WorldSkills London 2011: Triumph for Team UK

Christopher Berridge, Gold medal winner in the Stonemasonry competition. All pictures by Nick Linford for FE Week.

Team UK bagged 12 medals at WorldSkills London 2011, making it their best performance to date.

UK competitors received four Gold, two Silver and six Bronze at the awards ceremony in the packed out O2 Arena last night (Sunday).

The Team also received 12 Medallions for Excellence, an award given to those competitors with above average scores. It was Korea who topped the WorldSkills London 2011 medal table, as they picked up a total of 24 medals and 12 Medallions for Excellence.

The prize giving was presented by Gabby Logan and Michael Underwood and included a performance from Beardyman. The huge audience was made up of supporters from every corner of the world.

WorldSkills will next be hosted in Leipzig in Germany in 2013. The German team received four medals at this years event.

President of WorldSkills International and Chief Executive of UK Skills, Simon Bartley, at the closing ceremony with FE Week’s exclusive WorldSkills t-shirt.

Team UK’s medal wins in full:

 

Gold Medals

Shane Trevitt, Plumbing and Heating

Philip Green, Bricklaying

Ben Murphy, Cooking

Kirsty Hoadley, Visual Merchandising

Christopher Berridge, Stonemasonry (Stonemasonry was not considered an official skill as there are too few participants)

 

Silver Medals

Ross Varnam, Autobody Repair

Landscape Gardening, Simon Abbott and James Cuffey

 

Bronze Medals

Ryan Sheridan, Mechanical Engineering Design – CAD

Jake Rambaldini, Welding

John Couldridge, Automobile Technology

Ben Eaton, Car Painting

Adam Bushnell, Joinery

Stuart Millar, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

John Hayes, Minister for Skills, presenting Korea with one of many gold medals at WorldSkills London 2011

For full medal listings, visit: http://www.worldskills.org/results.html and for more on WorldSkills London, see this week’s FE Week.

For more photos of the event go to FE Week‘s Flickr page.

Conservatives call on employers to take on more apprentices

Apprenticeships, apprenticeships, apprenticeships.

The vocational qualification was at the forefront of speeches made during the Conservative Party conference in Manchester last week.

The Prime Minister David Cameron called on large businesses to take on more apprentices during his speech on Wednesday.

“When a balanced economy needs workers with skills, we need to end the old snobbery about vocational education and training. We’ve provided funding for 250,000 extra apprenticeships – but not enough big companies are delivering,” Mr Cameron said.

“So here’s a direct appeal: If you want skilled employees, we’ll provide the funding, we’ll cut the red tape. But you’ve got to show more leadership and give us the apprenticeships we need.”

David Willets, MP for Havant and Minister of State for Universities and Science echoed Mr Cameron’s views, but added that too many young people were failing to take up apprenticeships.

He said that in the three miles surrounding Tottenham, there were 3,100 vacancies on the National Apprenticeship website during the London riots.

“When we make opportunities available we expect young people to take them up. There are no excuses,” Mr Willets said.

John Hayes, Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong used the Conservative Party conference to remind delegates of the increased number of apprentices created by the government.

Mr Hayes, during the ‘Rebalancing the Economy’ session held on Monday, said: “The government has put apprenticeships at the heart of our programme for skills. Apprenticeships are growing beyond labour’s wildest dreams.

“We’ve already delivered 100,000 new places and we will create 250,000 more apprenticeships over this parliament.”

Mr Hayes later announced that the government would be creating 10,000 new higher level apprenticeships at level 3, 4 and above.

He said: “I want to see the vocational route be just as navigable, progressive and seductive as the academic path. I want to give those that learn by doing their place in the sun.”

Mr Hayes was also part of a fringe event called ‘Unleashing the Talent: How do we foster the skills needed for economic growth?’ chaired by the think-tank Demos.

Tom Wilson, Director of Unionlearn, was one of the speakers at the event and said that that it was vital that the quality of the apprenticeship brand was protected.

