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Contents
New Chemical Centre of Vocational Excellence
Cogent and LSC celebrate polymer network success
Cogent and the curriculum
John Ramsay appointed to SUfi board
New North East Cluster
BCC report shows employers struggle to find skills
Leadership boosts safety
eLearning - does it work? The polymer sector shows you how.
New nuclear international research agreement
UK composites centre opened
Cogent SSC comments on the 14-19 White Paper
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Cogent welcomed the emphasis on high quality vocational education including greater links with employers through work experience and the strengthened vocational pathway for 14-19 year olds. Along with other sector skills councils, it will be working with partners in industry and education to develop vocational curriculum that responds to and meets employers needs and provides young people with an education that leads to well-designed and rewarding jobs.
The company supports the increased pupil choice set out in the White Paper. In addition to the existing learning programmes, 14-19 year olds will be able to pursue an employer led vocational diploma or specific sector apprenticeships. These will be flexibly delivered across a range of providers including schools, colleges and work-based learning providers to suit the needs and learning styles of individual pupils.
Cogent was disappointed that Sir Mike Tomlinson’s proposal, set out in his report, of an overarching diploma was rejected. It believed that this proposal would have injected a real, and highly beneficial innovation to the all important 12-19 learning phase.
However, Cogent looks forward to working with both partners in training and education and with employers to make the new vocational diploma a success and to supporting young people in their career choices. It believes that these reforms will also tackle the high drop out rates which currently exist within this phase of education.
John Ramsay, Cogent’s Chief Executive, said: "Vocational education has for too long been seen as second-class. These reforms place it at the heart of the education system and will contribute towards breaking down the current artificial barrier between "vocational" and "academic" routes. We hope it will improve the education and career prospects of young people, and encourage them to be innovative, creative and highly skilled assets for UK business."
"However, we could still do with greater clarity about the options around combining vocational and academic qualifications and we would like to see clearer and more positive language used to discuss the two paths, to more accurately reflect the range and level of professional skills required in 21st century industry."
"The proposals will go some way to help Cogent and our partners to increase the attractiveness of careers in our industries, by showing young people the real opportunities and choices that will be open to them if they take the appropriate routes to becoming both academically competent and suitably skilled."
New Chemical Centre of Vocational Excellence
Research has shown that the chemical industry is facing a skills shortage - in the North West alone 66% of the workforce is under qualified. Eighty per cent of employers have also reported skills gaps in their workforce. Even more cause for concern is the consequences of a demographic time bomb facing the industry; 27% of the workforce is over 50 and 11% are under 30, therefore there will be a huge shortfall in the workforce over the next ten years.
ChemiCol is working closely with employers and organisations relevant to the industry including Cogent SSC, Chemicals North West, the LSC, Business Links and the NWDA. Both North Trafford College and TTE Training Ltd have vast experience in providing quality training packages to industry in general and specifically to the Chemical and Pharmaceutical industries.
Training courses on offer include: Process Operator Training, Engineering Training, NVQs, Apprenticeships, Health and Safety, English, Maths and IT, Management, Pharmaceuticals, Customer Services, Warehousing and even Degrees. However, ChemiCol has been created to be flexible, so the type of training, from the subject matter to the length and location, is down to the company. ChemiCol recognises that every company has its own unique needs and will formulate the training solution to meet those specific needs.
Companies that are keen to implement a training strategy and improve the skills of their employees should contact ChemiCol’s Project Manager, Sid Haselden. He said: "ChemiCol can help to overcome the skills shortage in the chemical industry. We will work with chemical companies to identify skills needs and deliver training tailored to each organisation."
"If companies are to maintain their competitive advantage it is essential that they take this opportunity to update the skills of their workforce. The establishment of the Centre of Vocational Excellence will provide the chemical industry with the experience, expertise and facilities to deliver the skills it needs."
