The Members' handbook is going on the web and will soon be available in the  MEMBERS AREA.  

The NFEC Spring Conference will take place on 27 and 28 May, 2010 and again the venue will be the Holiday Inn in Coventry - near Junction 2 of the M6.  We are using it again as it got a very good 'write up' in delegate feedback.   We are also pleased to announce that the prices will remain the same as for the NFEC Autumn Conference that was held there at the end of November 2009.

Please put these dates in your diary now - and make sure that you, or a colleague, or both of you, attend!

The programme for the May event is in preparation, but we will be happy to take any suggestions for presentation or workshop topics - if you have a suggestion, do let us know.  That way you will be sure that it has been 'in the mix'.

Feedback from the November event, including presentation slides, can be accessed here.

See also Spring dates for Regional Group meetings.

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WorldSkills London will take place at the ExCeL exhibition and conference centre in London’s docklands, from 5th - 8th October 2011. Should you be there?

The event official website at http://www.worldskillslondon2011.com/ says that ‘there will be lots of opportunities to get involved in the most exciting, inclusive and inspirational WorldSkills Competition ever.  So if you want to support your country’s team, try your hand at hairdressing or learn about robotics, WorldSkills London 2011 could be just what you are looking for’.

There is no doubt that this assertion is true – as those who got to the 2009 event in Calgary will certainly agree.  Not only was there lots to see and get involved in, but delegates were also able to see UK contestants giving an excellent account of themselves and the system that helped them develop the attributes they demonstrated.

It is good to know that the United Kingdom being able to show the rest of the world ‘a thing or two’ about how it should be done is still as true today as it ever was.   However, getting to that position and staying there is not a matter of chance – it is about a sound and systematic approach to providing the kind of development experience that our learners need.   A key part of that is for those who guide the learning to provide the best they can and, crucially, not be too proud to bring into their portfolios the good things that they can learn from others.

So if you need a reason to get to WorldSkills London 2011, there it is! 

But that is not all of it.  What about the benefits for your learners and for your Center – not to mention the individual(s) who deserve(s) an opportunity to show ‘what they can do’?   Taking part in a skills competition could arguably be the best developmental experience that they are likely to have – no matter how they do, you and they will learn how to do it better next time.   An individual could bring much credit to the Centre and provide much motivation for fellow learners, and you would know what the best in the world can do.

Of course there are risks – but what circumstance is risk-free?   If the learning experience is less than ‘top notch’ you need to know, and do something about it.  If you think that the learner may not handle the experience - that is why there are heats and then a UK final – before you get near the WorldSkills event.

Dawn Pierce, Curriculum Leader Engineering at Wirral Metropolitan College, says: ’ I was at the NFEC Autumn Conference in Coventry where WorldSkills 2011 was introduced, in the form of a presentational video.   At the end of the presentation I felt inspired to get my learners involved.  I knew that they had the potential to enter and two of our Welding apprentices - Luke Harding and Philip Patton - showed an immediate interest, and they will be competing in the Regional finals at Deeside College in February.   

This event has already inspired our learners and it has brought many new working relationships. Employer and equipment Supplier support has been phenomenal, so I would like to express my thanks to Pro Weld Engineering and JB Fabrications for being so supportive and to R-Tech welding suppliers for all their help. 

We would also like to wish good luck to all competitors from all regions as this is a fantastic event  that showcases the skills our UK engineers possess’.

Need we say more?

Visit the UKSkills website at http://www.ukskills.org.uk/ and have a look at some of the case studies on recent competitors – they not only make good reading but they also show that these people are really not ‘out of the ordinary’, they are  just good at what they do.

There is still time to enter for the heats – the deadline is 19 March.

Dates/venues for the engineering competitions – from the WorldSkillsU2010 Competition schedule. 

                     Pages 17 & 18                                      Pages 19 & 20

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At the recent NFEC National Conference, one of our colleagues drew attention to the fact that, in a recent inspection of his college, inspectors were very interested in the college’s activities to safeguard the 14–16 year olds that attended college, as part of the Diploma (and other programmes).  

