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‘You are the role models of the future’ competitors are told as EuroSkills 2016 opens

The most skilled young people in Europe were told they are becoming the “role models of the future” as the curtain was raised on EuroSkills 2016.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven gave a powerful speech as thousands gathered in the Scandinavium Arena for the competition’s opening ceremony tonight [November 30].

After each of the 28 different competing countries made a flag-waving appearance on stage, the Prime Minster delivered a message of the importance that each of the 500 or so competitors are making to the future.

“Your hands will create the furniture of the future, the design of the future, the communication of the future,” he said.

Team UK taking to the stage at the opening ceremony

“Your pride will digitalise society, build houses and lay the floors that our children and grandchildren will walk on.

“Your dreams will become the reality of the future. So treasure them, take pride in them, and never hesitate to make those dreams a reality.”

He added: “I am also inspired by your teachers. They must have been doing something very well to get you where you are today. Please do not forget them because role models like them are the most important ingredients that we have in our lives.

“By you being here today it shows you are becoming such role models yourselves. You are so needed. You are so needed in a world in which the pace of change is constantly increasing. We need the people who are constantly striving to be the best and most skilled in their profession.

“My message to you all here today is; the world needs your pride, we need your hands, your drives, your dreams and we need you, as role models of the future.”

The ceremony, which started at around 18:30pm and closed at around 20.00pm, took place at the venue that plays host to the competitions starting tomorrow.

It included speeches from the Prime Minister, the president of WorldSkills Europe, Hubert Romer, competitor and expert oaths, as well as what can only be described as a Eurovision style concert on “Swedish hit music history” featuring renditions of ‘the final countdown’ and ‘dancing queen’ among much more.

“In the coming days almost 500 competitors will compete in 44 skills,” said Mr Romer.

“During the next three days you will work, you will give all you can give. Meanwhile, thousands of students will watch and admire you. You are real heroes for us and for them, no matter what result you get at the end because all of you are already winners.”

Speaking to FE Week straight after the ceremony, Carole Stott, chair of WorldSkills UK, said the ceremony was “brilliant”.

“What the Prime Minister said at the beginning was just brilliant and was really spot on in terms of recognising and celebrating everything that we are doing and how important it was.

“All of the excitement and energy at the end was a great way to start the competition.”

New nursing degree apprenticeship announced by Jeremy Hunt

The launch of a new nursing degree apprenticeship has been announced by health secretary Jeremy Hunt, with the aim of opening up the profession to more people.

The first apprentice nurses could be working on wards from September.

It is predicted by the government that once the programme is established, up to 1,000 apprentice nurses could join the NHS each year.

Aspiring nurses will start the apprenticeship at different stages, depending on their qualifications and experience, though the course will not require GCSE English and maths.

Before they start training, apprentices will have their numeracy and literacy skills assessed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council Approved Education Institution to ensure they meet a minimum of level two.

Their responsibilities will include assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating care and they will be expected to show “leadership qualities”.

The standard for a registered nurse was developed by a range of organisations including Barts Health NHS Trust, Ramsay UK Healthcare group and Hallmark Care Homes.

In a speech at the NHS Providers conference this morning, Mr Hunt said: “Nurses are the lifeblood of our NHS, but the routes to a nursing degree currently shut out some of the most caring, compassionate staff in our country.

“I want those who already work with patients to be able to move into the jobs they really want and I know for many, this means becoming a nurse.

“Not everyone wants to take time off to study full time at university so by creating hundreds of new apprentice nurses, we can help healthcare assistants and others reach their potential as a fully trained nurse.”

The apprenticeship could be a source of controversy, as apprentices will not have to pay for their training – unlike those who previously trained at university.

A new nursing associate role will also be introduced, and people who complete the nursing associate apprenticeship will be able to count it as training towards a nursing degree.

Nursing associates will work alongside healthcare support workers to deliver care, with the aim of freeing up existing nurses to focus on clinical duties and take a lead in the decisions round patients’ treatment.

The programme has attracted significant interest so far, leading Health Education England to expand the number of training places on the pilot scheme from 1,000 to 2,000.

