Another apprenticeship provider has accused Ofsted of being “unfair” after the watchdog judged the company as ‘inadequate’ mostly due to a lack of off-the-job training.
Excelsis Training Limited faces being kicked out of the apprenticeship market owing to the rating and expects to make around 30 redundancies as a result.
Ofsted’s report on the provider, which trains almost 250 apprentices mostly in childcare and healthcare sectors, said that leaders “do not ensure that apprentices receive their entitlement to training time” due to the demands of their roles and “too often” have to “study outside of their working hours”.
Other criticism included that apprentices’ progress has been “slowed by too many changes of teaching staff”, “too many lack the motivation to complete their apprenticeship”, and a poorly planned curriculum.
The provider also offers apprenticeships in digital marketing and hospitality to fill skills shortages, but Ofsted found leaders have offered apprenticeships in a range of different industries “without enough understanding of each sector to ensure the success of the programme”.
Excelsis’s managing director Olufemi Osinaike blamed the ‘inadequate’ grade on Covid, adding that he thought the judgement was “harsh”.
“I think it is unfair – Covid was not taken into consideration, the employment crisis in the health sector wasn’t taken into consideration, and as a result they made the judgement that is totally not true,” he told FE Week.
“We started delivering apprenticeships in 2020 in the main part of Covid. After Covid it has been a crisis within the healthcare sector, an employment crisis especially. A lot of people are leaving their jobs in the sector and leaving the industry completely. It means the people remaining don’t have the time [for off the job training] – they have to do two-to-three people’s jobs.
“We can we put people on breaks in learning and withdraw people, but we made a slight allowance – not even a big allowance – around off-the-job training, as long as they can prove they are spending X amount of time on their qualification.”
Excelsis is the latest in a string of providers to complain that Ofsted has failed to take into consideration the impact of the pandemic in ‘inadequate’ reports. Some have tried and failed to challenge the grades legally.
Osinaike said he is waiting for the Education and Skills Funding Agency to terminate Excelsis’ apprenticeships contract. His provider plans to turn its focus to commercial training.
Director of Marketing and Admissions, Wycliffe College
Start date: January 2023
Previous Job: Director of Marketing, Sales and Learner Services, City of Bristol College
Interesting fact: Rebekah is a keen runner and has completed 11 marathons. Her love of running goes to work, with her introducing a C25K group at City of Bristol College
David Malone
Principal & CEO, Calderdale College
Start date: January 2023
Previous Job: Deputy Principal, Chesterfield College
Interesting fact: Since the last time David appeared in movers and shakers in 2017, he still has not completed a marathon… but hopefully 2023 is the year!
Headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh has quit as Social Mobility Commission chair, saying her controversial opinions “puts the commission in jeopardy” and it is doing “more harm than good”.
The commission’s deputy and Oldham College principal Alun Francis has been appointed interim chair.
Birbalsingh – Britain’s so-called “strictest headteacher” at Michaela Community School in London – was appointed to lead the commission in November 2021.
The outspoken leader has always courted controversy. While social mobility tsar, she was widely criticised after telling a parliamentary committee hearing that low uptake of physics among girls was because they would rather not do “hard maths”.
But her comments about shifting the social mobility focus away from people going to Oxbridge were inaccurately reported by a national newspaper, leading to a correction.
Writing exclusively for FE Week, Birbalsingh said she “comes with too much baggage” and is doing the commission “more harm than good”.
She said: “Over this past year, I have become increasingly aware that my propensity to voice opinions that are considered controversial puts the commission in jeopardy.”
Birbalsingh cites her inaugural speech in last June, where she said the focus has been too much on those going to Oxbridge or becoming top lawyers.
She had hoped her new narrative about “how we too often have too narrow a view of social mobility” might be “received with interest”.
But instead she claims “the press insisted that I personally believe ‘working class people should stay in their lane’”.
The Telegraph’s headline ran as “working class people should aim ‘lower’ than Oxbridge” – but they later issued an apology saying it did not reflect Birbalsingh’s views.
