An ‘It’s a Knockout’-style competition was a foam favourite with new students at Warrington Collegiate.
The event, which took place last Wednesday to Friday (September 3 to 5), saw rival teams fighting their way through a foam pit, balancing buckets of water on their heads and racing across an inflatable assault course.
Organiser Neil Colquhoun, student involvement manager, said: “We have had more than 600 new students starting from over 30 different schools in Warrington and surrounding areas.
“This event really got students mixing and with its elements of fun and competition helped build strong teams and firm friendships.”
Cap: From left: Public services level one and two learners Ami Barber and Paul Fox, both aged 16, watch as It’s a Kockout supervisor Lee Greenwood helps level three aviation student Will Camblin, 26, back to his feet
Two 18-year-olds launched a painting and decorating business weeks after graduating from college.
Billy Glyde and Abbi Skuse had not met before they started a level one painting and decorating course at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College in September 2012.
They started working together at weekends after progressing to level two of the same course from September last year.
Billy and Abbi, who both live in Bristol, have since redecorated 12 houses and flats and were hired to repaint the college’s hair and beauty salons over the summer holidays before launching their business in August.
Abbi said: “We really enjoy working together. I love transforming a room and seeing the finished product.”
Billy said: “We have never had a single falling out in the two years we’ve known each other which shows we’re a good team.”
Billy and Abbi painted the hair training salon grey and green and the beauty training salon cream and purple.
Painting and decorating tutor Justin Grosspietsch said: “Billy and Abbi did a great job repainting the salons. I wish them well in their new venture.”
Cap: Abbi Skuse and Billy Glyde with their paint brushes in the college’s hair training salon
A careers investment fund, an improved National Careers Service (NCS) website and free or subsidised access to advice are among the recommendations of the National Careers Council (NCC) as it identified “insufficient progress” with reforms since its previous annual report.
As well as re-iterating its call for an employer-led government advisory board on careers, for which Skills Minister Nick Boles today announced a recruitment drive, the NCC set out three further recommendations in its report, 15 months after its report entitled An Aspirational Nation: Creating a culture change in careers provision.
The NCC’s first new recommendation, in a report called Taking action: Achieving a culture change in careers provision, is that the government should provide free or subsidised access to independent and impartial career development professionals. Its second is that the NCS website should be updated to make it more appealing to learners as a “matter of high priority”.
The third new recommendation is that a careers investment fund should be set up and administered by the Department for Education (DfE) in order to “improve existing and successful initiatives and the piloting of innovative local models”.
Dr Deirdre Hughes (pictured), NCC chair, said: “Last year, the council highlighted to government that a culture change in careers provision was urgently needed, particularly in getting good careers support for young people and adults into more classrooms and households across England.
“Some progress has been made in the last 12 months but this has been far too slow. Meanwhile, our education and labour markets remain complex and confusing for young people, parents and teachers and there are significant costs associated with this.
“We urge government and others to take action across England to halt the rapid decline in careers services for young people.”
Schools were given the statutory responsibility to provide independent and impartial careers advice for their pupils in 2011, when the local authority-run careers service Connexions was replaced with the NCS.
Since then, and following the publication of NCC’s first report, the government issued statutory guidelines to include specific references to vocational routes and apprenticeships, meaning schools have a legal requirement to promote them along with academic routes.
And the latest NCC comes after a report by auditor PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, commissioned by the Gatsby Foundation, estimated the cost to schools of delivering a full working careers advice and guidance system in England as being between £45,209 to £92,466 for the first year £38,472 to £77,445 annually thereafter, depending on the size of the school.
Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Brian Lightman (pictured below right) said: “Schools and colleges have been trying extremely hard to provide careers guidance to their students and there are many examples of excellent practice.
“However many are finding it extremely difficult to access high quality provision from suitable qualified professionals. A stark postcode lottery is putting many young people at a real disadvantage. Young people need more help than ever to navigate the bewildering range of opportunities open to them.
“It is desperately important for our economy and for the life chances of our young people to address the shortcomings in provision highlighted in this report [NCC’s second full report]. The recommendations in this report provide a way to achieve this.”
Association of Teachers and Lecturers assistant general secretary for policy Nansi Ellis (pictured below left) said: “The government can no longer ignore the fact that it made a disastrous error with careers education when it dismantled the support available for young people.
