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On Friday 8th July the ITeC team attended the first conference of Skills Academy Wales, the first real chance for all ten work based learning providers in the partnership to get together, get to know each other, share good practice and look at plans for the future.
The opening session was lead by Mark Dacey, Principal of Neath Port Talbot college who spoke about "Building a Sector Leading Academy".
He outlined the current challenging environment, where the Wolf Report indicates many 14-19 learners are being railroaded into unsuitable courses, with no progression into employment or further education, apprenticeship places are limited and the funding systems often offers "perverse incentives" through poorly chosen, artificial measures of "success".
Employers are also noticing the issues, with 70% saying they found new recruits often arrived with employability skills shortages and 65% commenting on the need for better literacy and numeracy skills.
In a workplace market where the average person can expect to change jobs 3 to 5 times before they're even 30, those basic essentials are even more essential!
Against this background Mark outlined the aims of the partnership. To maintain individual partners' identities and let them "do what they do best", while working collaboratively to support the partnerships... To be 'honest' with the learners, even when that means referring them onto a more suitable course (and with it saying goodbye to that funding!)... And to offer leadership in the sector - something which the Welsh Government has already looked to us to provide.
This introduction was followed by an introduction to each of the partners (In very democratic alphabetical order!).
While each provider has their own unique features, and the variety in subjects and sizes and types of organisations is enormous, a few common things shone out (quite apart from the good Estyn scores!).
A focus on quality and putting the learner first featured highly and there was vast amounts of experience - with many providers having been through more or less every training and employment "initiative" of the past 30 years. There was a commitment to the recognised benchmarks of the industry - Investors in People and the Basic Skills Quality Mark, an emphasis on the importance of lifelong learning and an enthusiasm for recognising and marking achievement - with many having entered learners and staff for industry awards.
After a quick introduction to the Self Assessment Report and Quality Development Plan and a heads up that it's been 14 months since the partnership was formed and an Estyn inspection could be announced any time now, the delegates peeled off for their individual workshops. The work workshop we presented of course can be found here on our Moodle! (Login as Guest) and the presentation is below.
eLearning Workshop Prezi
After a busy day we reconvened for the wrapup and plenary - then back to our own centres to think about where we go next. Onwards and upwards, of course!
Photographs from the day
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