The flag-bearing best young tradesmen and women of the world were urged to share with everyone the life lessons of competing in Sao Paulo as the curtain went up on the 43^rd WordSkills competition.

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WorldSkills president Simon Bartley addressed the thousands gathered in Ibiraquera Gymnasium last night after around 1,200 competitors took part in the ever-popular parade of nations. This year it included a growing number of team chants and presentations — including Team UKs which even managed to raise a smile with the audience.

However, Mr Bartley’s speech delivered a message of the benefits that skills can bring to lives across the globe.

“Thank you everyone,” he said. “Thank you Sao Paulo 2015 competition organisers. Thank you CNI. Thank you Senai. Thank you sponsors. Thank you volunteers. Thank you for everything you have done for this our 43^rd WorldSkills competition and our first in Latin America.

“Your dedication and hard work will make sure or competitions have the opportunity to show the world a level of expertise that ensures our message that young people are more than capable of improving our world with the power of skills.

“That message should be heard louder and clearer than ever before.”

The ceremony, which started at around 7pm and closed at around 9.30pm, took place at a venue around four miles from here the competitions will get under way today, at Anhembi Park.

It was hosted by television presenter Didi Wagner and included presentations on the concept behind the medal designs, as well as competitor and expert oaths.

“Tonight, we choose. Over 1,200 skilled young professionals chose to represent their countries and regions at their professions as competitors,” said Mr Bartley.

“Over 1,100 dedicated trainers, teachers and industry representatives choose to represent their countries and regions and their professions as experts. Over 800 of us choose to be volunteers.

“We all choose to be part of the greatest skills movement in history, raising the awareness of the power of skills to transform lives, economies and society.

“And if we are choosing, so is the world — tonight the world is choosing to join us. Our families, our friends, our work and college colleagues have chosen to be part of the millions on social and digital media watching you in every time zone and in every continent and in every country of the world. They want you to succeed. They need you to succeed.

“The next four days are going to be tough. Tougher than anything you have experienced so far, but let me ask you to do four things. First — compete fairly and in the spirit of friendship and mutual development. Second — make friends with your fellow competitors.

“The next four days are the first days of the rest of your lives. Lives where you will treasure those that you have met here in Sao Paulo.

“Third — share what you are doing with everyone, colleagues, experts, WorldSkills, the world. You will never have an experience like Sao Paulo, so fourthly enjoy yourselves and good luck to you all.”

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The government has been accused “making a mockery” of sixth form college (SFC) financial planning after a survey revealed more than a third of SFCs fear they will cease to be a going concern by 2020.

Daphne King, principal of East Norfolk SFC (ENSFC), in Gorleston, spoke out in response to the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association (SFCA) annual funding survey report, published today.

It showed that 96 per cent of SFC leaders questioned were either concerned or extremely concerned about the financial health of their colleges.

A further 36 per cent said that it was either likely or extremely likely that their college would cease to be a going concern by 2020, while 72 per cent reported dropping courses because of funding cuts.

The report, based on an online survey of the 93 SFCs conducted in June 2015, which 72 responded to, also revealed that a large majority of respondents did not believe their expected 2016/2017 funding would allow them to provide high quality education (70 per cent) or support disadvantaged students (83 per cent).

Ms King (pictured above), who told FE Week on July 21 that her grade two Ofsted rated SFC planned to “strengthen” its existing partnership with fellow grade two Ofsted-rated Paston SFC (PSFC), in North Walsham, has today said: “The [SFCA] survey results will strike a chord with every principal who’s trying to strategically plan ahead.

“We can’t take another cut. It is making a mockery of our planning — how can we plan effectively when more cuts could be on the horizon?”

Lowestoft SFC also confirmed to FE Week on July 21 that it was looking at forming a “partnership” with fellow grade two Ofsted rated Great Yarmouth College and grade three Ofsted rated Lowestoft College, following a review of post-16 provision in North East Norfolk and North Suffolk, which also covered ENSFC and PSFC.

It came after SFC Commissioner Peter Mucklow (pictured right) warned that large-scale mergers may be needed among SFCs to cope with looming funding problems, in a letter to every SFC in the country on July 16.