Former health minister Ben Gummer published the original proposals for training nursing associates through the apprenticeship route on December 17, 2015, provoking outrage from some members of the medical sector.

There are currently around 20,000 apprentices working in the NHS, and earlier this year the government pledged to create a further 100,000 apprenticeships in the sector by 2020.

A range of roles are expected to be established, such as pharmacy services assistants and associate ambulance practitioners, as well as in areas including IT, hospitality and facilities.

Since May 2010, the NHS has employed over 11,900 more doctors and over 9,800 more nurses.

Photograph by Ben Birchall/PA Wire

Area review reports and recommendations finally published

This afternoon the Department for Education began publishing reports and recommendations for area reviews in the first two waves. Links below to all 13 and story to follow:

Birmingham and Solihull further education area review report : wave 1
Cheshire and Warrington further education area review report : wave 2
Greater Manchester further education area review report : wave 1
The Marches and Worcestershire further education area review report : wave 2
Sheffield city region further education area review report : wave 1
Solent further education area review report : wave 1
Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire further education area review report : wave 2
Surrey further education area review report : wave 2
Sussex further education area review report : wave 1
Tees Valley further education area review report : wave 1
Thames Valley further education area review report : wave 2
West of England further education area review report : wave 2
West Yorkshire further education area review report : wave 1

The only missing areas in wave 1 and 2 are for London (west) and London (central), both in wave 2. These have been delayed “to ensure that the recommendations and outcomes of the four London reviews are co-ordinated during wave 3.”

Skills Minister Robert Halfon said: “We need an education system that works for everyone – high quality, well governed and financially stable further education is essential to that.

“That’s why we asked colleges, employers and other local representatives to review the further education on offer in their area and come up with recommendations to ensure employers and young people get the skills and training they need to help their local area thrive. I’d like to thank all of those that took part for the important work they have done.

“This is vital if we’re going to make Britain a country that works for everyone, giving young people and adults the best possible ladder of opportunity to fulfilling jobs.”

EuroSkills: The journey to Gothenburg

One coach and a 659 mile flight later and Team UK has finally landed in Gothenburg ready to go for gold at EuroSkills 2016.

The 22-strong team set out around 11am this morning from a Holiday Inn hotel in central London where they stayed overnight following a parliamentary send-off event yesterday.

Robert Halfon, the apprenticeships and skills minister had given them an inspiring message that they are helping to “change the prestige and national culture” of apprenticeships, and after each picking up an enamel the team were fully pumped for the journey ahead.

Led by their trusty team leaders, Team UK took an hour’s coach trip to London Heathrow airport.

The team’s chemistry was evident from the get-go and no more so than when they got to pose for the traditional airport photo with the British flag.

“The banter has been flowing on the coach and doing our team chant so it has been great so far,” said hair dressing competitor Lucy Knight, aged 21.

“By travelling as a team it allows us to build stronger relationships and start having a laugh and building that team spirit more.”

Things then got even more exciting as some of the team spotted legendary sprinter Usain Bolt walking past airport security, but in true Bolt fashion he was too fast and was on a plane before the team could get a photo with him.

All aboard then and the team jetted off to Gothenburg on their British Airway’s flight.

Two hours later and we land in a literally freezing Sweden, but the temperature wasn’t going to dampen the team’s spirits.

“Travelling out as a team just shows how united we are,” said joinery competitors Conor Willmott, aged 21.

“We’ve got to know each other even more and become even closer. That togetherness encourages us to spur each other on even more when we’re there competing.”

Now checked into their hotel’s the team are getting in the zone ready for the opening ceremony tomorrow night.

Follow @FEWeek on twitter for live updates.

Learndirect top-slices almost £20 million through subcontractors deals

Latest figures have shown that Learndirect top-sliced almost £20 million through its deals with subcontractors last academic year, FE Week can reveal.

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has threated to suspend public money for lead providers that fail to publish all of their management fees – the amount of government cash they withhold for themselves, before paying subcontractors to run training for them – on their websites.

