HSDC students are set to benefit from a radical new approach to delivering high level skills following the College’s induction to the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence.
Launched by WorldSkills UK, in partnership with education and skills charity NCFE, the Centre of Excellence will mainstream world-class standards in skills development. 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.
Parisa Shirazi, Head of Education and International Skills Competitions at WorldSkills UK, said: “This is a milestone moment – a unique opportunity for HSDC to work with colleges across the UK and join the dawn of a skills revolution. Working with the staff at HSDC, 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.
“Utilising NCFE’s expertise in curriculum development and drawing on its unique insights into global skills systems through its membership of WorldSkills, the global hub for skills excellence, WorldSkills UK will coach and mentor staff at HSDC to embed world-class practises and techniques in their teaching, learning and assessment practices. By creating a cadre of world-class educators, all students at HSDC will benefit from the highest quality training.”
David Gallagher, Chief Executive at NCFE, added: “Skills change the lives of young people. They build self-esteem and release potential, create opportunities and build stronger communities, and are the foundation of economic and social progress, which is why we are thrilled to be partnering with WorldSkills UK on this revolutionary and timely project.
“By providing much needed investment in technical educators through the Centre of Excellence, we will mainstream international best practice into programme delivery. We are raising the bar for technical teaching and helping to create a cohort of highly skilled, employment-ready young people who can positively contribute to the workforce as we strive to rebuild the UK economy. The impact of this project will resonate for years to come and has the potential to inspire and create the next generation of world-class educators and learners, whilst creating a prestige for apprenticeships and technical teaching which will both positively impact the economy and promote social mobility.”
Mike Gaston, HSDC Principal and CEO, commented: “This is an unique opportunity, and indeed the first time that WorldSkills UK has provided the chance for its High Performance Skills coaches to work with technical educators, which will be something extremely valuable. I know that the staff who are directly involved will enjoy and value their participation.
As a leading FE provider, I am very proud that we continue to be involved in national initiatives and programmes such as WorldSkills which reflect the quality of our provision, the strengths of our staff and our role in the wider FE sector.
The involvement of these staff enhances their development as technical and professional innovators which can only be of benefit to themselves, their curriculum teams and indeed our students in the acquisition of skills whether through T Levels, Apprenticeships or other Vocational provision.
I wish them all well in this exciting project.”