FE Week also revealed on June 22 that another SFC, Totton College, in Hampshire, is set to “join with “crime prevention charity Nacro from November.

The decision was made after Mr Mucklow warned that Totton could not function alone, having been hit with a grade four across-the-board Ofsted rating on June 15 and placed under Financial Notice to Improve by the Education Funding Agency.

The SFCA annual funding survey report also found that 39 per cent of SFCs had been forced to drop courses in modern foreign languages, while 24 per cent had cut STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths).

A further 81 per cent said they were now teaching students in larger class sizes because of the funding cuts, the report added.

It said that in 2011, SFCs experienced, on average, a 10 per cent reduction in their programme funding as a result of entitlement funding for tutorials, enrichment activities, and additional courses being reduced from 114 hours per year to 30 hours.

A 16-19 funding formula introduced in September 2013, the report added, saw “average” SFCs lose 6 per cent of their funding, and a reduction in funding for 18-year-olds introduced in 2014 left SFCs, on average, a further 1.2 per cent worse off.

James Kewin (pictured left), SFCA deputy chief executive, said the report showed that “the sector cannot survive on starvation rations”.

“The government should end the funding inequalities that exist between SFCs and school/academy sixth forms — particularly the absence of a VAT refund scheme that, according to our report, left the average SFC with £317,964 less to spend on the front line education of students last year,” he added.

In response to the report, Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said his organisation was “extremely concerned” about the funding situation, which meant “it is simply not possible to employ teachers in every subject area”.

Nansi Ellis, assistant general secretary at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “Forcing SFCs to withdraw courses in modern languages and STEM subjects is illogical at a time when employers are desperate for entrants with these skills and knowledge.”

Shakira Martin, National Union of Students vice president for FE, said the survey showed that “continued attacks” on the sixth-form sector showed that the government was not “putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to providing opportunities and choices for young people”.

Nick Pearce, Institute for Public Policy Research director, also predicted the “continued demise of the SFC as a distinct institution”, having read through the report.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We have protected the schools budget and ended the unfair difference between post-16 schools and colleges by funding them per student, rather than discriminating between qualifications.”

The cover might not quite be off WorldSkills 2015 just yet, but FE Week was today one of the few privileged media organisations to be granted sneak preview access to Sao Paulo´s Anhembi Park venue.

The opening ceremony takes place tomorrow night, but competitors were allowed to ´familiarise´ themselves with the 400,00-sqm site today — and, under strict guidelines not to communicate with competitors, reporters and photographers were let in, too.

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View the @FEWeek Twitter account for more sneak preview images and watch for updates on the #GoWSTeamUK hashtag.

Today´s sneak preview came just moments after a pre-competition on-site press briefing with WorldSkills president Simon Bartley.

He said: “This is the 43^rd WorldSkills — the first one was in 1950 when there were just two members of WorldSkills International.

“Here we have a competition where there will be three further members ratified and we will be 75 countries and regions. Of those 43 competitions, until the competition we have starting after the opening ceremony tomorrow, only one competition has been held south of the Equator.

“The competition that starts Wednesday is the second in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the first competition in Latin America, and I think that is a very important thing to happen.

“WorldSkills is now a global movement — we have changed from being a club to being a movement. We are changing, but we have a long way to go before we can really justify that title, but we are making our way there.

“And this competition here in Sao Paulo is the first really big step that we are taking in that direction.

“You will also know this is the biggest competition there has ever been held within the WorldSkills organization. It is not the biggest skills competition in the world. WorldSkills Americas, Skills USA both have more people competiting, but this competition lasting in most cases four days with 1,197 competitors, around 1,100 experts from 62 attending countries with 59 team of competitors is the biggest in WorldSkills history.

“It will also be the biggest number of block competitions — 50 — at the highest level we have ever had, a level expected by industry and business around the world for them to be able to do what they need in their businesses, in their countries for their economies.

“We also seek this to be an opportunity for countries take back messages, images, information to allow them to encourage their young people to consider vocational, technical, craft careers.

“And also to allow countries in their educational system to be able to raise the standards in all of the disciplines they have to those that match the global requirements in a world where the transference of labour and the globalisation of business is a fact not a future.”

