Motorsport technology students at North Lindsey College are preparing for life in the fast lane with Lincoln-based race team PP Motorsport who are competing at the UK Clio Cup.
The level three learners are gearing up to be a part of the pit crew as the team races around nine circuits in 18 races on April 2 and 3.
The cup is the support race for the British Touring Car Championship and PP Team owner John Creasey wanted the students to take pole position to give them “first-hand experience”.
Students have been taught how to run a motorsport car professionally under the guidance of the team’s motorsport engineers.
Naomi Knight, aged 20, said she “can’t wait to get stuck in” at the race weekend. “I can’t believe that we are getting experience like this, we are going to be trackside doing diagnostics and helping the team to victory.”
Adam Grisley, 19, added: “In college we get to learn about working in a pit, but actually working with a professional team and working on the car in the paddock is just mind blowing.”
Pic: Motorsport technology students at North Lindsey College with members of the PP Motorsport team
A former soldier turned boxer is taking on a completely different battleground as he aims to step into teaching with the help of Hartpury College’s university campus.
Lewis Van Poetsch joined the army straight from school at age 16 and spent seven months in Afghanistan in Helmand Province with the Two Rifles Battalion in 2011.
On his return to the UK in 2012, he swapped his rounds of ammunition for rounds inside the ring as he turned professional in boxing.
Lewis during a tour in Afghanistan
And now the 25-year-old finds himself at Gloucester’s Hartpury, studying a physical education and school sport degree with the goal of becoming a schoolteacher.
“I enjoyed my time in the army and it did a lot of good for me but in the back of my head, even at school, I always wanted to look into being a teacher one day,” Lewis said.
“A couple of years ago, I went back to my old school to visit my PE teachers and I began volunteering and gaining experience of teaching for a couple of days a week, which I quickly found was exactly what I wanted to be doing.”
Students with learning disabilities at Waltham Forest College are following in the footsteps of champions like Andy Murray by learning to play tennis in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Around 40 students on the college’s Life Skills programme are taking part in the six-week scheme of tennis lessons on the indoor courts at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, in London.
The learners suffer from a range of learning disabilities, including Down’s syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, dyslexia and dyspraxia.
Their coach, David Vellala, believes some of them have the talent to become medal winners in the Special Olympics World Games, held every two years for athletes with intellectual disabilities.
He said: “There are a growing number of tennis competitions for adults with intellectual disabilities and some of these students have the ability to do well in these.
“Tennis is one of the sports included in the Special Olympics. There are students in this group with the talent to become Special Olympic medal winners.”
Pic: Waltham Forest College Life Skills learners take to the courts at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
The first students to join the RAC’s new patrol academy met joint chair of the apprenticeship delivery board, David Meller, as part of this year’s National Apprenticeship Week celebrations.
The six recruits, who began the two year apprenticeship programme in September, study one day a week at Barking & Dagenham College, combined with on-the-job training.
David Meller, who met and spoke with the apprentices at the college last Friday, said: “An apprenticeship can literally take you anywhere, as this excellent new programme proves.”
The apprentices, who are all aged 18 to 23, are based in the Greater London area.
An RAC spokesperson said the automotive services company has its sights set on extending the academy.
Yvonne Kelly, chief operating officer at Barking & Dagenham College added: “This area of east London is synonymous with
the automotive industry, so it seems fitting that the college is helping these young apprentices develop the high level
technical skills they need for a successful career with such a trusted UK motoring organisation.”
Pic: From left: David Meller with RAC apprentices – Adil Ubbin, aged 18, Sam Abbott, 18, Taylor Spicer, 19, Jo Gillam, 18, and Brandon Wagstaff, 19
Struggling Totton College has announced Derek Headrige as its new campus principal.
Mr Headrige is currently group academy dean at BMW and will start in his new role on April 18.
He takes over at a time of turmoil at the college which is consulting on a restructuring plan that it is thought could lead to dozens of job losses.
Social justice charity Nacro, which uses skills and training to reduce crime and re-offending in English and Welsh communities, merged with Totton College in December after concerns were raised about the college’s financial situation.
Totton College was branded inadequate by Ofsted in June last year.
Speaking about his appointment, Mr Headrige said: “I am delighted to be joining Totton College. Its renewed focus on the extensive opportunities that quality vocational education brings to students, business and the local area are ground breaking.
“I am absolutely committed to supporting staff and students to drive this mission forward and make sure that Totton College is the destination of choice for students, local people and business, now and into the future.”
Having started his early career in the army, Mr Headrige moved to education because of his “passionate belief in supporting young people to aspire, grow and reach their potential”.
He is formerly the head of faculty for automative engineering and building services at Highbury FE College in Portsmouth.
Meanwhile, the current deputy principal at West Thames College, Tracy Aust, will step up to replace Marjorie Semple at the healm when she retires at the end of March.
Ms Aust will move into the role from April 1 when Ms Semple says goodbye to the London college that she has been in charge of for the last eight years.
