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Quest for EuroSkills glory under way for Team UK

Hundreds of skilled young tradesmen and women from across Europe came together to compete in a range of skills at EuroSkills 2014, in Lille.

The competition kicked off with a lively opening ceremony at the 7,000-seater Zenith Arena on Wednesday (October 1) with performances from former winners, welcome speeches and a parade of competitors.

The president of WorldSkills Europe, Jos De Goey (picture below right), took to the podium to wish the competitors good luck, but told them: “Be warned, this will be no easy ride.

“We expect hard work and a high standard of know-how and commitment from you in whatever line of business you represent. In return, you will have the experience of a lifetime.”

Among the UK team at the ceremony was professional restaurant service competitor Lucy Jones, aged 20. She told FE Week: “It’s been amazing, everyone’s enjoyed every step.”

Lucy, like the other UK competitors at EuroSkills, was chosen for the provisional WorldSkills squad in June. Since then, she says, it’s been busy. Everyone works full time and then training, it’s all the days off you have, all the breaks you have you’re studying, going to training sessions and flying everywhere,” she said.

However, all the training seemed to have paid off, and all the competitors — apprentices and former apprentices — sounded confident about the competition ahead.

Calum Knott, a 22-year-old mechatronics competitor, said: “It should be a really good competition. The quality of skill is incredibly high, there are some very, very good competitors – in my category there are some people who’ve come second in EuroSkills before so we’re expecting a really tough fight but we hope to aim high.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge – there’s no point competing against people you’re better than.”

Team UK was up against competitors from 24 other European nations, all hoping to win gold, silver or bronze.

Larissa Van Ewjik (pictured above right), 18 and from the Netherlands, was competing in the hotel reception category. She said: “I’m a little bit nervous but I will do it, I’ll be OK. The people I’ve met from other countries have been really nice, really friendly. I really liked having the chance to meet them.”

The competitors faced two days of gruelling competition on Thursday and Friday, with the winners expected to be declared on Sunday evening.

For results and more coverage, look out for the FE Week supplement available online today (Monday, October 6) and free with next week’s edition.

Principal’s ‘keep faith with learners’ plea after stepping in to save teens

The principal of an East London college that stepped in to save sixth form learners dumped over their AS-level grades by an Eton-backed school has called for all providers to “keep faith with learners”.

Eddie Playfair (pictured), as exclusively reported in FE Week sister newspaper Academies Week, has welcomed a number of former London Academy of Excellence (LAE) pupils through the doors at Newham Sixth Form College (Newvic).

They had been kicked out by LAE, which promotes itself as a feeder for “Russell Group and other high status universities,” after failing to achieve three C or above results at the end of their first year.

And they told Academies Week how they were only informed of the grade requirement during the school year — rather than during the application process.

But with Newvic offering A-levels by different awarding bodies, they face the prospect of starting all over again with a further two years of FE study. And with government funding for full-time 18-year-old learners having been cut by 17.5 per cent, the college itself is facing a further budget squeeze as it takes on the responsibility of teaching the ex-LAE learners.

Mr Playfair said: “It does seem to me that those providers who do have a very high threshold to progress from first to second year are not keeping faith with their students and are not seeing students through and not necessarily supporting students through those ups and downs of study.

“The more providers that do that, the more movement there is going to be and more students who will be affected by this. Ideally, I would prefer to see us all taking responsibility in our role, whether students do well or not.”

LAE said it told students and parents about the requirements in a letter in January. There is no information for prospective students about the policy on its website.

Head teacher John Weeks, formerly deputy head teacher at Brighton College, conceded that a “small proportion” of learners had not met the school criteria to get a place at a top university and so had since left.

“A number of students, following school-based and independent careers guidance, given both before and immediately after AS results day, have moved to other institutions who offer a broader range of courses,” said Mr Weeks.

“These moves will give them the best opportunity to secure places on university courses right for them.”

Visit academiesweek.co.uk/lae for more on this story, including Mr Weeks’ full response.

Joint survey paints college enrolment picture

Colleges from up and down the country have revealed how many students have joined their courses this year as they answered a joint Association of Colleges (AoC),
Sixth Form College Association (SFCA) and FE Week enrolment survey.

The online survey ran for 10 days from September 12, and drew responses from a total 68 colleges and sixth form colleges — around 30 per cent of the total.

The information was expected to be released to AoC members on Friday (October 3). An AoC spokesperson said there were no plans to release it to the general public.

Further analysis from the SFCA, focusing specifically on sixth form college data, features next week.