The WorldSkills General Assembly tonight (Monday, August 10) granted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s wish to host the 2019 competition.

The bid for Kazan, launched on the request of Mr Putin, was the third to be heard at the meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on the eve of the 43rd WorldSkills opening ceremony.

A delegation from Belgium had been first up, hoping its bid for Charleroi would impress assembly members before a team from France had the same hopes with their bid for Paris.

However, members’ heads were turned by the third and final presentation, from the Russian delegation. Their bid will see WorldSkills go to Russia for the first time in its 70-year history in 2019 as the competition lands in the West Russian city of Kazan, 500 miles east of Moscow. It takes place in Abu Dhabi in 2017 while this year’s competition starts on August 12.

A WorldSkills spokesperson said: “Congratulations to Russia. Kazan has just been announced the host city of the WorldSkills ‪‬competition in 2019.

“We are very excited to have WorldSkills Kazan 2019 taking place in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, one of the leading economic regions in the country and we are convinced that this event will continue our great succession of promoting skills to the world.”

The bid for Kazan, which hosted the two-month 2015 Fina (Fédération internationale de natation or International Swimming Federation) World Championships this summer and has a population of around 1.1m people, was announced in November 2013 after the WorldSkills International (WSI) board of directors met high-ranking Russian politicians, including Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets.

“We spend a lot of meetings with representatives of employers to rethink our professional standards. That is why today’s meeting is so important for us, and I hope that our cooperation will help us to implement the tasks facing Russia” said Ms Golodets at the time.

“That is why on behalf of the President of Russia we have made the decision to submit bid to host WorldSkills Moscow 2019. We plan to file our application in July 2014.”

She added: “It is nice to know that Russia is not alone in their concerns to increase the quality of vocational education and that these same problems are being solved and worked on by other countries.

“I am sure that our goals are the same and our collaboration with WSI would be useful. And I hope that together we will make new steps in the development of professional competencies on a global level.”

Keep up with all the action before and during the 2015 competition in Sao Paulo with FE Week – on feweek.co.uk or on Twitter with the handle @FEWeek and the #GoWSTeamUK hashtag.

More than 1,000 competitors from across the globe will be the stars of the show at tonight´s WorldSkills 2015 opening ceremony.

The parade of nations, when competitors from more than 60 WorldSkills member countries and regions enter the ceremony arena with their flag-waving teams, will figure early in the programme for the night.

The 10,200-capacity Ibirapuera Gymnasium, four miles from the vast competition venue of Anhembi Park, from 7pm hosts the two and a half-hour ceremony that will get competition under way.

And Team UK´s 40 young competitors (pictured above at Heathrow before leaving on Friday, August 7) will play their part having visited a local primary school as part of the competition´s One School One Country initiative.

WorldSkills president Simon Bartley said: “The opening ceremony celebrates more than 1,200 competitors, more than 1,100 experts, thousands of member representatives from over 60 countries and regions participating this week, hundreds of partners, sponsors, and volunteers.

“We will have a spectacular look at the culture and beauty of Brazil, and we only have to turn to the person next to us to recognize the effort and achievement that brings us together.

“Surely, tonight is a time to laugh and sing, and perhaps even dance to some Samba. Tomorrow brings a lot of hard work for all of us.”

Keep up with all the action before and during the competition with FE Week – on feweek.co.uk or on Twitter with the handle @FEWeek and the #GoWSTeamUK hashtag.

Southwark Council has hit out at Lewisham Southwark College in a row over its allegedly rejected plan to split the college in two.

Southwark Council published proposals last month to de-merge Lewisham Southwark College and which would put the council in charge of contracting out provision for the parts that used to be Southwark College before the 2012 merger.

However, last week college principal Carole Kitching (pictured) said the plan had been rejected by FE Commissioner David Collins.

Mr Collins is currently carrying out an area-based assessment of south east London’s FE and skills provision after both Lewisham Southwark College and its nearest neighbour Greenwich Community College were slapped with an inadequate grade.

Southwark Council leader Peter John blasted the alleged decision.

He said: “We’ve had no formal notification from the FE Commissioner, but frankly, if he wants to back a failing college, then that is up to him.