He added that unions were working with the government and National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) to “crack down on unscrupulous employers who are putting on a few weeks worth of training and calling them apprenticeships.”

The annual conference follows those held by both the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties in the last month.

FE Week reporter ‘Has a Go’ at WorldSkills London 2011

FE Week News Reporter Nick Summers gets into the spirit of WorldSkills London 2011 by ‘having a go’ at the trade skills on offer

WorldSkills has been cleverly dubbed the ‘skills Olympics’ – but to think of it merely as a tournament would be short-sighted. The aim of the event is not only to inspire visitors through the competition, but to encourage them to try some of the professions for themselves.

The ‘Have a Go’ activities were designed to get the public involved and try various skills. Booths were dotted all over the ExCel London and attracted plenty of attention thanks to huge billboards shouting “I am… ready to have a go!” These workshops were open plan and designed to represent and reflect the surrounding trades.

The activities, to name just a few, included plastering, carpentry, airbrushing and virtual car painting, hair styling, making wooden rocking horses and chocolate welding.

So in the spirit of WorldSkills (and with a bit of bribery from my editor) I got stuck in and tried as many vocational skills as possible.

My first challenge was to change the rear tire on a Honda motorcycle. Visitors were timed to see how long it took them to remove a bolt and washer, remove the rear calibre and slide out the spindle connecting the tyre. This was then followed by a new rear tyre, which visitors needed to use to put the bike back together again. Tricky.

The wheels were particularly heavy and I was surprised at the strength needed to use the ratchet gun and wrench. One of the mechanics was on hand to make sure I didn’t damage any of the equipment, and I was very impressed with just how hands-on I was allowed to get with the task.

Needless to say my final time for the activity was appalling (no surprise there). Even so, I felt that the task was a realistic glimpse of a profession that would be difficult to reproduce in a college prospectus or open day.

Tiling was next on my list. ‘How hard could it be to stick some ceramics to a wall?’ I thought with blissful ignorance.

To start with, the activity was made far harder by the tile design itself. The various slabs joined together to form a colourful union jack, and it was infuriatingly hard to try and sort them out and put them in their appropriate places. Sticking them to the wall proved even more challenging.

Putting plaster onto the various tools and spreading it with a thin consistency required a level of skill that I obviously didn’t have. The WorldSkills staff were keen to show me how to handle the grey goo with the necessary precision, but to be honest I knew I was a lost hope. Time for something else.

When I think of Bentley cars, I think of designers in smoky rooms, burly mechanics in steel factories and pristine businessmen in immaculate showrooms. Sewing does not come to mind. Yet this was the profession being shown off by the traditional and luxury British car company, offering visitors the chance to finish some cross stitching on a steering wheel.

I saw numerous young men scoff initially at the idea of sewing, but they soon changed their minds when they realised which company was behind the activity (show them a flash car and they’ll do anything – fact). It was refreshing to see the admirable care and craft that goes into car manufacturing, and I think it reminded many people of the different professions that are out there.

Waltham Forest College were offering skills arguably a little more ‘hip’ and modern. An instructor from Streetlife Radio taught me how to use a pair of turntables, keeping in tempo with the music and ‘fading’ across to various tracks. The timing was really tricky and it took me numerous attempts to finally nail a session and put two songs in perfect harmony. Based on the feedback from passers-by, I bet the classes are a resounding success at the college.

Throughout the day I also had the chance to sit in a Formula 1 racing car, try my hand as a racing jockey and even apply various facial masks.

You name it and WorldSkills London 2011 was offering it. Many of the activities were also child friendly, encouraging little ones to try simpler tasks such as plumbing puzzles and building cardboard furniture.

Everything on offer was exciting, fresh and hands-on. It was the perfect opportunity for any school leaver or potential learner to consider a vocational profession, not only by seeing what they enjoyed the most, but also by seeing what they were best at.

Team UK and the inevitable medals table will no doubt grab most of the headlines at WorldSkills, but I’d argue that training providers and young visitors are the real event winners. The first day of the competition was a resounding success and the ‘Have a Go’ activities helped unquestionably to inspire the future of Britain.

