AUT set to dump plan to accredit lecturers

The Association of University Teachers is likely to abandon its plans for a professional accreditation scheme for lecturers.

Consultation on a scheme to rival the Institute for Learning and Teaching showed that AUT members were just as opposed to being accredited by their own union as they were to having their professionalism checked by the ILT. The plan is expected to be ditched at the union's winter council next week.

The union withdrew its support for the ILT after a series of motions critical of the institute at AUT council meetings last year.

The AUT's women's committee has been strongly opposed to the ILT, concerned that professional accreditation discriminates against casual staff, who are more likely to be women.

Consultation with a sample of 5,000 members showed support in principle for a formal accreditation system, with 76 per cent saying it was desirable. While 85 per cent of these said the accreditation process and its standards should be controlled by the profession itself, only 35 per cent were willing to pay and only 19 per cent said the ILT was the right body for the role.

Support for an AUT-based scheme revealed in the survey disintegrated during focus groups.