“The findings of the NCC’s report confirm what teachers are telling us, that too few young people can reliably count on getting the support they need to make informed decisions about their
“Evidence from the Gatsby Foundation clearly showed that it would not be expensive for the government to fund effective careers education, information, advice and guidance, especially compared to the savings from stopping young people becoming unemployed.”
Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “We welcome the NCC’s report that forms a valuable part of the debate on the way young people and adults receive the careers guidance they need. Many schools and employers are doing excellent work to ensure young people are prepared for the world of work and we are committed to helping more to follow their lead.
“We are grateful for the council’s recommendations and can announce that the recruitment process has started for the employer led advisory group – the first recommendation of the council. We will carefully consider this report and respond in full shortly. We are grateful to the NCCCouncil and would like to thank chair Dr Hughes and members for all their hard work.”
Key figures from across the FE and skills sector have been poring over the adult numeracy and literacy report by MPs on the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee.
Here is a key selection of responses from the sector.
Carol Taylor (pictured right), deputy chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, said: “Many of the committee’s findings and recommendations echo our manifesto, including cross-departmental working, a more flexible approach to adult learning, through the provision of Personal Skills Accounts funded by learners, employers and the state and giving individuals much greater control over their own learning.
“The BIS select committee has clearly grasped the urgency of the situation. We are glad they have addressed many of our concerns. It is critical for the future of our society and economy that all adults have the right opportunities to improve their literacy and numeracy. Raising awareness of the support that’s available is important, but we must ensure that those with the lowest skills have the confidence to take up these opportunities.
“Good quality provision must be made available in a range of settings – colleges, adult education centres, workplaces, communities, as well as in schools to help families learn together. This will help to break the intergenerational cycle of low literacy and numeracy.
“To truly motivate and inspire people to improve their skills we are working on a Citizens’ Curriculum, a study programme approach offering people more of what they both want to learn and what they need to learn to get on in life and work. As well as English and maths, we also believe digital skills should be considered as the ‘third basic skill’. Nearly all – 90 per cent – of new jobs by 2015 will require at least basic digital skills.”
Joy Mercer (pictured left), director of education policy at the Association of Colleges, said: “It is a sad irony that the government’s decision in 2010 to end all advertising means that many adults with low levels of literacy and numeracy don’t know they can access free courses to get these skills. A new campaign is needed.
“The committee is also right to recommend that the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills need to work closely to solve the problem of low levels of adult literacy and numeracy. It is a pity, therefore, that a joint Ministerial workforce which used to discuss these issues, no longer meets. Vince Cable and Iain Duncan Smith need to re-establish this group as a matter of urgency.
“Most crucially, of course, is the massive funding cuts which have hit adult learning in the last few years. At the moment, adult learning just isn’t a priority for government. Funding cuts have led to a 35 per cent drop in the adult skills budget over the past five years. This is not sustainable, particularly when we need to strengthen the skills of our workers to ensure that as a country, we are able to compete in the global market.”
A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers said: “We urge the government to consider seriously the recommendations of the select committee’s report. The report highlights how we are not alone in thinking that Jobcentre Plus needs to be working more closely with local providers in addressing the English and maths needs of unemployed people if more sustainable employment is going to be the outcome of support offered. We also pleased that the issue of the current benefit rules being an obstacle to the provision of a more flexible traineeship programme has been raised.
“The committee’s concerns about GCSEs being the only proposed form of attainment for English and maths within an apprenticeship are ones we share. For those adults who have not acquired basic skills at school, the government must provide the investment to ensure that everyone, regardless of age, reaches a minimum level of skill. This should include support for functional skills in English and maths as well as GCSEs.”
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “We welcome the recognition by MPs from all the main parties of the great successes Unionlearn has achieved for both workers and their employers.
“We need a skilled workforce for a sustainable recovery and a strong economy with more living wage jobs and living standards rising again.
“We are keen to continue bringing these benefits to as many workers as possible, especially those who are not reached by traditional learning routes.”
Greater co-operation across several government departments, a review of funding and a high profile national campaign were among a host of measures put forward by MPs aiming to address poor literacy and numeracy in England.
Members of the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee also rejected GCSEs as the only qualification by which attainment in numeracy and literacy should be judged.
Committee chair Adrian Bailey (pictured) said: “By adopting the recommendations of our report, the government can make a real difference to people’s lives and our economy’s productivity.”