 Photos by Nick Linford, for FE Week

NUS launches ‘Fair Necessities’ campaign at FEstival

It was a feast of further education (FE) as hundreds of youngsters flocked to Birmingham to launch a series of student-led campaigns for this academic year.

On Monday, more than 200 FE student representatives attended the single largest National Union of Students’ (NUS) FE specific event, FEstival.

It brought together Student Officers from Students’ Unions from across the UK to mark the launch of a series of NUS’ campaigns for 2011/12 and the start of a new academic year.

The free, one day event, was held at Birmingham University’s Guild of Students and built on the success of the first FEstival back in 2009, aiming to stimulate and motivate student representatives and officers for the year ahead through structured and informal networking, campaigning and skills workshops and campaign launches.

Even our own Managing Editor, Nick Linford, held a workshop focusing on funding in the sector.

The main hall was decked out with bunting, balloons and there was plenty of music being played; in order to create a festival atmosphere. At 10am before the bulk of attendees arrived NUS staff were buzzing with excitement about the day’s line up.

The event kicked off at 11am with a key note speech from Toni Pearce, Vice President (VP) FE NUS, who introduced the event and launched the NUS FE priority campaign for the year ahead, Fair Necessities. This year’s priority campaign looks at equipping students’ unions with the tools and skills to campaign against the cuts made to enrichment funding in the UK.

During her key note speech when launching the campaign, Pearce said, “enrichment funding was first introduced in 2000 to provide 16-19 year old in full time further education access to a wide range of extra-curricular activities and extra learning support including, tutorials, pastoral care and citizenship. The Government have made a 75 per cent cut in this service which will have an impact on student lives and force colleges in making tough decisions around which services to prioritise.”

The toolkit is designed for both students and staff working in students’ union and is available here.

FE Week has since learnt that there are plans for NUS to release their very own versions of the Jungle Book classic, Look for the Bear Necessities.

There is often a perception in NUS that it is only the remit of the VPFE to represent FE students. Following on from Pearce’s key note speech, there was a Q&A session with the other 4 vice presidents and the National President, Liam Burns. This was a first for NUS, never before had all of the VPs and President been in attendance together to discuss how their own remits work to benefit FE.

The VPs went into detail around the various ways they are representing FE over the coming year, from the VP Society and Citizenship outlining an exciting new partnership with Oxfam to build citizenship in FE to the VP Union Development announcing Activism 2011, a day which will focus on training student officers on how to campaign effectively.

During the lunch break another campaign was launched by the VP Welfare, Pete Mercer. By way of parking a red double decker bus outside the venue, Mercer launched the Get on the Bus campaign. FEstival goers were encouraged to “Get on the Bus” in-time for a launch speech from the VP Welfare.

Mercer explained the campaign aims to highlight the issues that students face regarding the cost of travel in the UK. Aimed at FE colleges, the campaign will see a bus tour around the UK to encourage FE students to approach their local councils in order to improve travel subsidies for young people.

In between the campaign launches and speeches there were numerous workshops that attendees could choose from. Workshops on offer varied from Campaigning tips for students’ unions, broadening membership, enterprising students’ unions and adult education funding.

Speaking to FE Week after FEstival, Larni Baird, President, Aberdeen College Students’ Union said: “I made the epic journey from Aberdeen to come along to today’s event. It was truly overwhelming to see so many FE student officers attending Festival. I have been an officer in the student movement now for 2 and a half years and never seen an FE event so well attended. But not only was attendance high, the calibre of officers and their enthusiasm was inspirational.”

Pearce formally closed FEstival with a vote of thanks to everyone that had contributed to what had been for her “one of the most amazing events she had ever attended.” Speaking after FEstival, Pearce said, “Today has been incredible, not only because so many FE students came along, but because so many are now engaged and want to get out there and campaign for their members. Whether that be for the reinstatement of EMA, increases in transport subsidy or votes at 16. Our members, here today, showed that students in FE have a bigger voice than ever before.”