Funding rules for last academic year ordered lead providers to make “the actual level of funding paid and retained for each of your subcontractors” publicly available, within 30 days of the October 20 closing date for submission of final 2015/16 individual learner records.

It means that every provider should by now have published full details of how much they are withholding, or topslicing from the original funding pot.

Providers have actually been required to specify their subcontracting management fees since August 2014, and FE Week found four months later that the rules were being ignored by a number of providers — including the country’s then-biggest SFA contractor Learndirect.

We have monitored how the Sheffield-based company has complied ever since, and latest figures available on its website showed it retained £19,831,208 (36 per cent) from its 64 subcontractors – out of £55,321,135 total SFA funding.

This was the same proportion as 2014/15 (see tables below).

funding-table

When asked today by FE Week to justify why its management fees remain so high, a spokesperson said: “We work in partnership with an extensive range of suppliers, each providing contract-specific services, which complement those we provide directly.

“We don’t subcontract the whole delivery to third party suppliers and then charge a fee – we don’t have one size fits all approach.

“The nature of relationship and the associated commercial agreement with a supplier will depend on factors including the contract being delivered, the services provided by the supplier in question and the support a supplier buys from us.”

She also elaborated on what the company’s management fees cover.

“We provide marketing, learning resources and content, and the quality, audit and contract management framework within which they sit,” the spokesperson added.

“We offer a range of added value services to our partners including data management, training, funder management, access to growth opportunities including regional and national employer relationships and inclusion in bids.”

While Learndirect has met the SFA requirement to publish it management fee details, the figure itself is uncomfortably close to the 40 per cent SFA chief executive Peter Lauener has said he would find unjustifiable.

Mr Lauener told FE Week in an exclusive interview two years ago that he “would find it quite hard to see a set of arrangements that would justify a 40 per cent management fee, because it’s kind of obvious that what is taken as a management fee is not going to frontline education or training”.

As well as requesting that management fees information should be published on websites, and include current supply chain fees and charges policy, the SFA called for relevant weblinks to be provided on 2015 to 2016 subcontractor declaration forms.

The crackdown followed a long campaign against excessive top slicing by FE Week that was launched in the paper’s pilot edition in June 2011.

SFA apprenticeship tender for small employers rejected by quarter of providers

A quarter of apprenticeship providers have declined the opportunity compete for an SFA contract to deliver training to small and medium sized businesses from next May.

The new Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers, which providers have to be on if they want to deliver apprenticeship starts from May 1 next year, closed for applications at 5pm Friday (November 25).

FE Week can exclusively reveal that 1,753 providers applied to the register to be able to deliver training directly or as a sub-contractor to large, levy-paying employers.

Of these, just 1,310 – or 75 per cent – also applied to deliver training to smaller, non-levy paying employers.

This means that 25 per cent of providers have turned down the opportunity to receive an allocation to deliver apprenticeships to companies that won’t be subject to the levy – despite them making up the overwhelming majority of businesses in England.

Figures published by the Department for Education in August showed that 19,150 companies – only 1.3 per cent of all employers – will be subject to the levy when it is introduced next April.

And a mere 400 companies will pay around half the total levy, the Skills Funding Agency revealed recently.

Providers were able to apply to be on the register via three routes.

The main route was for all colleges and independent training providers who wanted to deliver training to levy-paying employers, either directly or as a sub-contractor.

The supporting route was an “entry route to the apprenticeship market for organisations that offer a specialism, and providers who only want to deliver as a subcontractor”, according to the SFA’s guidance.

The employer-provider route was for companies that wish to deliver apprenticeship training to their own staff.

In addition, providers that wanted to deliver apprenticeship training to non-levy paying employers could also submit an invitation to tender alongside a main route application.

As reported by FE Week on Friday, the SFA warned just hours before the register deadline that some providers were failing to follow instructions and were applying via more than one route.

It also reminded providers that ITTs should be submitted as well as a main route application – but despite this, FE Week understands that not all providers knew that they needed to submit the separate ITT.

FE Week understands that some providers only want to deliver training to non-levy paying employers as subcontractors, and therefore do not need to submit an ITT.

In total there were 2,327 applications to the new register.