But she said the “damage had already been done,” adding: “I am still to this day attacked for my apparently abhorrent views on social mobility.”
‘I don’t want to be a politician’
Birbalsingh said she will now “carefully craft my utterances to leave no room for misinterpreting me and misrepresenting the commission”.
“Instead of going out there to bat for the team and celebrate our achievements, I am becoming a politician. And I can’t bear the idea of ever being a politician. It just isn’t who I am or a skillset I wish to develop.
“As headmistress at Michaela, my governors can decide whether or not they wish to employ me despite my outspoken nature. So I feel free to comment on society.
“But as chair of the commission, people feel I need to be impartial and it irks many that for many years I have been anything but. So in some people’s minds, I am not right for the job.
“Sadly, I have come to agree.”
However in April last year, Birbalsingh was widely criticised after her comments on why girls do not take physics.
She told MPs: “I just think they don’t like it. There’s a lot of hard maths in there that I think they would rather not do.”
Most recently, the commission pledged to investigate which teaching styles work best to boost outcomes for poorer pupils, with critics questioning whether this would just recommend the approaches employed by Michaela.
Birbalsingh said while the commission team have been supportive, “I worry that all of our excellent work will be ignored by virtue of my presence”.
She claimed critics “could not imagine that I might have the integrity to publish unbiased research, whatever conclusions it came to.”
“So my hands are tied. My being chair means no commission analysis of what works in schools will be valued or respected, and education is crucial to social mobility.
“Leaving before key research takes place on schools also allows that work to happen without my perceived influence.”
Call for ‘superhero’ deputy to take the lead
Birbalsingh now calls for her deputy Alun Francis, principal at Oldham College, to take over the role permanently.
“He is utterly brilliant – a social mobility superhero with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject and without doubt the best person for the job.
“I have learned an enormous amount doing this important work, and I am sad to go, but I look forward to supporting the work of this amazing team from the outside – where I won’t hold it back.”
Francis said: “I am very pleased to accept the role of interim chair of the Social Mobility Commission.
“The commission has had a fantastic twelve months, from launching our first State of the Nation report to making great progress on our research priorities.
“The SMC continues to go from strength to strength, and I look forward to working with the Minister for Women and Equalities to continue to champion social mobility across Britain.”
The government said arrangements for a new permanent chair will be “announced in due course”.
Ofqual is disbanding its committee of experts who advise on exam standards and will instead take a “more flexible approach” on policy advice.
The standards advisory group (SAG), a committee of the Ofqual board, was set up more than a decade ago to help the exams watchdog maintain the standards of qualifications.
Members included independent assessment specialists from leading exam boards and universities, including Dr Mike Cresswell, ex-chief executive of the exam board AQA, and Professor Jo-Anne Baird, director of the University of Oxford’s Department of Education.
But Ofqual confirmed this week the committee will be replaced to reflect the watchdog’s “broader remit”, such as expansions in vocational and technical qualifications as well as apprenticeships.
It will take a “more flexible approach, drawing on a range of experts for specific programmes of work.
This will continue to provide Ofqual with objective external advice as needed.
”This could include working with experts who already advise the regulator or introducing new ones to ensure “that we can use the right people for the right work” in assessment.
Professor Barnaby Lenon, a former member of the committee, said the move was a “good decision” as long as the experts “are still used to help Ofqual think outside their bubble”.
“Assessment methodology is an arcane but important science. The few experts that exist, often lurking in dusty cupboards on the periphery of exam boards, are really important.
“The best have memories that go back decades and can recall what has worked and what has (often) been a disaster.
They often have international experience and can draw on that to provide some perspective on England’s systems.”
Another committee member, Dr Tina Isaacs, honorary senior lecturer in educational assessment at the UCL Institute of Education, was also supportive.
“My impression is that it wants to be more nimble and get expert opinions – many of which I believe will come from former SAG members – in a more proactive way.”
Other recent members include Daisy Christodoulou, director at No More Marking, William Pointer, AQA’s head of standards and awarding, and Isabel Sutcliffe, former international standards and quality director at Pearson.