Many colleges take the view that ‘if you come to our college then you follow the usual college rules and behaviours’ (‘when in Rome……’).  Often this means that school students mix freely in the dining areas, corridors and other general access environments (and even the smoking shelter!), with all sorts of people, very few of them CRB checked.

However, Inspectors are quick to point out that, whilst in school, these same learners are closely supervised at all times, including during lunch and other breaks. There is obviously a big difference in the levels of safeguarding applied in the two types of establishment.

Why should we be concerned?   Well, we want to be sure that the 14-16 year olds are not at unreasonable risk purely because of their different experience.   Also, since September 2009 educational establishments, including colleges, are being inspected to a modified set of ‘rules’ (the new Common Inspection Framework for further education and skills).  These ‘rules’ include ‘limiting grades’ for ‘safeguarding’ and ‘equality and diversity’.

If your safeguarding is ‘inadequate’ then it is most unlikely that your grade for ‘overall effectiveness’ will be any better than ‘satisfactory’ and hence it is likely that the Inspectors’ overall judgement will be ‘inadequate’.  

If your safeguarding is ‘satisfactory’ then it is unlikely that your grade for ‘overall effectiveness’ will be any better than ‘good’ (see Handbook for the Inspection of Further Education and Skills 2009 – page 61)

Since the introduction of the new ‘rules’, some 31 Inspection reports have been published. Of these, 7% of providers were judged to be outstanding; 39% good; 45% satisfactory and 9% inadequate in the area of safeguarding.

So what can Centres do?  The first thing is that, with the projected increase in 14-16 year olds as the Diploma numbers ramp up, we must make ourselves aware of the possible impact upon our inspection grades.  But what action can we take?  Some colleges are setting up segregated, staffed, areas in refectories, libraries and other ‘public’ areas.  Others appear to be doing nothing.   As organisations whose members are going to be ‘at risk’, we need to be talking, and listening, to each other and ‘sharing good practice’.  What better way to do this than to include this topic as an agenda item for your next regional meeting?   Perhaps the conclusions of these discussions could then feed into the NFEC National Council meeting in March and then into the Spring National Conference (to be held on Thursday/Friday 27/28 May)?

One thing is for sure……we must not bury our heads in the sand and hope it goes away- and we must not all wait to see what everyone else is doing!

NFEC Comment:  Chris is ‘right on the money' here!  Close collaboration with the schools from 14+ is the way forward, so colleges and other providers must be able to demonstrate that they are ‘dealing’ effectively with learners who come to them for part of their education.  If centres can do that, then the inspection aspect takes care of itself.

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Middlesbrough College at Middlehaven has had a major impact on the regeneration of an area of Middlesbrough that has been dormant for over twenty years, and this has been recognised by a number of awards including the RICS Renaissance Award for Regeneration in the North East and the College being named as one of the six national winners of the BURA Awards for Best Practice in Regeneration 2009.

The new college building arose from the merger of four post-16 institutions. Once the merger had been achieved, the College turned its attention to replacing its accommodation, predominantly from the 1950s through to the early 1970s, with a single-site facility that would inspire learning.

The College also wanted to contribute to the regeneration of Middlesbrough and specifically the area near to the former docks, called Middlehaven.  So an alliance was formed with various parties with related interests, including Tees Valley Regeneration, Middlesbrough Council, One North East, The Learning and Skills Council, Sport England, the University of Teesside.

The construction is a landmark project for the region, representing the first contract in a significant master plan in the Tees Valley.  The Alsop master plan includes large public realm spaces and a combination of commercial and residential units, and leisure facilities including water sports in the revitalised dock area. 

Close liaison with the master planner, Tees Valley Regeneration and their design team was essential, to ensure that the building fitted into the broader master plan, which at the time was in its infancy.  This included the massing and appearance of the building and also the coordination with the overall site infrastructure.

As a result of a design competition, architects were commissioned and a design for the new college emerged. The winning design was intended to reflect the maritime history of the area, with the main five storey block at the front representing the ‘Hull’ of a ship, and including a two-storey ‘Wave’ building to the rear.

The structure is orientated to address the historical dock clock tower, it is situated between two of the most striking landmarks in the area – the Transporter Bridge and the Riverside Football Stadium, and it is linked together along three axes, forming a ‘public’ street which connects the three main entrances and also the future public realm areas to the rear.