Skills Minister Nick Boles (pictured right) said the MPs’ inquiry was “timely and thorough” and that he would “carefully consider its conclusions”.
The inquiry, whose report came out today — UN International Literacy Day, followed a survey in October by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) — based on interviews with 166,000 people in 24 countries — that found that England and Northern Ireland was ranked 22nd for literacy and 21st for numeracy.
The inquiry opened in February and took evidence from a host of witnesses, including National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) chief executive David Hughes; Tom Wilson, director of Unionlearn, TUC; Karen Adriaanse, HMI specialist adviser, the national adviser for careers guidance and employability, Ofsted, and former Skills Minister Matthew Hancock (pictured left).
And MPs, who produced a video outlining their findings (see below), were complimentary of Mr Hancock’s efforts to address low levels of numeracy and literacy, but urged his successor, Mr Boles, to continue to focus on the issue and called for greater collaboration between departments for education, BIS, work and pensions, communities and local government, and the justice and defence ministries.
The committee report said: “We recommend that a civil servant in each of the relevant departments is chosen to act as a champion for adult literacy and numeracy. Should close collaboration between these departments not be delivered, we recommend that the Minister be given more formal powers to intervene in those departments on matters of adult literacy and numeracy.”
It added: “The government must make best use of limited funds, and so we urge them to undertake long-term, joined-up planning, concentrating resources on a core of effective, established, proven schemes, rather than being diverted by a proliferation of short-lived pilots across various departments.
“First and foremost, the government must get the message across to those adults with limited English and maths skills that help is available, with a national campaign that advertises the fact that there is free training and tuition for any adult who wants to study English and maths up to GCSE level.”
The committee also highlighted the importance of GCSE alternatives, such as functional skills.
The report said: “We reject the blanket acceptance that GCSEs in English and maths are the gold standard by which schemes and attainment are measured.”
It added: “The government has successfully recognised that a more flexible approach to learning reaps success, and therefore the accompanying government funding must move away from the traditional, linear approach to achieving qualifications.”
The bidding process for adult learning contracts should be reviewed, the committee said.
“The Skills Funding Agency’s bidding process means that demonstrably successful providers of courses have to go through the process of rebidding, which leads to insecurity of both the learners and staff providing those courses. BIS needs to re-examine this,” said the report.
“Schools do not have this insecurity, neither should providers of adult courses.”
Mr Bailey said: “There is no silver bullet to tackling the problem of low levels of adult literacy and numeracy but a national campaign will help to get the message out to those who are most in need of support.”
He added: “Adult learning can play a vital role in helping people escape the trap of low-skilled jobs or unemployment, yet the committee found there was little rigorous or uniform assessment in place for when adults claim unemployment benefit despite the fact that this is an ideal opportunity to help adults to gain essential skills needed to get a job.
“The committee calls on the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills, and Jobcentre Plus and skills providers to work closely to ensure there is consistent and thorough assessment of skills at the earliest possible stage of unemployment benefit claims.
“The committee urges the government to take a more flexible approach to adult learning, both in the types of programme on offer — by voluntary and paid organisations — and in the types of funding given by the government.
“The committee is concerned about reductions in funding to adult learning schemes and calls on the government to reverse its decision to cut funding to Unionlearn, a scheme which has achieved outstanding results at a fraction of the cost of full-time formal education.”
Mr Boles said: “Good English and maths skills are vital if people are to fulfil their potential and to find and sustain employment.
“The BIS Select Committee inquiry report is an important study into how the government and other organisations are helping adults improve their reading, writing and maths skills.
“The report rightly highlights the excellent work already underway, but we must not be complacent. We will continue our reforms to raise aspirations of learners and to improve the quality of English and maths teaching.
“I welcome this timely and thorough investigation into adult literacy and numeracy, and will carefully consider its conclusions.”
Click here to read responses to the report from Niace, the Association of Colleges, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers and the TUC.
See edition 110 of FE Week, dated Monday, September 15, for an expert piece on the findings by committee chair Mr Bailey.
Sally Trivett dropped to a frightening 5st but is now winning her fight with anorexia with the help of South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, writes Paul Offord.
When teenager Sally Trivett was hospitalised with her weight having plummeted to just 5st, she knew she had to make major changes if she was to beat anorexia.
A year later, and against the backdrop of a new home, the 17-year-old’s weight has more than doubled to a healthy 11st.