“What I do know is that the council owes it to local young people and older learners to fight tooth and nail to ensure they get the education they deserve, and move seamlessly into careers in Southwark.”

He accused the college of “not preparing students to compete in the jobs market”, despite local opportunities available.

He said: “Lewisham Southwark College has already let down Southwark’s young people, and all residents, by the poor quality of its further education offer in recent years.”

He criticised the college for selling off its Bermondsey site in 2012 and said last month’s decision to sell the Camberwell campus was “short-sighted”.

He said: “It is time for the minister and the FE Commissioner to stop propping up a college which is letting down our residents.

“The commissioner seems determined to put the interests of the college’s managers over those of students and local employers. This is wrong and has to stop.”

As the college is in administered status, meaning the principal cannot make any decisions about staffing, finance or assets without the commissioner’s approval, a council spokesperson said it hoped that this could be used to prevent the sell-off of the Camberwell site.

Lewisham Southwark College declined to comment on Mr John’s comments.

When the college announced that Southwark Council’s plans had been rejected, it said in a statement that the commissioner and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) “have now confirmed that the proposal is not an option that would be considered or progressed”.

It added: “Instead the college has been given time to work on its planned recovery which has recently been praised by both the FE Commissioner and received positive comments towards changes made by Ofsted.”

Principal Carole Kitching took up the role in June.

She said: “Lewisham Southwark should be, and will be, stronger together.”

BIS declined to comment.

Barnfield College has come under fire for spending public money on a sponsorship deal with its local football team.

The college was forced to defend itself when Luton Town football club fans took to social media to express their anger after the college was revealed last week as the sponsor for the club’s shirts for the 2015/16 season.

The college has had a financial turbulent history in recent years. After the departure of former principal Sir Peter Birkett in 2013, when financial irregularities were discovered, the college was judged inadequate for financial control by the Skill Funding Agency, and was slapped with a grade four from Ofsted this January.

Twitter User @digitaldaisies tweeted “I love Luton Town FC, but what are Barnfield College playing at? An FE college sponsoring team kit? Ridiculous.”

Another user, @Drew_Freeman, wondered “where Barnfield are getting this money from to sponsor Luton” while @danny_buckley_ described the deal as “bizarre”.

Facebook user Adrian Farr accused the club of “making profit from local people’s misery” by accepting the college’s money.

Neither the college nor the club have revealed how much the deal, which replaced a previous arrangement with Luton-based budget airline easyJet, was worth.

However, director of education PR company Empra, Ruth Sparkes, told FE Week the deal might have been a worthwhile investment.

She said: “Working with sports organisations, whether that’s through sponsorship or other methods of collaboration can be a very good idea for colleges, but, only the college will know whether it can afford to do so, or what the Return on Investment is.

“Sports can often be a way to engage very hard to reach students and their families. I’m talking about students who would never go to an open event, or call the college or ever think that college was for the ‘likes of them’.”

She added: “Sponsorship, like all forms of advertising costs money, the cost needs to be balanced with the visibility, brand awareness and PR that can be harnessed from the deal — local teams are very important to their communities, and that might be attractive leverage for a college or training provider.”

Barnfield head of marketing Jacky MacKay, defended the deal.

She said: “Any money which has changed hands as a result of the sponsorship was already set aside as part of the marketing budget.”

She added the college’s marketing budget for the year was “within the sector norms”.

Barnfield isn’t the only college  offering sports sponsorship — Truro and Penwith College sponsor the Cornish Pirates rugby team, Cornwall College sponsors Cambourne rugby club, Grantham has a sponsorship deal with Kesteven Rugby’s under 15s team, and Guildford City football club counts Merrist Wood College among its sponsors.

Luton Town Football Club declined to comment on the backlash against the deal.

In a statement on the website announcing the new sponsor, chief executive Gary Sweet said: “It’s fantastic to have Barnfield on-board.

“With the departure of easyJet as shirt sponsor, we were hoping to be able to enter into a new agreement with an organisation with strong links to the town.

“When Barnfield came forward as a potential sponsor it made perfect sense and we’re absolutely delighted to have them involved.

“Working with Barnfield will help us raise the profile of both the club and the college and will offer huge benefits to the club, its supporters, Barnfield and its students in many other ways.”