Ofqual has faced much upheaval following criticism over decisions and communication during the Covid exam fiascos.
Dr Jo Saxton is the third chief regulator since Sally Collier resigned in August 2020.
The regulator also confirmed this week that Michael Hanton, its strategy executive director who joined in 2013, has been promoted to deputy chief regulator.
He replaced Julie Swan who left for the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Hanton said he “firmly” believes “in the value of good regulation in securing quality and fairness for all those who take and use qualifications”.
In November 2021, I was appointed chair of the social mobility commission, an advisory body of the Cabinet Office that conducts research and monitors the country’s progress in improving social mobility. Today, I am stepping down from that role.
It has been a successful and enjoyable year. We published our state of the nation report showcasing our new social mobility index. We set out an ambitious research programme focusing on themes such as education and families. Our most recent report highlights how missing data limits our understanding and holds us back. We launched our ‘Quarterly Commentary’ and a podcast series. And for my part, I am most proud of appointing our amazing director, John Craven, a man who has my utmost respect.
So why am I stepping down?
The simple answer is that I come with too much baggage. Over this past year, I have become increasingly aware that my propensity to voice opinions that are considered controversial puts the commission in jeopardy.
When I gave my inaugural speech in June last year, I spoke about how we often have too narrow a view of social mobility: we often imagine the feel-good rags-to-riches trope of Hollywood movies when there are so many other mobilities we could and should celebrate. Of course, that doesn’t mean that those who achieve the ambition of going to Oxbridge shouldn’t be admired too – only that not everyone has to go to Oxbridge to be admired.
We had hoped that this new narrative might be received with interest. Instead, the press insisted that I personally believe ‘working class people should stay in their lane’. Other interesting points were then lost amid the outrage. A tiny apology was published days later, but the damage had already been done. I am still to this day attacked for my apparently abhorrent views on social mobility.
Over time, it affected how the team and I would approach interviews. I would have to carefully craft my utterances to leave no room for misinterpreting me and misrepresenting the commission. At the end of a recent interview, I realised that my idea of a successful discussion was now one where I manage to avoid giving opinions that might bring attention to the commission. Instead of going out there to bat for the team and celebrate our achievements, I am becoming a politician. And I can’t bear the idea of ever being a politician. It just isn’t who I am or a skillset I wish to develop.
On balance, I am doing the social mobility commission more harm than good
As headmistress at Michaela, my governors can decide whether or not they wish to employ me despite my outspoken nature. So I feel free to comment on society. But as chair of the commission, people feel I need to be impartial and it irks many that for many years I have been anything but. So in some people’s minds, I am not right for the job.
Sadly, I have come to agree. The commission team have been nothing but supportive, but I worry that all of our excellent work will be ignored by virtue of my presence. When I tweeted how excited I was to see the commission’s analysis of what works in helping disadvantaged kids achieve at school, some responded that if our work were to find evidence to back what we do at Michaela, they would be suspicious. These weren’t even our detractors, but they could not imagine that I might have the integrity to publish unbiased research, whatever conclusions it came to. They insisted that our work could not be taken seriously.
Others suggested the commission should outsource its work on schools to avoid its analysis being tainted by me. But research is the team’s job, and while some of it can be outsourced, to outsource all of it would be a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money.
So my hands are tied. My being chair means no commission analysis of what works in schools will be valued or respected as it should, and education is crucial to social mobility. By contrast, with my deputy, Alun Francis as chair, people will listen to the same evidence and believe in its integrity. All that excellent work will be productive, useful and successful in ways that I could only hope to do.
On balance then, I am doing the social mobility commission more harm than good. Over the past couple of months, it has become clear to me that Alun Francis ought to be chair. My being in the post for a year has allowed the Oldham College principal to find his feet, but he is now in a stronger position than I am to take the commission to the next step. He is utterly brilliant – a social mobility superhero with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject and without doubt the best person for the job.
