registration and consultation fee is non refundable and is set at ?100. This payment is requested at the time of your formal enrolment to the process.
The cost of making the actual APL/APEL claim is £100 per module worth of credit awarded. Therefore the cost of an award of one module will be £100, an award of six will be £600 in addition to the non-refundable initial consultation and registration fee.
The final fee will be invoiced once your claim has been assessed and an award made.
Individuals who are awarded less credit than they claim
If an individual claims for 6 modules but is only awarded 4 then they will be charged £400 (in addition to the initial £100) however the individual will not be entitled to make a further claim with us. This is because (in this example) the individual will have made a claim for the maximum number of APL/APEL modules allowed via the partial APL route in line with GTCS guidelines for providers.
On the other hand, if an individual makes a claim for 4 modules but is only awarded 2, then they will be charged £200 (in addition to the initial £100) however this individual would be entitled to undertake a further claim for 2 modules worth of APL/APEL (the original 4 plus the further claim for 2 which makes up the maximum of 6).
Support
You will have access to an online tutor who will provide you with materials, activities and advice on how to put your claim together, plus comment and feedback on a draft claim. Thereafter the claim will be submitted and assessed independently of your tutor.
Further references to APL
There is a clear outline of the principles and mechanisms for making claims in the materials for Chartered Teachers provided on the GTCS website and we would encourage you to read what is stated there as this sets out the General Teaching Council's requirements which govern our assessment of claims.
The relevant publication entitled "Achieving the Standard for Chartered Teachers - Guidance for Teachers", is available from the GTCS site. Download, print off or open the relevant PDF file and locate Section 4 which pertains to APL/APEL. In particular please note the word counts outlined by the GTCS:
- 1 module equivalent 2500-3500 words plus evidence
- 2 module equivalent 3500-4500 words plus evidence
- 3 module equivalent 4500-5500 words plus evidence
- 4 module equivalent 5400-6600 words plus evidence
- 5 module equivalent 6500-7700 words plus evidence
- 6 module equivalent 7200-8800 words plus evidence