Posted: September 21, 2020
North Lindsey College and Doncaster College, part of DN Colleges Group are one of the first FE colleges to work with the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence.
The link will mean that staff across the Group will benefit from bespoke training to support their CPD, which in turn will mean students will benefit from tutors with industry trained tutors.
The work will be led by WorldSkills UK High-Performance Skills Coaches, who are all experienced WorldSkills UK Training Managers. They will capture learnings from international competitions and use these to coach and mentor tutors at North Lindsey College and Doncaster College who will pass this knowledge on to their students, ensuring they perform to international high standards of excellence in their skills.
In addition to its work with FE colleges throughout the UK, the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence will also play an important role in supporting the development of higher technical standards across qualifications and assessment development.
The announcement means that North Lindsey College and Doncaster College are one of the first colleges in the UK to be part of the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence, in partnership with NCFE, to mainstream world-class standards in skills development in the UK.
North Lindsey College and Doncaster College were specially selected to be part of the scheme after a rigorous application process, which saw them go head-to-head with 85 other providers for one of the 20 places.
Working together with WorldSkills UK, NCFE and our partners, the Colleges will help develop a world-leading technical education sector.
Parisa Shirazi, Head of skills development and international competition at WorldSkills UK, said: “This is a milestone moment – a unique opportunity for North Lindsey College and Doncaster College to work with other colleges across the UK and join the dawn of a skills revolution.
“Working with the staff at North Lindsey College and Doncaster College we will champion a skills-led recovery, which is driven by international benchmarking and rightly values high-quality apprenticeships and technical education to enable all young people to develop the employability skills that will provide them with a rewarding future.”
Kate McDonald, FE Director at North Lindsey College said: “We are very proud to have gained this status and are excited to be working alongside WorldSkills UK and NCFE. Being a Centre of Excellence will provide a unique opportunity for staff to enhance their current skills and knowledge in their vocational area. The expertise and excellence generated through the training staff will receive will inevitably be passed onto the future generations in our bid to become part of a world-leading technical education sector.”
Utilising NCFE’s expertise in curriculum development and drawing on WorldSkills UK’s unique insights into global skills systems through its membership of WorldSkills, the global hub for skills excellence, staff at North Lindsey College and Doncaster College will be coached and mentored to embed world-class practises and techniques in their teaching, learning and assessment practices.
Kathryn Brentnall, Principal and Doncaster College said: “We are absolutely proud and delighted to have been selected as a WorldSkills provider. The main objective of the programme is to enable educators to make a tangible, positive difference for students in technical education to make an aspirational start in work and life. This is closely aligned to the vision and mission of DN Colleges Group so the opportunity for our staff to develop and consequently our students is one that we were keen to take advantage of.
Being able to work with world class trainers and educators means that the staff will benefit from the highest quality CPD and through them the students of Doncaster College and North Lindsey Colleges will raise their aspirations and esteem even further and develop those highly sought after skills that jobs of the future demand.”