FEstival was certainly one of the, if not most, successful FE specific events that NUS has staged in recent years. It has been a strategic aim of the organisation in recent years to engage with more with FE students. Events such as this certainly prove they have engaged with more FE students than ever before. FE Week will be keeping up to date with all the latest news from the campaigns over the coming year.

Department for Education launch 16-19 Funding Formula Review

The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove has launched a consultation to reform and simplify the ‘16-19 funding formula’, for implemtation in 2013/14.

The announcement, published by the Department for Education (DfE) last Thursday, states: “Proposals in the consultation include moving away from the current complex system of funding on the basis of ‘payment per qualification’ to introduce a much simpler system of funding at the level of the learner.

“Such a change is essential if we are to make a reality of the proposals in Professor Alison Wolf’s groundbreaking report on vocational education.

“It also supports the Government’s aims of reducing bureaucracy for education providers and making the funding system simpler, more transparent and readily understood by all.

“Responses to the consultation are sought from 16-19 education and training providers in general and specialist further education colleges, sixth form colleges, maintained schools and Academy sixth forms as well as commercial and charitable providers, and Apprenticeship providers.”

FE Week understands that the consultation launch was originally planned for May 2011 but the DfE delayed implementation so it could also consider the reform of 5-16 year-old funding.

The current formula was implemented in 2008/09 by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in an effort to simplify funding.

John Bolt, former  national technical lead for funding at the LSC said: “I am pleased that the DfE and Young People’s Learning Agency have now published the latest consultation.  It was expected earlier this year, and will apply from 2013/14 and not a year earlier as was previously thought.

As ever, it is difficult to strike the right balance between simplicity, fairness and new Government policy, which is reflected within the numerous options within the report.  There seems to be a move towards funding 16-18 learners in a similar way to pre-16 learners, which may simplify things for school sixth forms but less so for colleges.”

The closing date for responses is Wednesday 4 January 2012.

An inconvenient truth

In August of this year the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report of an enquiry into value for money in the education of those aged 16-18. It followed an investigation by the National Audit Office on the same subject but the committee itself took additional evidence from a number of expert witnesses.

Sadly the Guardian Newspaper had a travesty of an article headed “’Money is ‘wasted on badly managed colleges’”, the main thrust of which bore little relationship to anything the PAC had said.”

The full document, which does not take long to read, is available here.

The report deserves to be widely read, not least because it was not well reported in the education press. It does not appear to have surfaced in FE Focus in the TES. The BBC has a competent summary on its website here, but sadly the Guardian Newspaper had a travesty of an article headed “’Money is ‘wasted on badly managed colleges’”, the main thrust of which bore little relationship to anything the PAC had said.

Since the Guardian has been one of the few papers to report anything about FE in recent years, and generally enjoys a good reputation for informed and balanced journalism it is important to point out that the PAC makes no mention at all of ‘bad colleges’. It most certainly does not, as the article explicitly states, warn that ‘the government is wasting money by funding poorly-managed colleges.’

The main focus of PAC criticism is clearly the government, not institutions and it aims its fire accurately at the complex and inconsistent arrangements for monitoring the performance of the sector, not at school heads or college principals.”

Indeed when the PAC mentions colleges specifically it is to point out that their record in terms of increasing efficiency is superior to that of schools. They state for example: “As a result of fewer resources in the past, further education colleges have become more adept at making tough choices to improve value for money.” They also point out that the accountability arrangements for colleges are clearer than those for sixth forms.

‘Colleges were required to meet minimum levels of performance (based on success rates), and the Young People’s Learning Agency set clear action plans where colleges failed to meet them. In contrast, local authorities were not consistent in their approach to dealing with poor performance in school sixth forms.’

The main focus of PAC criticism is clearly the government, not institutions and it aims its fire accurately at the complex and inconsistent arrangements for monitoring the performance of the sector, not at school heads or college principals.