Ms Semple has worked in the FE sector for almost 40 years. She arrived at West Thames College in 2001 as assistant principal for learning and became principal in 2008.
A spokesperson for the college said that as deputy principal, Ms Aust is currently responsible for the curriculum and for delivering “high quality education to the many different communities, served by the college”.
Ms Aust said: “We need to constantly adapt to ensure that we are giving local people the skills they need to compete in the local labour market.”
And Chris Scott has stepped down from his post as principal of Telford College of Arts and Technology (TCAT).
He said the decision had been prompted by the “massive changes” in the FE sector — and in his own role — since he took the job nearly two years ago.
Mr Scott has been with TCAT for 20 years, having previously served as deputy principal, and finance director.
He said: “It has been a privilege to work for Telford College, but the unprecedented cuts in finance to the FE sector, and the transformation this has forced us to undergo, has changed the principal’s job almost beyond recognition.
“I have talked the situation through with the board of governors, and we have agreed that the skill set which will be needed to take Telford College forward is not a skill set which I possess.”
A college spokesperson told FE Week that Jo Lomax had been appointed as interim principal.
Ms Lomax has worked with FE and skills solutions specialist FEA since 2007. She has 38 years’ experience in FE and previously worked at Dearne Valley College as deputy principal.
It was also announced last week that Skills Funding Agency (SFA) director Keith Smith had moved to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to take a lead role in levy implementation.
Mr Smith will be on secondment to BIS for the next year, from his SFA post overseeing funding and programmes, while working as director of levy implementation until it goes live next April.
The road to WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 is well underway with the UK’s best taking part in training and development programmes in their chosen disciplines. Reporter Billy Camden went along to a session last week to see how the competition has kicked off.
WorldSkills fever was hot in the dusty air at Chichester College’s Pulborough Campus last week as 14 carpentry, joinery and cabinet making champion hopefuls completed a training week.
Waters and Acland apprentice Angus Bruce-Gardner, aged 21, creating a small desk for his cabinet making task during the training week
Competitors in each of the three disciplines got through to this stage of the process by doing “exceptionally” well at the national finals at the Skills Show.
The students, who travelled from as far as Northern Ireland, arrived in Pulborough on Tuesday night and spent the next three days taking part in training and completing challenging tasks set by each disciplines own expert.
Joinery competitor Connor Wilmot, aged 18, an apprentice from West Suffolk College, said: “This week has been completely different to the national finals. It has been a lot more intense.
“The experts have been awesome, they’ve been showing us new ways of doing things, things that I never thought of doing before.”
Throughout the week, all participants took part in core skills training to improve their quality, and then completed an assessment based task.
Cabinet makers made a small desk to precision, carpenters used their geometric skills to create part of a roof, and joinery competitors made a highly technical window frame.
Carpentry hopeful Shane Everett, 20, an apprentice with R G Carter Building in Norfolk, said he was “surprised” at how much he could learn in the three days he was there.
He added: “This is such a big opportunity and to represent the UK would be brilliant and at the end of the day go for a gold medal, that’s what we’re after.”
All are hoping to secure a place on TeamUK which will eventually send them to compete in WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017.
Held every two years, the WorldSkills competition welcomes around 1,000 people, aged 18 to 25, from all over the globe to compete for medals in more than 60 different skills areas.
Chichester College is famous for the success of its cabinet making competitors. The college has entered a representative to compete in the discipline since 2009.
Reporter Billy Camden talks with Nick Herbert MP for Arundel and South Downs about WorldSkills
And since the introduction of lecturer Christian Notley, in 2013, the college has produced two gold medallists in the skill area.
Mr Notley was on-hand throughout the development week to offer his winning experience to this year’s hopefuls.
He said: “These early stages are critical, you have to set the tone for the whole training and set the standards, which is actually above industry.”
On the Friday, the competitors were also joined by Nick Herbert MP for Arundel and South Downs, for his first taste of the competition.
Mr Herbert said he was “incredibly impressed” with the set-up and added: “I think it is terrific to see these British skills in action and to know that we are competing successfully with the world’s best and that my constituency is playing a role in that.”
The training and development programmes started in February for all fields and run through until the end of March.
Squad UK is then whittled down from five per skill to three in April.
The next stop for a selection of competitors will then be EuroSkills Gothenburg 2016 in December, before continuing training all the way up to WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017.
Last year, the UK team took home three gold, four silver, and two bronze medals from WorldSkills in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which gave TeamUK 46 points in total to place it seventh in the overall medals table — up three places on WorldSkills Leipzig two years ago.
Main pic: WorldSkills competitors in carpentry, joinery and cabinet making get stuck in with their training week tasks at Chichester College’s Pulborough Campus
If you were the funding agency responsible for apprenticeships and looking to take on your own recruits, which college or training provider would you choose?
