Royal seal of approval for sixth form

Prince Edward officially opened a new £5.9m sixth form campus at Sandwell College.

He met students and was given a guided tour of the building which contains classrooms for arts, science and social science subjects, a café and photography and fashion show exhibition space.

It has been used by staff and students since the start of term but the prince unveiled a handmade glass plaque made by local artist Paul Floyd as part of the official opening ceremony.

Biology A-level student Alice Pledger said: “It was very interesting to meet him. We are not used to meeting royalty.”

Principal Graham Pennington said: “We were extremely honoured to receive a visit from our distinguished royal guest to mark this special occasion.”

Prince Edward said: “I wish all the students the very best of luck. I hope this sixth form continues to work as a magnet to encourage other students to learn the essential skills for the workplace.”

Pic from left: A-level biology student Alice Pledger, aged 18, and Prince Edward

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BREAKING: SFA to allow funding ‘top-up’ for new Esol quals

Concerns about delivery costs for new English for Speakers of Other Languages (Esol) qualifications have been addressed by a Skills Funding Agency move to allow “top-up” funding.

Single funding rates for the Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) Esol qualifications had led to fears that providers might be out of pocket for full time courses  — a full 27-credit qualification, for example, has been set the ‘matrix’ rate of £1,265 for around just 227 hours.

But the SFA today revealed a system of “topping-up” to give Esol providers extra funding for longer courses [click here], by allowing them to claim funding for the additional hours by adding ‘non-regulated learning aims’ to the course.

The move was welcomed within the Esol delivery sector as “a really sensible move over something that could have had a significant impact”.

The new QCF qualifications have been under development since February last year when the SFA set out the principles to shape the future of Skills for Life Esol.

An SFA spokesperson said: “In addition to these [fixed] rates, providers offering new Esol qualifications can claim additional funding using the ‘non-regulated’ funding mechanism to take account of any shortfall in funding resulting from the rates matrix.

“This means that for learners undertaking their QCF ESOL qualification, where single rates do not provide enough funding to cover costs, the provider can add to this using the ‘non-regulated’ mechanism.”

They added: “We have agreed this approach following consultation with our Funding External Technical Advisory Group and it is intended to reflect the diverse nature of the Esol learner intake.

“It retains the use of the matrix but enables ‘top-up’ where necessary, and only for those learners where the single rate is insufficient to complete their QCF Esol qualification.”

Steve Hewitt, funding manager at London’s Morley College, told FE Week: “I’m very pleased the Skills Funding Agency has allowed topping up of Esol funding, because the fixed rate would not have been sufficient.

“This is a really sensible move over something that could have had a significant impact and had been of serious concern to a very large number of Esol providers.”

 

Gregg wins disabled sports achiever of year award

A student who struck gold at the Wheelchair Basketball European Championships was crowned disabled sports achiever of the year for the Wigan and Leigh area.

Wigan-and-Leigh-College2wpWigan and Leigh College level three sport learner Gregg Warburton accepted the accolade at the Believe Sports Awards 2014 ceremony organised by the town council.

It recognised the part he played in helping the Great Britain under-22 team win the Wheelchair Basketball European Championships, in Spain, last month.

The 17-year-old was handed the award by former soldier Derek Derenalagi, who lost his legs below the knee in a bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2007 and won gold medals for discus and shotput in last month’s Invictus Games for injured servicemen and women.

Gregg said: “I’m over the moon. I wasn’t expecting to win at all. My ultimate dream is now to reach the Paralympics and win gold.”

Sport tutor Joanne Bishop said: “Gregg is a fantastic talent and we couldn’t be more proud that he’s been recognised in this way.”

Doctors amputated both of Gregg’s lower legs when he was a baby because they did not contain fibula bones.