There are in fact three main strands to the PAC report all of which have important implications for government policy. The first is that the committee is clear that larger institutions benefit learners. ‘Larger providers benefit from economies of scale and can provide a wider choice of courses for their students.

The evidence also suggests student achievement is higher in larger institutions’. The PAC is not the first to point to such evidence but the authority of the chief parliamentary watchdog on value for money is such that it must call into question the government’s enthusiasm for opening yet more small sixth forms in areas well provided for by FE and sixth form colleges.

The second strand of the PAC report relates to collaboration. Some of the benefits of scale can be achieved by smaller providers it argues if they are able to collaborate, for example by sharing back office services. The competitive environment in which schools and colleges have to operate however acts as a powerful inhibitor of such collaboration and consequently restricts its impact. Taken together with the comments on the benefits of scale this undermines BIS proposals for the future shape of the FE landscape which once again advocates partnerships and seek to discourage merger.

It is however the third charge made by the committee that is perhaps the most serious. The systems of reporting and performance management for schools and colleges are so different that potential students cannot effectively exercise choice and government cannot be sure that it is obtaining value for money.

Colleges have the more robust systems in place both in terms of efficiency and effectiveness but a direct comparison between the sectors is still frustrated. It is hard to believe that a decade after coming together with colleges under the LSC school sixth forms still cannot produce reliable data on qualification success rates (QSR) that enable real comparison with FE.

It is however reminiscent of claims by DES officials in the 1980s and 1990s that comparing the cost to the public purse of provision in schools and colleges was not possible owing to its technical complexity; and of course the fact that seven years after LSDA research definitively established the scale of the funding gap between schools and colleges officials have still failed to close it.

The current target date for convergence of funding is 2015, well into the future. Conspiracy theories are usually wrong but the difficulties encountered when trying to compare the performance of schools and colleges might be the exception. The Whitehall machine seems really reluctant to allow awkward comparisons to be made: could the reason be that the policy implications might just be too inconvenient.

Mick Fletcher, visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Education

UCT sells Ufi Limited to Lloyds TSB Development Capital (LDC)

The Ufi Charitable Trust (UCT) has sold part of its business to Lloyds TSB Development Capital (LDC) for £40 million.

Ufi Limited, which is known for its management of the Learndirect brand, was sold to the private equity house on Wednesday.

Sarah Jones, Chief Executive of Learndirect, said: “The change in ownership will allow us to reach more businesses and learners with a wider range of products and services, while continuing to deliver excellent training and raise standards across the sector.”

LDC is part of the Lloyds Banking Group and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

The company has announced that Ufi Ltd will now trade simply as Learndirect.

Joanne Milner, Investment Director at LDC said: “We are delighted to invest in Learndirect. Given the strength of its brand and the greater flexibility it will now have to expand its services, we believe Learndirect has tremendous potential in the wider marketplace.

LDC and the strong, existing management have a clear strategy for growth involving accessing a far greater pool of potential learners and businesses and providing a much broader range of services. “

Ufi Ltd, which until now was owned and overseen by UCT, had a turnover of £140 million in 2010.

John Weston, UCT Chairman, said “The sale is excellent news. UCT will use the endowment created by the sale to assist in achieving a step change in adult learning and employability.

“There is massive potential for e-learning to drive business and boost economic performance, and over coming months we will be commissioning a strategic programme of projects to fully unlock that potential.”
UCT was created by the Government in 1998 to implement new technology into the delivery of learning and skills.

Learndirect is the UK’s leading online learning provider, and has 380 direct employees who deliver learning.

The business receives income from contracts with funding bodies, including the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), as well as the private sector.

Geoff Russell, Chief Executive of the SFA, said: “The sale of Ufi Ltd and its Learndirect brand is good news for UK businesses, learners and the wider economy.

“It will boost competition in the training sector, allowing more people to benefit from learning opportunities and helping businesses thrive through the large scale delivery of learning through technology.”

Ian Crabb, a former Oxford graduate and former CEO of Quadriga Worldwide Limited, has been appointed as the new Chair of Learndirect.