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Businesses key to improving careers advice, Education Secretary tells party conference

Businesses should work more closely with schools on improving careers advice, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said today.

Despite claims by Skills Minister Nick Boles that careers advice would feature prominently, Ms Morgan’s speech to the Conservative Party conference contained no policy announcement on the subject.

Instead, she said that careers, “for too long overlooked in schools”, were now essential.

She added: “Let’s make work experience something of value, something that opens people’s eyes to the possibilities of the world of work, something that helps them aspire to more.

“And let’s get businesses working closely with schools to help children make the right choices at the right time, choices that help them pursue the careers they want… careers that perhaps they had never thought of before.”

Ms Morgan had sounded in conciliatory mood as she took to the stage at the ICC in Birmingham and promised to ease teachers’ workload.

In a speech which was light on policy, but demonstrated a significant change in rhetoric, Ms Morgan pledged to reduce the burden on teachers, but stopped short of announcing any policy to do so, instead promising to speak to teachers and unions.

Ms Morgan also said the government needed to show all providers, regardless of type, that they were equally valued.

She said: “Conference, if there’s one thing I ask of you today, it’s that we show every school that we are on their side, that everything we have done has been driven by the desire to raise standards for all pupils in all schools.

“And that we care more about what a young person sees as they walk out of the gate than we do about the name they see on the way in.”

Additionally, she spoke of the successes of existing policies including the English Baccalaureate, University Technical College and new tech baccs.

Campus Issue 27

Students travel 13,000 miles to renovate African school

City College Brighton and Hove could pick up a community award after eight of its students renovated a run-down school in a remote African town, writes Paul Offord.

Students and staff from City College Brighton and Hove will never forget the welcome they received after travelling more than 13,000 miles to help renovate a school in East Africa.

They were greeted in Wasso, a small town near the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Tanzania, by a procession of singing and dancing teachers, politicians, residents and children and handed gifts to thank them in advance for work they were about to do on the local primary school.

The eight students, who were all studying year-long pathways courses which combine numeracy and literacy with work-based training to prepare them for more advanced vocational courses, repaid their generosity with three days of hard labour.

“They built new wooden window frames, filled-in holes in the concrete floors and walls and painted the walls white.

The college has now been recognised for the project, which it called Trades4Aid and ran with local charity The Fonthill Foundation, through a nomination for a Community Star award which recognises the achievements of people and organisations in the Brighton area.

Lisa Beresford, a pathways teaching assistant who went on the trip in June, said: “It’s nice to be recognised for what was an incredible experience. The welcome we got from Wasso villagers was unbelievable and we were all incredibly moved by the gratitude and warmth we were shown.

“The students and staff welcomed us with open arms.

“They had written all our names on pieces of paper and sang a welcome song.”

The students who travelled to Tanzania were Zack Warren, aged 18, Zak Southwell and Jade Marsh, both 17, Steph Eldred, Brian Clarke, Jack Haworth and Theo Bishop, all 17, and Jake Welch, 16.

They were also accompanied by construction tutor Steve Wilkins and pathways teaching assistant Sharon Purves.

Jade, who has been nominated for an individual Community Star award for her hard work on the trip, said: “We did eight hours each day, but there was music playing and we were dancing and singing with the children as we worked, so it went really quickly.

“For me the highlight was meeting the children who were really lovely and affectionate. I was proud at the end to see the difference we had made at their school.”

The students worked as a team for three days, pulling out old window frames filled with broken glass and using carpentry skills they had learned on the pathways course to build replacements from old wooden furniture which had been broken up.

Jade said: “We must have pulled hundreds of nails from the wood before we could use it. We also filled holes in the walls and concrete floor before repainting.”

Many young students have to walk two hours to the school from the nearest Maasai village called Boma.

The college students walked to the village themselves the day after they finished their redecorating and renovation work.

The students also saw elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, monkeys, baboons and zebras during two days on spent two days on safari near the Ngorongoro Crater.

They raised more than £5,000 towards the cost of the trip through converting wooden delivery pallets into items, including a household storage trunk and a counter for a garden centre, that they sold.

The Community Stars Awards will be given out at the Theatre Royal Brighton on Saturday November 1.

Main pic: Wasso school boys watch college learner Jack Haworth sawing wood

Inset from left: Teaching assistant Lisa Beresford and Zack Warren (back row) with Wasso school children

Home of new HS2 college revealed

The home of the new National College for High Speed Rail has been revealed by the government.