Key features include the reception area ‘Pod’, the ‘Wave’ building roof which has circular curved geometry, feature wing walls and roof overhangs, and a striking, but cost-effective, cladding system adopting metal shingles.

The site occupied by the College was formerly two docks and associated commercial and industrial premises.  A significant remediation scheme had been carried out for English Partnerships during the 1990s.  However this only addressed ‘hot-spots’ of hazardous contamination , and the presence of buried dock walls, backfilled voids, old foundations and highly variable ground conditions still remained. Existing services included a high-pressure oxygen main close to the site boundary, which affected the foundation and drainage construction.  The site is only five metres above sea level, and hence high ground water and liquefied silts were further hazards.  The area also had a history of mining and hence a detailed mining risk assessment was carried out at an early stage.

As part of the project risk mitigation strategy, the college committed early to a detailed ground investigation, which was able to locate the majority of the buried structures and other hazards. The building foundations were designed to span across the obstructions, with heavily loaded columns moved away from the obstructions where space planning allowed.

Early feasibility studies regarding the use of CHP (including connection to a proposed site-wide system) and ground source heat pumps were carried out.  However it was deemed most appropriate by the team to adopt more conventional systems, and maximise efficiency in other ways in order to lower emissions and maintenance and running costs.

Extensive thermal modelling used to ensure compliance with Part L of the Building Regulations, and to review anticipated levels of environmental comfort with the college staff.

Building services were designed to maximise the use of natural ventilation, incorporating chilled beams, fan coil units and efficient low NOX boilers together with heat recovery systems to maximise efficiency.

A BREEAM rating of Very Good has been achieved.

As the College delivers largely vocational courses, the majority of areas within the building are very specialist.  These include indoor construction workshops, national standard sports facilities, workshops, beauty and spa suites, motor vehicles workshops, acoustically sensitive recording studios and a high-specification performance theatre.  It was essential that the whole design team worked closely with the college to ensure that the building would meet their needs now, but also provide flexibility for the foreseeable future.  This was achieved through frequent and regular end-user meetings, coordinated by the college’s own project delivery team.

Under one roof there the 32,000m2 of space includes a 156 seat theatre, a six-court sports hall, a gymnastics training centre, a fitness centre, six training kitchens, a restaurant and café, a three-storey library, two hair salons, four beauty salons, a spa suite and nail bar, fourteen engineering and construction workshops, two lecture theatres, six science laboratories, four drama and dance studios, six recording studios, a travel shop, and art, photography and video studios.

Many of the facilities and services provided within the building are open to the public seven days a week, thus providing a ready-made community resource to support the residential and commercial developments emerging alongside the College as part of the largest zero-carbon regeneration project in Europe.

The project cost £68million and attracted the largest single grant made by the Learning and Skills Council, as well as generating funding from One North East, the Higher Education Funding Council, and Sport England.

The building opened to the public and to students in September 2008, and its iconic presence on the edge of the town centre has already had a major impact, with a 20% increase in student numbers, local retail and service sector suppliers reporting a significant increase in trade, and The College providing a base for sporting, music and cultural community groups, as well as providing a venue for commercial and other groups to meet.

          The College web site      BURA Award listing      RICS Award listing  

The NFEC North East Group will meet at Middlesbrough College on Wednesday 3 February - a good opportunity to see the new Engineering facilities!           

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A Bachelors programme in Professional Engineering has been devised as part of the Engineering Council’s DIUS-funded Gateways Project, Flexible Pathways to becoming a Professional Engineer.  It will provide a pathway to registration as an Incorporated Engineer, through work- based learning. (A work-based pathway to Chartered Engineer has also been developed.)

Work-based learning provides a means of concurrently acquiring and utilising underpinning knowledge, understanding and skill-sets in work in order to meet the Bachelor degree requirements and demonstrate competence.

In order to be considered for Incorporated Engineer registration, a candidate needs to possess an accredited Bachelors or honours degree, or its equivalent. Holders of a Foundation Degree or a Higher National Certificate or Diploma in engineering or technology need to achieve the further learning necessary to be awarded a Bachelors degree.