Carol Boyer, Chief Executive of Chemicals Northwest added: "We are delighted that a Centre of Vocational Excellence for the Chemical Industry has been established. The North West is the UK’s largest centre for chemical manufacture, generating over £10 billion sales annually, employing 43,000 highly skilled people and supporting a further 120,000 jobs. ChemiCol will play a vital role in ensuring that the workforce has the necessary skills to sustain and develop the region’s leadership position."
For more information call Sid Haselden on 0845 200 2144.
Cogent and LSC celebrate polymer network success
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Investment in skills was at record levels and an impressive range of positive results ensued. These included:
- Over 200 employees from member companies achieved NVQs in 2004, including the first ever Level 4 Awards
- 2005 began with a record number of employees registered on NVQ programmes
- Network employers recruited their highest number of Apprentices since Modern Apprenticeships were introduced in 1994
- Basic Skills assessment and mentoring was extended with over 200 new recruits and existing employees supported last year
- The East Midlands Network companies accounted for 50% of new VRQ Awards made nationally in 2004
Bill Erskine, Cogent’s Regional Leader is delighted with the network’s success, "This employer network is going from strength to strength and its results reflect this. Member companies have benefited so far from the highest volume of grant funding for polymer training and development received anywhere in the country. This has been utilised very effectively to contribute to the record results achieved."
"Central to this is the sharing of best practice approaches to skills development and influencing the education and training provision in the region. The content of a new Foundation Degree in Polymer Technology was significantly influenced by the Network."
Cogent and the curriculum
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Energy Foresight is a set of teaching resources for Key Stage Four (14 to 16 year olds) that presents radioactivity and related issues in personal and social contexts - from the use of radioactive material in medicine through to the decommissioning of nuclear sites. It includes DVDs and online resources and is currently being piloted with a view to a full launch across UK schools in 2006.
Cogent has enabled and supported the introduction of three nuclear-related teaching modules, within a 12 strong module resource, aimed at making science relevant to the 21st Century. Phil Attwood, Cogent Nuclear Skills Adviser said: "We have worked with our partners to get nuclear related subject matter, which reflects the industry today, back onto the curriculum."
"We are currently working to secure funding from partner organisations to roll out the programme nationally to Key Stage Four science teachers, so that they can use these resources effectively in the classroom."
The programmes also look at the careers opportunities that working with radioactive materials offers.
John Ramsay appointed to SUfi board
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New North East Cluster
The new cluster will be continue to be industry led and will be a membership organisation which welcomes all companies, contractors and service companies either directly involved in the process industry or who work closely with it.
The overall aim of the new cluster is to ensure that the hundreds of companies and organisations in the North East who are directly affected by this major industry have a forum to meet, discuss and develop action plans - including skills, training and development.
Chris Ebdon, Cogent Skills Development Adviser said: "Cogent will be working with our partners in the learning and skills arena to continue to support the employers in the cluster and to increase opportunities to boost skills and influence skills supply across this sector which is so important to the North East region."
BCC report shows employers struggle to find skills
A comparison of the BCC's biggest economic survey between 1994 and 2004 has shown an increase from 29 per cent in 1994 to 43 per cent last year. The figures are taken from two surveys of over 6,000 businesses, conducted ten years apart.
David Frost, Director General of the BCC said: "Employers tell us all the time that they are frustrated that young people are not equipped with the right skills for the workplace. The system is simply not providing potential employees with the right skills for business and our figures show it has been failing for many years."
"The skills of our workforce are already lagging behind many of our global competitors. The Government must implement lasting reform in its 14-19 proposals or our competitive edge could be seriously harmed. Businesses cannot wait any longer."
Leadership boosts safety
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This follows on from a recent London conference held by the HSE, who used examples from two chemical companies to highlight the importance of strong leadership in creating a safe working culture. HSE's studies showed that the behaviours company directors need in order to sustain excellent safety performance are the same as those needed to drive reliability and productivity. The companies' case studies complement a recent HSE publication Leadership for the major hazard industries.