It will be located Doncaster and Birmingham, with its HQ at the West Midlands site, providing specialist vocational training at level four and above for engineers working on the £50bn High Speed 2 (HS2) line that will link Birmingham and London by 2026.

As many as 2,000 apprenticeship opportunities are expected to be created by HS2, with around 25,000 people employed during construction.

It comes with Basildon-based charity Prospects Learning Foundation having been incorporated this summer to become the first new general FE college in more than 20 years, as exclusively predicted by FE Week in July last year.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “The benefits of high-speed rail will not just be seen by those commuting between London and the North, but through the thousands of local jobs and apprenticeships created because of HS2.

“The opening of this National College will also ensure that we have a pool of locally-trained workers with the right skills to draw upon for future projects.”

When it was revealed in January that a new college would be created, a number of FE and skills figures questioned why an existing provider had not been chosen (see FE Week cartoon from the time, right).

FE Week cartoon from edition 89, dated Monday , January 20, 2014

Among them was Association of Teachers and Lecturers general secretary Dr Mary Bousted, who said: “It is worrying that existing colleges allegedly don’t have the capacity or expertise to train sufficient numbers of young adults and adults with the skills needed.”

However, before it opens in 2017, it will have identified a network of other providers who will also be part of the National College in a ‘hub and spoke’ model.

The governing board will be chaired by Terry Morgan, who is also the chair of Crossrail, and will include representatives from Birmingham and Doncaster, alongside HS2 Ltd and industry employers.

A second new industry college, for training nuclear power plant workers, is also being looked at by the government.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “The opening of this [HS2] college demonstrates that the UK is advancing as a global leader in rail manufacturing — in line with the government’s Industrial Strategy. This is the next step in building the highly-skilled specialist workforce needed to develop the biggest infrastructure project this country has ever seen, and to enable our rail industry to compete in future global markets.

“This process has demonstrated a real commitment from all parts of the country to the development of a cutting edge training facility and a rail workforce which is the best in the world.”

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “We have brilliant engineers in this country, but there are not enough of them. With the creation of a National College we can make sure we give young people the skills they need to build HS2 and other projects right across the country.”

The sites were selected following a consultation process which, according to a government spokesperson, attracted a number of very strong proposals from across the country. All bids were assessed against a range of criteria including the size and availability of a suitable site, accessibility, and the potential to develop strong links with employers and providers already operating in the sector.

Making waves with beach clean-up

Animal management tutors and former students from Lancashire-based St Helens College cleared litter from nearby West Kirby beach.

They joined local residents for the clean-up event organised by the Marine Conservation Society and Wirral Parks and Countryside Rangers.

The staff and students picked up 10 green sacks of rubbish between them.

Mike Smillie, animal care lecturer, said: “The beach clean-up was the perfect opportunity to give back to the environment while discovering local wildlife on our doorstep.

“The college hopes to support the event next year too.”

Pic from left: Lecturer Lyndsey Cooper, former students Rachel Fraser, aged 24, and Joanne Price, 23, lecturer Katie Owens, former student Natasha Peters, 24, and lecturer Mike Smillie

Jobcentre Plus to advise young people from age of 15, pledges IDS

Jobcentre Plus will provide careers advice to learners as young as 15, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has announced.

He revealed plans for Jobcentre staff to work with schools for the first time during his speech to the Conservative Party conference today.

He said the changes would mean that, for the first time, 15 to 21-year-olds would have “a single package of help” to stop them falling into unemployment.

It comes after Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to remove benefits from young people aged 18 to 21 who failed to find a job within six months of becoming unemployed, with the money saved used to fund a million new apprenticeships.

And today Mr Duncan Smith announced the policy would go further as he unveiled plans to force 18 to 21-year-olds who do not find work into apprenticeships, traineeships or community work, for which they would be paid an allowance.

He said: “Yesterday, we announced an ambitious package to end the fate of 18 to 21-year-olds languishing on unemployment benefits.

“Those who have not found a job within six months will be put onto an apprenticeship, a traineeship or community work – for which they will receive an allowance.

“This is a huge increase in our determination to set young people on the right path. And we want to go further still.

“Today, I can announce my intention for Jobcentre Plus coaches in my department to work with young people in schools across the country, for the first time, from as early as 15, targeting those most at risk of falling out of education, employment or training, working with them before them they end up with a terrible wage scar, as happened too often in the past.

“For the first time, 15 to 21-year-olds will have a single package of help, support and assistance that will radically improve the hope and aspirations of a generation that the last government left behind.”