Pic from left: Invictus Games double gold medal winner Derek Derenalagi and Gregg Warburton. Inset: Gregg after winning the Wheelchair Basketball European Championships.
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EuroSkills 2014

Welcome to this special FE Week supplement brought to you on location from EuroSkills 2014 Lille — where TeamUK picked up an amazing three golds, six silvers and three medallions for excellence (but more about that later).
Travelling to Lille with the talented 21 young men and women representing their country in 16 different skills, the message I heard over and over again from former competitors, training managers and even current competitors was that skills competitions change lives.
Competitors find skills and confidence they never knew they had and see their job prospects flourish, but they in turn change lives by inspiring other people.
Skills Minister Nick Boles acknowledged this in his message of support for TeamUK ahead of the competition, saying: “I am completely in awe of anybody who actually has a practical skill which they are excellent at, since I have precisely none.
“They are ambassadors for their country and I hope they make us and their families very proud.”
The competitors were all chosen from the WorldSkills UK squad — a group of more than 100 young people who are training for WorldSkills in Sao Paulo, Brazil, next year.
The squad will be whittled down to a team early next year.
The UK treats EuroSkills as a training opportunity, to see how competitors will cope on the international stage, so getting into the EuroSkills team doesn’t mean competitors will necessarily go onto WorldSkills.
Nevertheless, EuroSkills team members will be hoping that a good performance in Lille could push them one step nearer Brazil.
Skills competitions can also help drive up standards at home as Keith Smith, interim chief executive of the Skills Funding Agency and Jenny Shackleton, WorldSkills assessment adviser told me, which you can read more about on page three.
On pages four and five read about what I got up to during the competitions and on pages six, seven, 10 and 11 you can find out more about the competitions and the competitors themselves.
On pages 12 and 13 you can read coverage of the closing ceremony (and more on who from TeamUK won what) and on pages 14 and 15 we have the results and interviews with some of the top performers.
Our coverage of WorldSkills will continue online in the run up the Skills Show in November and WorldSkills next year so to keep up with the action, visit the FE Week website or follow @FEWeek.

Cable in ‘kill off FE’ claim at Lib Dem conference

Business Secretary Vince Cable has claimed that government officials suggested “killing off FE” by cutting sector funding, it has been reported.

Dr Cable told a fringe event at the Liberal Democrats’ conference in Glasgow that civil servants in his department said in 2010 that “nobody will really notice”.

The BBC website reports that he claimed to have blocked the move, suggesting the money saved could have gone towards keeping his party’s pledge to axe student tuition fees.

“We took a big political hit for that decision,” said Dr Cable, but he added that it was worthwhile to safeguard “post-school” training, which doesn’t enjoy the safety of ring-fenced funding.

“I have a so-called unprotected department. We were going to have our budget cut by 25 per cent. The biggest items were universities and students, and FE,” he said.

“And I could have taken the advice we had from the civil servants, who said ‘well, why don’t you just effectively kill off FE. Nobody will really notice.”

He added: “The easy way out would have been to have taken all the money out of the FE sector and out of training and I said ‘we are not doing that’.

“It is absolutely critical for the future skills base of the country that we have strong post-school training and education.

“So although the FE sector has been cut — I won’t pretend they have had an easy life — we have , to a significant extent, protected them.”

Cable calls for 40pc apprentice minimum wage rise

Apprentices’ pay could rise by almost 40 per cent if a plan by Business Secretary Vince Cable is approved.

Dr Cable has announced his recommendation to the Low Pay Commission (LPC) that the minimum wage for first year apprentices should rise to £3.79 per hour — the same level as the current rate for 16 and 17-year-old regular workers. Since the start of the month, apprentices have been paid £2.73 an-hour.

Dr Cable, who will address the Liberal Democrat party conference in Glasgow today (Monday), has said the move would help 31,000 apprentices if approved by the LPC.

He said: “The National Minimum Wage has successfully protected the incomes and jobs of the lowest paid workers in the UK.

“This year it will see the first above inflation rise in the minimum wage since the recession.

“Thanks to the Lib Dems, apprenticeships are helping to create a stronger economy and opportunities for young people. I want the minimum pay for apprentices boosted by £1 an-hour.”

It comes after an LPC consultation on all rates of the UK minimum wage came to an end on September 26. Its findings are expected to be released in February in the form of a report to the government, which will then make future decisions based on its recommendations.

It has been asked to look at simplifying the rate for apprentices, prompting fears the system could entail a new minimum rate for all apprentices with learners above the age of 18 no longer moving up after 12 months to the higher rates enjoyed by normal workers.

It also comes after Labour confirmed that under its plan for the adult minimum wage to rise to £8 an hour, apprentices’ minimum wage would also rise to £3.36 per hour — a 23 per cent rise.