Stephen Elliott, CIA Director of Business Environment, commented, "It is excellent to see the chemical industry providing strong leadership on occupational health and safety. This is a central feature of the CIA's Sustainable Development strategy and long-standing commitment to Responsible Care. We hope it serves as an inspiration to others. Our industry can confirm what the HSE report suggests: a good safety record makes good business sense."
eLearning - does it work? The polymer sector shows you how.
The only effective way is to systematically evaluate the outcomes of
the e-learning programme to ensure that your original objectives have
been met. The polymer sector has done exactly that. With comments
like 'customers like the products, they like the approach and want
more!' and 'a genuinely pioneering development' that 'really works' ,
so both training managers and users can really start to take e-learning
seriously. Darren Hockley, Managing Director for DeltaNet International Limited who are the current technical partners on the project, says: "The project continues to be a great success. The independent evaluation report is a real endorsement of the work of the project group."
For several years, the polymer sector represented through the Polymer National Training Organisation (now part of Cogent SSC) has been working with the Department for Education & Skills, National Learning & Skills Council and East Midlands Development Agency to develop pioneering online learning materials to support a range of vocational qualifications and to accommodate hard-to-reach end users. The initial pilot project received endorsement through an independent evaluation and it was further endorsed by the e-learning industry when it won the prestigious WOLCE Online Product of the year award in 2002.
Since then the project has gone from strength to strength. A new employer led partner organisation, Polymer Sector Developments Ltd has enabled the portfolio of learning materials to be extended to cover a range of new processes within the sector, and this work is ongoing.
Another significant development was to take the project beyond learning and into formal assessment. The initial pilot project focused on providing high quality interactive learning materials and this included both formative and summative assessment. But the Polymer NTO (now Cogent) & Awarding Body wanted to go a stage further. They wanted candidates to be able to achieve a national qualification by completing an online assessment testing the knowledge gained during the learning programme.
Darren Hockley continues: "This aspect of the project was very challenging to complete. Firstly we set out to ensure candidates taking the online assessment would be able to do, as a minimum, everything that someone taking a traditional paper-based test would be able to do. This included providing facilities for candidates to skip questions and return to them later and allowing them to review and change their previous answers. Secondly we had to meet the very strict guidelines of the Awarding Body and QCA at a time where no previous examples of best practice existed for us to draw from."
The polymer sector is very typical of many other sectors in the UK economy. Predominantly, it is made up of a large number of small companies, employing some 400,000 people. The key objective right from the outset of the project was to improve the skills and productivity within the sector by making training more accessible and affordable to people working or wishing to work in the industry.
A key benefit of the polymer approach is allowing candidates to take the assessment at a centre that suits them either in company or, if they prefer, at a designated test centre.
If you would like to find out more about the project, a showcase CD-ROM has been prepared through support from DfES, one of the key partners in the project, to tell the story of the project and help other sectors to adopt the model. To receive a copy then please send an email to [email protected]
New nuclear international research agreement
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The new Agreement will facilitate the start of an international collaborative effort to research innovative advanced nuclear reactor systems that will offer a carbon free international energy option for the future.
The UK's participation is in line with Government policy on keeping the nuclear option open over the longer term, as set out in the Energy White Paper, February 2003. It will support UK skills needed to keep open the option over the longer term and our capability to keep abreast of international developments and inform UK policy development.
The UK joined the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) when it was first established by the US in January 2000 and signed the GIF Charter in July 2001. The UK was invited to take part in recognition of its respected nuclear expertise and UK membership has always been on the understanding that it should not be taken to imply a specific nuclear proportion of UK electricity generation.
UK composites centre opened
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The composite structures development centre at Airbus UK, Filton, is the first of several regional centres to open and it will focus on composites for the aerospace and marine sectors. It will form part of the National Composites Network, a new £30 million knowledge transfer network funded by UK government and industry.
According to the UK Department of Industry (DTI), over the next five years the centre at Filton will undertake more than £100 million worth of research and development into composites and will employ around 100 engineers. It is also designed to promote collaborative work with other industry sectors such as automotive, marine and healthcare and will act as the 'hub' of a regional alliance of companies, universities and colleges.
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