In addition to the 1,753 main route applications there were 238 via the employer provider route and 336 via the supporting route.

There are currently 798 prime, or lead, apprenticeship providers on the existing register of training organisations.

There are also 3,815 providers on the current ROTO that can subcontract apprenticeships, but it’s not clear how many of them actually do so.

Peter Lauener, head of the SFA and the Education Funding Agency and shadow chief executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships, told FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference in March that the new register was being introduced “to make sure that any provider that is available for an employer to use meets the right standards”.

A DfE spokesperson said: “The apprenticeship register is central to the broader reforms being introduced to drive up the quality and quantity of apprenticeships.

“We welcome the strong interest from training providers and are pleased that they are fully engaging with the process.”

Skills minister bids farewell to Team UK with heartfelt speech

“You are helping to improve the national culture around skills and apprenticeships” was the message from Robert Halfon to EuroSkills Team UK at a special send-off event in Westminster today.

The apprenticeship and skills minister gave a heartfelt speech to the 22 competitors who are flying out to Sweden tomorrow.

Mr Halfon congratulated them on their success so far and urged them to carry on increasing the “prestige” of skills and apprenticeships in the country.

“We always debate government policy about apprenticeships, whether they are good or bad, whether things can be improved,” he said. “But one thing is clear, we can have the best government voices in the world but it will make no difference until we improve prestige and change the conversation about skills and apprenticeships.

“These competitions and this team, the competitors and experts, do more to change the culture and prestige than almost anything else that I can see.

“I want to congratulate all of you for doing a remarkable job. Let this work continue and carry on winning medals.

Robert Halfon speaking at the EuroSkills Team UK send off event

“Although you are winning medals for WorldSkills you are helping to change the national conversation and the culture to make skills and apprenticeships be seen as a number one occupation to do in our country.”

The minister was one of many passionate voices at today’s event in the Terrace Pavilion at the House of Commons, where parents, team leaders and staff from WorldSkills UK, which organises the UK’s WorldSkills entries, came to say good bye and good luck to the competitors.

Peter Bakare, a former Team GB volleyball Olympian who competed at London 2012, is now a WorldSkills UK’s performance coaches and offered the team some words of encouragement.

“Being an Olympian I can really understand what these guys go through in terms of honing their skills and trying to get better. I’ve seen these skills in action at The Skills Show and it is amazing to see the level of detail and skill they have.

“They’re flying out to Sweden tomorrow so all I can say is guys, go out there and go for gold in Gothenburg.”

Neil Bentley, chief executive of WorldSkills UK, said the team going to Gothenburg will be “fantastic” and those taking part in international competitions will reach levels of achievement at a young age which “many aspire to do in their entire careers”.

He would not make a firm prediction for the medal total when pressed by FE Week but did admit the team were looking to “build on” the haul of three golds, six silvers and three medallions for excellence they picked up at EuroSkills 2014 in Lille.

“We’re always looking to build on the platform,” he said. “Our measure of success will be compared for how we do in Lille so obviously we would like to do better than that.”

Peter Bakare on stage at the Team UK send off event in parliament

The competitors were each issued with a special enamel pin at today’s event.

Cabinet making competitor Angus Bruce-Gardner, aged 21, said: “It is a great achievement to get this far and I’m really looking forward to going out to Gothenburg.

“All of the weekends and evenings I’ve been putting into this is paying off and I’m ready to go out there and do it now.”

Angus’ mum Beth and dad Ian were at the event and will be traveling out to Sweden to cheer him on all the way.

“We’re absolutely incredibly proud of him,” Beth said. “It is amazing that we are given this opportunity to come to events like this and share the journey with him.”

Unfortunately one member of Team UK won’t make it to Sweden.

Visual merchandising competitor Chloe Wills had to withdraw from the competition due to personal reasons.

A WorldSkillsUK spokesperson said: “WorldSkills UK took the decision not to replace Chloe Wills, the competitor in visual merchandising.

“We have a duty of care to all our competitors on our training programme and because we were informed of Chloe’s decision only two weeks ago, we could not ensure that the replacement competitor would have sufficient preparation time to prepare to compete internationally.”