The commissioners are ready to take his lead, our director is firmly in post and the secretariat team is in the perfect position for Alun to take over the reins. Leaving before key research takes place on schools also allows that work to happen without my perceived influence.
Applications for at least six new “elite” sixth forms have been lodged in the latest wave of free school bids – in areas where ministers want to boost standards.
More details have also emerged of two bids for new university technical colleges in England. A third UTC is also in the pipeline.
The Department for Education published a list of more than 60 applications shortly before Christmas for wave 15 of the free school programme. Just 15 of these are expected to be approved.
The government has committed to opening “a number” of “high-quality, academic focused” 16 to 19 free schools in education investment areas. EIAs are regions with the lowest student outcomes that have been promised extra support.
The move has proven controversial with fears it will lead to “selection for a lucky few”. A study last year found elite sixth forms taught few poorer pupils and recruited heavily from neighbouring areas.
But Eton (main image) and Star have pledged to focus on young people from the most deprived communities. The organisations told FE Week that each college’s curriculum could “evolve to meet contemporary demands of business in the local areas”.
For instance, pathways to degree-level programmes in biomedical science and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects in Teesside could be introduced to support the chemical engineering industry there. The sixth forms will have capacity for 480 students.
There are also plans for an all-girls elite sixth form in Bradford specialising in STEM subjects, to be known as iExcel Elite STEM 6th Form College and sponsored by the Feversham Education Trust.
Cornwall School of Mathematics and Science (CSMS) has lodged a bid for an elite academic sixth form, while The Mercian Trust has applied for one to serve Sandwell and Walsall, to be known as Mercian Sixth – The Queen Mary’s Partnership.
CSMS principal Emma Haase said the 450-capacity Cornwall Academy of Excellence would offer a “full suite of A-level qualifications” and aims to help Cornish teenagers into university.
The Mercian Trust hopes its sixth form will be open for up to 600 students by September 2025.
The trust said it would offer a mix of A-levels and T Levels and include a focus on STEM subjects, hoping to progress students onto university and apprenticeship places in the technology, engineering and digital sectors.
Elsewhere, a BRIT School for 14 to 19-year olds is planned in Bradford as an expansion of the Croydon school which boasts Adele, Amy Winehouse and Rizzle Kicks among its alumni.
A spokesperson from the British Phonographic Industry, which funds the BRIT School, said its school in the north would make the industry “more inclusive and accessible for all, regardless of background”.
Bids for new UTCs confirmed
Two university technical college (UTCs) bids have been submitted alongside those for schools and sixth forms.
UTC Portsmouth is behind plans for a UTC in Southampton for young people aged 14 to 19. It said its Portsmouth offering has been “heavily oversubscribed for a number of years”.
UTC Portsmouth
James Doherty, UTC Portsmouth principal, said “many students currently make the journey from Southampton to UTC Portsmouth”.
He added: “In response to requests from new and existing industry partners, and from prospective students for more of what we do, we felt it would be an excellent opportunity for the young people of Southampton to found a second institution here.”
Doncaster UTC has also lodged plans for a health sciences and green technologies school, The college did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication, but its application has confirmed it would serve those aged 11 to 19.
The Baker Dearing Trust said in November that it hoped to submit bids for three UTCs, but work on the third bid in Suffolk is understood to be ongoing and likely to be submitted in a subsequent round.
Simon Connell, chief executive of the Baker Dearing Trust, said: “Both these bids are based on a need and demand for technical education and skilled workers in their areas.
“Doncaster UTC and UTC Portsmouth are oversubscribed and employers in their areas are crying out for high-quality, widespread technical education provision.”
A college that has battled through perilous financial challenges is set to be banned from delivering apprenticeships after Ofsted judged the provision ‘inadequate’, FE Week understands.
Coventry College will receive its third consecutive overall grade three report in the coming weeks but is expected to see its grade for apprenticeships drop to a four.
The college was unable to comment on the report itself ahead of publication, but a spokesperson suggested their focus in recent years has had to be on finances after almost going insolvent while being aware of the “challenges faced across some areas of our provision”.