“This is an immensely exciting time for Learndirect,” he said.

“I am delighted to have been appointed its new Chair and I am looking forward to supporting its continued growth and delivering even more opportunities for people during these very difficult economic times.”

Talks to address apprenticeship concerns

Apprenticeship providers plan conference as criticism mounts over numerous “worthless” delivery models

Training providers have called for talks on issues surrounding apprenticeships in the wake of heavy criticism.

A conference led by providers is being arranged for early next year to discuss concerns such as short apprenticeships.

It comes following numerous reports by FE Week on the current state of apprenticeships and also a further story by the Mail on Sunday last week, which claimed apprenticeships are “falling short of  skills as firms collect millions”.

Lindsay McCurdy, group manager of LinkedIn: Apprenticeships London, which was initially set up for providers in the capital but is now open across England, is setting up the conference to tackle issues, while also highlighting the success of apprenticeships.

The group has more than 800 members on the social networking site LinkedIn and around 90 have confirmed their intention to attend the summit, which is due to be held in March on a date and at a location to be arranged.

Mrs McCurdy is unhappy at apprenticeships being handed to already employed workers – a situation which FE Week has highlighted with the case of Asda.

“We must be careful not to undermine the overall apprenticeship brand which is becoming increasingly attractive amongst young people.”

The company is due to create 25,000 apprentices by the end of  2012, with the training by City & Guilds and funded by £8 million from the Skills Funding Agency, but it is believed none will amount to a new job.

She said: “Apprenticeships are about job creation, not giving already employed people qualifications.

“I am not against up skilling of already employed staff, but do not call it apprenticeships.”

She also said: “The members of  my group… have asked that we arrange a conference which is provider led to raise these issues and address them. “I am not against the government giving money to up skill employed staff, it just should not be given under the name of apprenticeships.”

In the Mail on Sunday’s article, concerns were raised “about the term ‘apprentice’ becoming devalued.”

The story has since attracted a raft of comments on the FE Week website.

Kim Cook said: “The apprenticeship name is getting bad press, at a time when we should be growing good quality apprenticeships with employers.”

She added: “I have been in this arena for 25 years and have never seen anything like this. We need stricter control and auditing.”

Andy Wilson added: “We must be careful not to undermine the overall apprenticeship brand which is becoming increasingly attractive amongst young people.”

Professor Alison Wolf, of King’s College London was commissioned by Education Secretary Michael Gove to report on vocational training.

She said: “Traditional apprenticeships have been very valuable for the economy and apprentices because they gave young people new skills plus the genuine workplace experience which they would otherwise not have obtained.

“The growing practice of re-labelling existing adult employees as ‘apprentices’ is, as far as I know, unique to this country, and particularly difficult to explain at a time when youth unemployment is at crisis levels.”

Exclusive World Skills Poster ~ support Team UK

DOWNLOAD, PRINT OUT AND PUT UP OUR ‘SUPPORT TEAM UK’ POSTER: CLICK HERE (8mb)

The world’s biggest competition for young people with vocational skills is set to launch in London today.

WorldSkills 2011, dubbed by many as the ‘skills Olympics’, will pit Team UK against some of the toughest and most skilled countries on the planet.

The home nations will be competing at the ExCel Centre over the next four days and hope to bring home a grand haul of gold medals.

FE Week has given its full support to backing Team UK and will be following their progress with coverage both online and in print. If you are a user of twitter then follow our coverage at #FEWeekWS. New to twitter? The download our guide (click here).

FE Week wants everyone to be able to show their support for the home nations – so we’ve designed a patriotic poster for you to print out and display with pride.

Whether it’s on your office wall, in the car or stuck to your colleague’s window – there’s no excuse for not showing your colours!

Do you have a message you want to give to the team? Leave a comment below to show your support and spur on Team UK to WorldSkills success!

Read our WorldSkills preview by clicking here.

Find out more about the volunteers who make the event happen by clicking here

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