The rest of the team will fly to Sweden tomorrow, in preparation for EuroSkills, which will run from December 1 to 3 and FE Week will be joining them.

College’s new construction centre named in memory of beloved course leader

A college’s new construction centre has been named in memory of a teacher who recently lost his battle with cancer.

The Kevin Diett Construction Centre at Sussex Downs College in Eastbourne has been named after the former course leader in brickwork, Kevin Diett, who passed away from the disease earlier this year.

The centre was officially opened by Kevin’s wife Veronica and attended by his two sons, daughter and grandchildren, along with staff and students at the college.

Nigel Edwards, the college’s new course leader in brickwork, said: “Naming this building after Kevin was a must-do for us. One student I spoke to earlier said they never saw him without a smile on his face. The students here today are here because of Kevin.”

Veronica added: “Kevin would be so humbled by this. He loved working here, loved his students and enjoyed coming to work every day. I hope the college has continuing success in brickwork, bringing in students who come to learn and be prepared for the workplace.”

A commemorative brick is displayed at the entrance of the new centre as a tribute to the well loved course leader.

Featured picture: The Diett family at the opening of the centre

FEATURE: Students bring home the bacon at farming festival

The annual East of England Smithfield Festival attracts competitive farmers from across the country, with the College Challenge category perhaps the most competitive of all. The 2016 winners have now been crowned. Samantha King reports.

For months, students from agricultural colleges across the UK have been gearing up for the East of England Smithfield Festival’s College Challenge, which took place last week.

Judging students on their knowledge of all aspects of farming, from identifying feed to assessing a quality carcass, the challenge saw over 30 teams from across 15 colleges enter in the hopes of returning home as champions.

They were able to represent the college so well and we’re just really proud of them. It just shows that we must be doing something right

After beating off stiff competition, it was a team of four girls from Askham Bryan college in York that brought home the bacon – and £300 in prize money.

Emily Watson, Marian Porter, Pippa Jackson and Lauren Rucklidge – currently in their second year of studying an extended diploma in agriculture at the college – each had to complete an individual challenge, before taking part in a final group task, which saw them sail into first place.

Each team member had to judge a breeding ewe, a breeding heifer (a cow that has not previously had a calf), a lamb carcass or a pen of finished lambs, before working together to pass the final task of identifying different types of feed.

campus-feat-inset — Lecturer Tim Moakes (left) with the girls and boys teams from Askham Bryan

In order to judge the animals, students looked out for features such as the quality of their coats, the amount of muscle along their backs, loin and tail head, and the level of fat along the ribs – a key aspect in identifying animals ready for slaughter.

They were then asked to put the animals in order of merit, and received a mark out of 100 from the judges.

Livestock lecturer at the college Tim Moakes, who accompanied the students to the event, said: “The tasks tied in well with the agriculture course, as half of the modules are about livestock. Learning what a good heifer or good breeding ewe should look like, and identifying what a finished animal looks like if you’re going to send it off for slaughter, are all key skills.”

Askham Bryan college also entered a team of four boys, Tom Hartley, Richard Allen, Henry Grant and Freddie Harrison, but they were pipped by the girls.

Aside from the College Challenge, there were also categories for butchers, young stockperson of the year, the trade stand award and the livestock equipment award, appealing to professional farmers of all ages looking to show off their skills in their respective parts of the industry.

Mr Moakes said: “You drive them there, you get them ready, you give them some confidence, you tell them that they can do it, you can organise them and make sure they know where they should be, and then you leave them to it.

“We’re all very proud of the students’ performance, their achievement and the conduct shown. They were able to represent the college so well and we’re just really proud of them. It just shows that we must be doing something right.”

The festival was established in 2011 after The Royal Smithfield Club joined up with the East of England Agricultural Society Winter Stock Festival, and is the leading primestock show for commercial cattle and sheep; hosting one of the largest pedigree calf shows in the UK.

Featured picture: (L-R) Pippa Jackson, Emily Watson, Lauren Rucklidge and Marian Porter