Under Education and Skills Funding Agency rules, colleges and training providers which receive an ‘inadequate’ grade are removed from the register of apprenticeship training providers, meaning they can no longer offer the provision.
Coventry College’s recently published accounts for 2022 show that it enrolled 5,729 learners in total, 377 of whom were apprentices.
A 2020 FE Commissioner intervention report detailed how a lack of “clear post-merger strategy” – following the college’s formation from a merger between Henley College Coventry and City College Coventry in 2017 – and “robust scrutiny” led to a “substantial deterioration of financial stability”, which led to it almost going bust.
The college then recruited Carol Thomas as principal and she appears to have improved its finances.
Its 2022 accounts show an overall surplus of £1 million compared to a deficit of £4.7 million in 2021, cash balances of £5.8 million, and an ESFA financial health rating of ‘good’. It’s financial notice to improve was closed last year.
The turnaround includes the closure and future sale of the college’s Henley campus.
Thomas’ salary increased from £145,000 in 2021 to £156,000 in 2022, according to the college’s accounts. But the college’s quality of education has failed to improve according to Ofsted.
The forthcoming report will be its second ‘requires improvement’ grade since merger. Henley College and City College Coventry were both also a grade three before the merger and the latter had previously been judged ‘inadequate’ on two occasions.
A Coventry College spokesperson said: “We can stress that, since the last Ofsted inspection in September 2019, Coventry College has been on a major transformation to safeguard its future as a standalone institution. The need to secure its future financially was imperative and this required a campus consolidation strategy to be executed effectively.”
The spokesperson told FE Week that the FE Commissioner’s team had described the college’s improvements as “one of the best turnarounds in the sector”.
But they added: “We had been through a robust self-assessment process and were aware of the strengths and weaknesses at Coventry College, particularly the challenges faced across some areas of our provision.
“We are fully committed to continuing to invest in the resources and strategies required to secure improvements in all areas at the next Ofsted inspection.”
[UPDATE: After this article was published the college told FE Week the principal’s salary stated in its accounts includes an additional contribution for relocation benefits, which are approved annually and not guaranteed. The principal’s basic salary is actually £141,000 and has not changed in the past two years.]
A large training provider with nearly 5,000 learners on its books will cease its UK apprenticeship provision after a damning Ofsted inspection found that “demotivated and disengaged” apprentices were walking away from their courses.
The firm has claimed that the education watchdog’s scathing report has accelerated a decision to withdraw from the market after acknowledging that the quality of its apprenticeship training was not up to scratch.
Nearly 100 members of staff are now facing redundancy while thousands of learners will need to be accommodated elsewhere as a result.
Parent company Learning Technologies Group (LTG), which bought the business around a year ago, issued a London Stock Exchange update two days before Ofsted’s report was published saying that it intended to close its UK apprenticeship business in early 2023.
An LTG spokesperson said the decision over the operation, which was anticipated to generate around £9 million in revenue in 2022 from its Education and Skills Funding Agency-funded apprenticeships, was because “the nature of the customer relationships and quality of the offering in the business do not match the high standards elsewhere in GP Strategies and the group, especially following a negative Ofsted report in late 2022”.
It leaves around 4,700 apprentices on programmes who need to be transferred, while GP Strategies also confirmed that 95 jobs are at risk of redundancy.
GP Strategies Training Ltd has been delivering training since 1997 with centres in Stockport, Blackpool, Halifax, London and Bodmin. In 2017 it was selected by the Crown Commercial Service to provide apprenticeship training for the civil service.
At the time of its inspection, it had around 2,700 apprentices in adult care, 1,300 on childcare and education apprenticeships, 700 business and management apprentices and 166 adults on short online courses in healthcare and business.
Inspectors said that almost half of the apprentices had not completed their course within the planned timeframe, with some having missed opportunities for promotion or further employment as a result. Others had been unable to complete mandatory regulations they need for work.
The report said that “leaders maintain that the impact of Covid-19 was to blame for delays” but “leaders’ ineffective plans to enable apprentices to catch up have impeded these apprentices’ career opportunities”.