The Gateways Project Steering Committee is interested in hearing from FE colleges with HE programmes who might be interested in running such a qualification, either in their own right or in conjunction with a local university. Details of the project and the Bachelors degree programme can be found at www.engineeringgateways.co.uk/

Each participant has a Learning Contract or equivalent that is drawn up at the start of their programme in discussion with their academic adviser and employer.  It sets out how they will gain the required knowledge and competence whilst meeting company objectives.

It ensures that participants, assessors and reviewers understand:

• what additional learning takes place and what credits are awarded;
• how it is to be achieved and assessed;
• how the activities meet the UK-SPEC competence statements, and
• the estimated date of achievement when the participant can reasonably expect to be successful, subject to completion of the intended learning outcomes.

The Professional Engineering Institution (PEI) will review the document along with the Professional Development Audit and confirm to the participant and the college whether they are acceptable. Alongside this, the participant will need to record the development of their competences.  Some PEIs have their own forms for this and participants also need to be aware of any specific additional requirements of their intended PEI.

NFEC Comment: This is clearly a viable option for employed individuals who want to pursue professional recognition.  It is little different to the process of demonstrating and recording knowledge, understanding and skills for an NVQ, and we see no reason why the two pursuits could not run in parallel.  Give us your thoughts and we will pass them on to the Gateways Project Steering Group.

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Last November the government (Business, Innovation and Skills department) set out its 'Higher Ambitions' plan for the future of higher education in the UK.  It aims to make sure that ‘UK universities remain world class, deliver the high-level skills needed to remain competitive and to continue to attract the brightest students and researchers’.  You could be forgiven for asking ‘what has that got to do with FE colleges and Other Providers’?

You can get the BIS exact statements (including video of Lord Mandleson’s and David Lammy’s presentations in the Lords and Commons, plus the full report, by clicking here.

You will hear that Lord Mandleson makes one mention of ‘FE colleges’ among almost a hundred mentions of ‘universities’, in a seven-minute announcement.  But do read on!

Higher Ambitions is saying that we still need to increase participation in HE as the target of 50% of those in age range 18 – 30 participating in HE has still not been met.

There is still a lack of social mobility, access should be fairer, there should be more adults in learning (second chance/career change).  There is a need to renew the economic base and to deal with changes in demography.  This will require us to broaden the range of study options – with more part-time and sandwich course learners.   We should have more vocationally-based Foundation Degrees, more work-based study, more living at home and more level three workers should go on to higher education. 

In order to promote this latter objective, we are urged to find ‘ladders of opportunity’ from apprenticeships, develop new technician qualifications and build more bridges between Further and Higher Education.

There is clear evidence that work roles – particularly in engineering – are moving towards design, development and maintenance, with manufacturing moving to areas of the world where wage rates are lower.  Thus more level four and five qualified individuals will be needed, but with real workplace ‘can-do’ skills.   Colleges could score here as they will be able to respond flexibly, to provide relevant and appropriate programmes at level 4 and 5.  Universities are not really geared up for such customised-duration course provision – so with the right focus, a collaborative approach and keen costing colleges could capture that market!

It does, however, seem very unlikely that Higher Ambitions will be achieved, unless there is a major change in culture – it has been ‘full-time university’ first, with everything else being seen as second chance or second rate.  We need to look for different types of learners, studying in different ways and we need to form new partnerships between individuals, employers, government and providers of learning.   

But even if we do all of that, we will not succeed, unless we get a clear definition of the role of learning providers outside of the universities – and, crucially, we must have a rational funding system that allows all providers (universities, colleges, other) to directly draw down appropriate resources, from a single funding source, for the work they do.   

Far too many franchising arrangements have seen funding so severely ‘top sliced’ by the university partner, that the colleges who deliver the learning are so strapped that they are unable to employ the best staff or keep them fully developed and at the cutting edge of their subjects.   

Funding support for learning programmes should go directly to the provider.   Is it time for a thorough review of who awards the higher level qualifications and how they should be effectively quality controlled?   

Have you been involved in a ‘top slicing scenario?  Do you believe that Higher Ambitions can be achieved?   Whichever - we would like to hear your views.

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