FE Week wanted to find out, so asked the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and it turned out they didn’t pick just one or two. In fact, for their 26 apprentices (13 recruited and 13 existing staff) they chose three colleges and ten training providers. Sharing a little information about each of the SFA’s own providers, during National Apprenticeship Week, seemed too good an opportunity to miss.
Before the Annual Apprenticeship Conference (AAC), FE Week asked delegates for their views on the government’s apprenticeship reforms.
More than 210 representatives from colleges, independent training providers, local authorities, employer providers, awarding organisations and others responded to the survey, which asked for their views on issues such as quality, the impact of the levy and how it might apply to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
These showed a surprising lack of consensus on some of the key areas of the apprenticeship reforms, particularly around the introduction of the levy, reflecting the levels of uncertainty in the sector over the potential impact of the reforms.
Only about 50 per cent thought that funding apprenticeships though a large employer levy was a good idea, despite the fact that it is estimated that it will bring in around £2.5bn to the sector.
Survey respondents were also evenly divided in their views on the impact of the levy on the quality of apprenticeships, which again indicated the many unanswered questions that people have about it. Nearly 60 per cent of respondents said they thought the levy would make those companies that pay it care more quality, as it would be their money they were spending.
In terms of the impact on employers’ spending on training, a little over half — 56 per cent — of respondents also believed that employers would simply switch over their existing training budget and use the levy money instead.
However, there was much more consensus among survey respondents in other areas of the reforms, although this agreement also reflected the high levels of uncertainty surrounding them.
Concern about the quality of apprenticeships was high, with almost 90 per cent saying they thought it would suffer in the rush to meet the government’s 3m target.
A similar proportion — 86 per cent — of respondents expressed concern over the funding of apprenticeship provision for SMEs, who won’t pay the levy. Given that this is one of the key details of the levy system yet to be worked out — and that the vast majority of apprenticeships are currently in SMEs — such high levels of concern are to be expected.
AAC VOX POPS — Opportunity or threat? How do feel about the apprenticeship reforms?
Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has defended his controversial views about education for 16 to 19-year-olds, but denied that he is biased against the FE sector.
He made the remarks following his speech on Thursday, the second day of FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference at the Birmingham International Convention Centre.
“It’s not a bias, it’s criticism of what we see — and have seen for a number of years,” Sir Michael said when he was asked about his “publicly stated personal bias” against FE.
“You can’t tell me that the statistics on study programmes are good. In most colleges that we see, a very small proportion of youngsters are on apprenticeship programmes — you can’t tell me that’s good. No it isn’t good.”
The Ofsted chief inspector attacked the FE sector during an evidence session for the Education Select Committee on March 2, describing it as “in a mess — that’s why the government is reviewing it”.
Sir Michael Wilshaw
“My view is that 16 to 19 should be done in school,” he told the committee, chaired by Neil Carmichael.
Sir Michael acknowledged the “controversy” his remarks had caused, but stood by them.
“The point I was trying to make is that when you look at the figures, it’s pretty dire,” he said.
“Those youngsters who don’t do well at the benchmark GCSEs at 16, in English and maths, two years later it’s just as bad.”
Mark Dawe, the incoming chief executive of the Association for Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), questioned Sir Michael’s lack of bias.
“When he talks there does still seem to be an FE bias,” Mr Dawe told FE Week.
“When you look at the evidence there is some really good provision and he should base his comments on the evidence and I don’t think he is fulfilling the chief inspector’s role by his personal views being aired,” he said.
The Ofsted boss, who will be retiring at the end of the year, acknowledged that that the new apprenticeship reforms, which could see the education watchdog having to inspect 4,000 training providers, “will present a challenge to Ofsted”.
During his speech Sir Michael criticised “colleges and other providers” for “not delivering high enough numbers of apprenticeships overall, and certainly not in the right areas”.
“Taking some local examples, two of the biggest colleges in this region have less than 10 per cent of their student population on apprenticeship courses. And these in colleges of nearly 30,000 students,” he said.
He also contrasted the quality of different types of apprenticeship provision.
“Most high-quality apprenticeships are found in industries that have long-established traditions of using them: the motor industry, construction and engineering.
“They are few in number and are largely delivered by long-standing industries and providers.
“On the other hand, the ever-increasing numbers of apprenticeships in the care and retail sectors are not consistently reaching the same high standards,” he said.
When he was asked whether this difference in apprenticeship quality related to how much the people delivering them were paid, Sir Michael said: “Those are internal problems for every provider”.
“It’s up to the leaders of those institutions to ensure that salary levels and professional development programmes are equitable across the different areas of curriculum,” he continued.
Sir Michael also criticised the quality of apprenticeships in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), calling most of them “poor quality”.
“That’s what’s got to improve, and the only way to get apprenticeships to improve is if employers take ownership of quality, working with high quality training providers,” Sir Michael said.
“Most of our employers are SMEs — you know that. And yet they’re badly supported, and I have to say, badly led, by local employers,” he added.