Inspectors reported that apprentices became “demotivated and disengaged” due to the high turnover of skills coaches, adding that “leaders do not know how many apprentices remain in learning”, and “too many apprentices contacted during the inspection stated that they have left the apprenticeship, are no longer in the sector or are on apprenticeships at other training providers”.
Elsewhere, those on adult learning programmes “lose interest early in the course” because of limited online materials and find the online learning platform “too difficult to navigate”.
Ofsted said that, while the programmes met the needs of national and local employers, leaders had “failed to provide a high-quality curriculum” that met the needs of all apprentices and adult learners.
Furthermore, inspectors said that “in many cases, apprenticeships do not attend taught sessions or have frequent enough contact with their skills coaches” and found that “leaders do not plan the functional skills English and mathematics curriculum effectively”.
In April 2021, the firm was criticised by Ofsted for serious safeguarding failures after concerns were raised by whistleblowers.
That was focused on its early years apprenticeships and found that leaders did not know if apprentices who worked with young children had completed their DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks or in how many places they were employed.
A follow-up monitoring report in July that year said the firm was making reasonable progress to address safeguarding requirements and in its latest inspection Ofsted said that safeguarding arrangements were now effective.
The provider had not had a full inspection for more than a decade, with the last in July 2012, but received a ‘good’ rating during a 2016 short inspection and had been subject to the two monitoring visits in 2021.
The worlds of education and business are evolving. Educators must keep up if young people are to find rewarding careers, so that employers can recruit the talent needed to drive performance and improve competitiveness. It is this ‘skills edge’ that will help the future economy to thrive, attracting inward investment so that the UK can compete better globally. WorldSkills UK is working as part of the WorldSkills international movement of over 80 countries driving up standards worldwide and promoting future workforces that will serve young people, employers and communities, improving social and financial mobility around the world.
WorldSkills UK has developed a suite of CPD sessions called, ‘Developing excellence in teaching and training’, developed in partnership with ETF and applicable across a wide range of curriculum disciplines, based on our experience at the cutting edge of professional development. Held on 1 and 2 February, this event will draw on WorldSkills UK’s insights from international competitions, best practice exchanges and standard-setting for curricula.
Using knowledge from national and international experts across a wide range of skills and streamed via an interactive online platform, the sessions will support you and your colleagues in developing your knowledge, understanding and skills as well as those of your students and apprentices.
By taking part, you’ll help move your learners from competence to excellence, learn more about the latest advances in learning technology, and examine how to support learners from underrepresented groups.
I want to do more CPD but how can I fit it into my busy schedule?
You can opt into just one session or as many as you like. Opting into a minimum of two during the live stream you will receive a digital credential to share with your networks and incorporate into your portfolio. All content will be downloadable after the event, so you can revisit or share the link with colleagues.
What’s available?
February 1
Tackling underrepresentation in technical and vocational education:
Gain a greater understanding of how to overcome social constructs that create barriers to inclusion.
Engaging learners through participation:
Appreciate with reference to specific technological solutions, how to engage learners in a range of scenarios typical in technical education.
Extending learning through artificial intelligence:
Understand with reference to specific technological solutions, how to promote and support greater accessibility and inclusion in vocational learning.
Enhancing learning through real simulators and virtual reality:
Understand the learning and business value of developing simulator training solutions.
February 2
Practical applications for achieving excellence with learners:
Understand WorldSkills UK’s seven step pedagogy cycle and related activities for use in a classroom or workshop environment.
Using world-class standards to enrich curriculum planning and enhance learner achievement:
Understand what WorldSkills occupational standards are and what their purpose is.
Competition activity as a method of raising learner aspirations and outcomes:
Experience the benefits of engaging in skills competition activity to individual learners, institutions and businesses.
Coaching techniques for supporting learners in developing effective behaviours and attitudes:
Learn coaching methodologies for supporting learners to achieve excellence.