And to top off the happy return to health, she has also just recorded top AS-level grades in textiles, English literature and English language having switched from school to South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.
“It worked really well for me and I was ecstatic when I got my AS-level results last month,” said Sally.
“Having to combine my recovery with my studies has been really tough, but I worked hard and am so proud of myself.”
Up until last summer, Sally lived in Exeter with mum Nicci, aged 53, and went to a local school where she achieved an A*, five As, two Bs and two Cs for her GCSEs despite only attending two days a-week.
But as her health suffered she stayed at Bristol’s Riverside Adolescent Unit for four weeks in June last year. While there, she put on 2st thanks to a support programme that included therapy and careful monitoring of her eating habits.
She decided a change of scenery was needed after leaving hospital, so moved to Bristol with dad Paul, 46.
Sally said: “I lived with my mum when I was ill. She’s my best friend and I love her to bits, but moving to Bristol with my dad and starting college was the right decision.”
She added: “The anorexia affected my confidence levels massively and I just stopped going into school.
much now as the hospital now arrange my visits more around my studies.”
She added: “I love communication and would like to do a job where writing about taboo subjects, like anorexia, can help people.”
“I was only in about two days a-week by the end, but they kept me on for GCSEs and I got through them.
“I had too many bad memories of my old school after leaving hospital, so decided to go to a college in a completely different place instead.”
Sally wants to complete her A-levels this year and is hoping to then head to university to study journalism.
Her English language tutor, James Caldwell, said: “We are all immensely proud of Sally’s achievements in the English department. She has succeeded despite some difficult obstacles being placed in her way.
“Sally is an example to us all of what you can achieve through hard work, focus, effort and determination.”
Teachers at the college emailed Sally information about any work she missed in lessons and homework that needed to be done.
“The college has been great,” said Sally. “They let me go to all my hospital appointments, even if they clashed with lessons. I was even offered counselling by the college, although I didn’t need that as I get it already.
“I missed a lot more classes when I first started at college, but it doesn’t happen so much now as the hospital now arrange my visits more around my studies.”
She added: “I love communication and would like to do a job where writing about taboo subjects, like anorexia, can help people.”
Cap: Sally Trivett in the classroom at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College at the start of the new academic year
A group of teachers from the Chinese FE sector learned about English vocational training during a visit to Birmingham Metropolitan College.
The 10 teachers from Shanghai, accompanied by an interpreter, were given a tour of the college’s fashion, motor vehicle maintenance, mechanical engineering, and art and design departments.
They also learned about how colleges work with employers to tailor vocational courses for the workplace.
Andrew Cleaves, Birmingham Metropolitan College principal, said: “It was really exciting to welcome them at a time when both economies are experiencing growth, with associated skills challenges.”
Irene Yu, director of Alliance Group which arranged the visit, said: “Our teachers learned a great deal, in particular, about vocational courses and it’s our intention to take this knowledge back to China.”
Cap: Birmingham Metropolitan College principal Andrew Cleaves (front row, centre) with staff from his college and Chinese teachers
Cleveland College of Art and Design (CCAD) is on a roll after students helped graduate Nick Kennedy create diceinspired artwork for a public exhibition.
The 30-year-old professional artist, who left CCAD in 2003, worked with dozens of art foundation learners to produce drawings, paintings, sculptures and other exhibits displayed over the last week at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art gallery.
The artwork was based on dice rolled thousands of times by volunteers, with records kept of where they landed and the numbers displayed.
He said: “I was looking at a way to create art allowing the influence of chance and accident to dictate its course. We had students from 18 to 65 helping who were all incredibly enthusiastic.”
Cap: Cleveland College of Art and Design graduate Nick Kennedy with an exhibit showing clock-like devices with hands charting the direction that dice travelled in
A Moulton College graduate is part of the first professional squad of England women rugby union players.
Leanne Riley completed an advanced apprenticeship in sporting excellence at the college three years ago.
The 21-year-old, who plays on the wing, is one of 20 England women players who will be paid by the Rugby Football Union to train full-time and play for the national side.
Leanne, who was not part of the recent World Cup-winning team, will concentrate on preparing for 2014-15 Women’s Sevens World Series matches taking place across the USA, Netherlands, Canada and Britain over the next year.
She said: “It is an amazing feeling to be one of the first female professional rugby players. I would never have made it without my experience at Moulton College.”
Cap: Leanne Riley (pictured centre) playing for Moulton College.