Effective curriculum delivery to support meeting the needs of industry and net zero:
Gain insight into international best practice at reducing waste and increasing sustainability across vocational skill areas.
How do I book my free place?
Simply register with our quick-to-complete form and you’re ready to go.
Will I get an accreditation for taking part?
WorldSkills UK will award a digital credential to all those who attend two or more sessions, but we’re sure you’ll want to stay longer.
This verified digital credential demonstrates your commitment to professional development and embedding world-class practice into your teaching and can be shared across your professional networks including LinkedIn, bios, and CVs.
Who’s behind the programme?
To produce the programme, WorldSkills UK has partnered with the Education & Training Foundation (ETF), the workforce development body for the Further Education and Training sector. ETF works in partnership with others to deliver professional learning and development for teachers, trainers and leaders to improve education and training for learners aged 14 and over. The Society for Education and Training (SET) is ETF’s membership body, dedicated to professionals working across further education, vocational teaching and training.
We are also grateful to our session partners, the Skills and Education Group, Autodesk and Electude.
What other opportunities are there to enhance my teaching practice?
Competition-based training programmes: Each year, over 3,500 students and apprentices across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland hone their technical skills in our competition-based programmes, as well as the personal skills that employers look for when recruiting young people, such as communication, planning, teamwork, self-reliance and resilience. 97% of competitors in our National Finals say that taking part has improved their technical skills, and 93% felt their self-confidence had grown. We can help you embed competitions in your teaching to encourage your students to take more responsibility for their own development and to be more aspirational in developing their skills. Applications for the 2023 competition are accepted from 27 February until 24 March 2023 and it’s free to enter and take part.
Those competitors making it to the National Finals have the chance to win medals as an endorsement of their skill level. They also have the opportunity to be selected for Squad UK, from which Team UK is drawn to compete on the global stage. In the WorldSkills Special Editions in 2022, the UK scored gold medals in aircraft maintenance and cabinet making, plus bronzes in Industry 4.0, jewellery making, and car painting. Half of Team UK also achieved medallions for excellence, indicating they had reached WorldSkills’ international standards of excellence. The UK achieved a top ten place overall, up two places from the last international competition in Kazan, Russia, and ahead of countries including Spain, Singapore, Australia and Canada.
While winning medals is important for the participants and their colleges and employers, the benefits of the training programme for them and other members of Squad and Team UK can’t be overestimated as they return to the workforce with improved technical and employability skills, becoming valuable role models for their peers by passing on the skills they have learned, so that the benefits of training are cascaded through the workforce.
Learning Lab:WorldSkills UK’s Learning Lab is a new online space and resource centre which provides free access to world-class skills development tools and resources for all.
Content is built on WorldSkills UK’s insights into international best practice, supporting educators to supercharge both their professional development and teaching skills and equipping them to boost student learning and develop world-class skills.
Easy to navigate, the Learning Lab offers a wide range of teaching tools and resources, from advice on careers education to mindset masterclasses, based on world-class practice from the world of elite sports training and development. Fresh resources will be continually added over time.
Careers Advice Toolkit
Mapped against the Careers Development Institute, Skills Builder and Gatsby Benchmark Frameworks, the Careers Advice Toolkit empowers young people to explore excellence within technical and apprenticeship career pathways. With inspiring bitesize content, the Toolkit can be used flexibly to support independent online learning, as well as any careers curriculum, delivered in the classroom or virtually.
Spotlight Talks
Designed to fit within lesson timetables, the Spotlight Talks video series brings together leading businesses and services to demonstrate young professionals sharing their own career journeys and what it takes to succeed in their sector. The next Spotlight Talks are in spring 2023 and we encourage viewers to pose questions directly to the presenters. All Spotlight Talks are available for download afterwards, so your students and apprentices don’t miss these inspiring and informative sessions. Check out existing downloads here.
Future programmes
We’re committed to continuing to provide educators with high-quality, free to access CPD opportunities. If you would like to be kept informed of new live and digital opportunities that can fit in with your timetable, email us at: getintouch@worldskillsuk.org
