What’s in this issue? Page 1 The Future of Apprenticeships Page 2 The Future of Apprenticeships (cont) GTA welcomes new board member Hereford and Worcestershire - GTA Award Page 3 New Flagship Training Centre Page 4 Nital Training Dates for the Diary Page 5 And the Winner is... GTA England welcomes Lee Childs GTA England news GTA England news The last few months has seen almost unprecedented change in a sector that is very used to change. Our challenge as GTAs is as always to ensure we fully understand the changes and their impact, so we can continue to provide an outstanding service to our employers and learners. We continue to passionately believe the ‘GTA way’ is the right one to enable us to do this, and were delighted this was recognised by Ofsted in last month’s apprenticeship report where they reported that “Group Training Associations (GTAs) provide a very successful model for collaboration between employers and providers. This has become a model of industry/provider partnership resilient to policy changes and has responded very effectively to the training demands of industry. Training companies that are members of GTA England generally provide high-quality training”. The government has this month published a new document to help us achieve this aim. The 24-page report ‘ English Apprenticeships: Our 2020 Vision’ full version with key milestones for employers, providers and the government itself, and a useful Apprenticeships 2020 summary are available through these links. Within this report the government has laid out its timeline for implementing apprenticeship reforms over the next five years as it chases its target of 3m starts (thanks to colleagues at FE week for the links above). This contains some of the key areas and actions planned and dates which are detailed within the document. A whole host of activities are covered in this important strategic document so we thought following this year of change it would be useful to highlight three areas of particular significance which the GTA England Board have identified as strategically significant and our proposed actions in response: Through the Apprenticeship Levy ‘employers will choose and pay for the apprenticeship training and assessment they want through the Digital Apprenticeship Service. All employers will have access to the Digital Apprenticeship Service whether they have contributed to the levy or not. We want to give employers in England flexibility on how they use their levy contributions, without introducing additional and unintended complexity into the system. On that basis we will continue to engage with employers in England between now and the implementation of the levy to understand better what this might look like in practice and the pros and cons of any approach before deciding on how to proceed.’ December issue Supported by The Future of Apprenticeships
Transcript
What’s in this issue?Page 1The Future of Apprenticeships
Page 2The Future of Apprenticeships (cont)
GTA welcomes new board member
Hereford and Worcestershire - GTA Award
Page 3New Flagship Training Centre
Page 4Nital Training
Dates for the Diary
Page 5And the Winner is...
GTA England welcomes Lee Childs
1
Issue 13
September
GTA England news What’s in this issue?
Page 1 GTA’s quality—a snapshot
Page 2
Trying to be all things to all people? Why heroism is not the best leadership style
Reminder to book your place at the GTA England annual conference
Page 3
This provider is good
because …. An inspec�on success story
Posi�ve quality posi�on but no room for complacency; GTA England benchmarks
Group Training Associa�ons con�nue to out‐perform most Providers in terms of success rates.
The overall success rates for GTA England members recorded in 2010‐11 at 80.9% is some 4.5% above the na�onal benchmark for all sectors (76.4%). This posi�on has been increased in 2011‐12 to 5.4% with collec�ve performance being 79.2% as compared to the na�onal benchmark of 73.8%.
In Engineering, the picture is replicated. The overall success rates for GTA England members recorded in 2010‐11 at 79.3% is some 2% above the na�onal benchmark (77.3%). This posi�on has been increased in 2011‐12 to 2.3% with collec�ve performance being 79.9% as compared to the na�onal benchmark of 77.6%.
This posi�ve quality posi�on is further supported by an analysis of Inspec�on outcomes for the rst
year of the new common inspec�on framework (CIF). The new CIF is characterised by 2 days no�ce inspec�ons; a focus on teaching and learning and assessment such that an overall outstanding judgement must be supported by “outstanding” teaching learning and assessment; and, a re‐classica�on of “sa�sfactory” grade 3 outcome to “requires improvement”.
An analysis of inspec�ons to July 2013 of grades for Overall effec�veness shows that:
Against a na�onal average of grade 2 of 51%; GTA’s are at 69%
Against a na�onal average of grade 3 of 41%; GTA’s are at 23%
Against a na�onal average of grade 4 of 7%; GTA’s are similar at 8%
GTA EnglandnewsThe last few months has seen almost unprecedented change in a sector that is very used to change.
Our challenge as GTAs is as always to ensure we fully understand the changes and their impact, so we can continue to provide an outstanding service to our employers and learners. We continue to passionately believe the ‘GTA way’ is the right one to enable us to do this, and were delighted this was recognised by Ofsted in last month’s apprenticeship report where they reported that “Group Training Associations (GTAs) provide a very successful model for collaboration between employers and providers. This has become a model of industry/provider partnership resilient to policy changes and has responded very effectively to the training demands of industry. Training companies that are members of GTA England generally provide high-quality training”.
The government has this month published a new document to help us achieve this aim. The 24-page report ‘English Apprenticeships: Our 2020 Vision’ full version with key milestones for employers, providers and the government itself, and a useful Apprenticeships 2020 summary are available through these links.
Within this report the government has laid out its timeline for implementing apprenticeship reforms over the next five years as it chases its target of 3m starts
(thanks to colleagues at FE week for the links above). This contains some of the key areas and actions planned and dates which are detailed within the document.
A whole host of activities are covered in this important strategic document so we thought following this year of change it would be useful to highlight three areas of particular significance which the GTA England Board have identified as strategically significant and our proposed actions in response:
Through the Apprenticeship Levy ‘employers will choose and pay for the apprenticeship training and assessment they want through the Digital Apprenticeship Service. All employers will have access to the Digital Apprenticeship Service whether they have contributed to the levy or not. We want to give employers in England flexibility on how they use their levy contributions, without introducing additional and unintended complexity into the system. On that basis we will continue to engage with employers in England between now and the implementation of the levy to understand better what this might look like in practice and the pros and cons of any approach before deciding on how to proceed.’
• We continue to work with colleagues in BIS / SFA with this important development. BIS confirm their intention to work with the GTA England network to help develop Apprenticeship Levy policy and the Digital Apprenticeship Service. I have meetings scheduled in early 2016 for an update on progress.
• The Employer Advisory Group, newly established in early 2016, will form an excellent basis for consultation on the e-voucher and matters around the Levy.
• We will establish a GTA levy implementation workshop which will bring together GTAs to find solutions to common issues arising from levy implementation. The benefits of this will be synergies, reduced development time, shared ideas and resources in order to be at the forefront of working with employers to support in accessing any Levy arrangements.
The development of the new Institute of Apprenticeships body from April 2017 and how it will contribute to the governance of the programme including managing expressions of interest, apprenticeships standards and assessment plans and funding recommendations.
ACTION:
• We will continue to offer support to BIS and help in the development of the Institute of Apprenticeships to ensure the networks 24,000 employers have a say in emerging arrangements.
Updated guidance on the post-16 education area reviews is expected from February.
ACTION:
• We will continue to represent GTAs on the national area review advisory group to ensure an opportunity for full participation is available to those GTAs wishing to participate.
• We will continue to support BIS in shaping their thinking on Institutes of Technology, building on and enhancing the best practice in existence in the GTA England network.
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful and restful Christmas ready for the exciting opportunities in 2016.
This is awarded to a provider “who has made a significant contribution in supporting and delivering apprenticeships in Worcestershire, who are passionate about apprenticeships and have the learner at the heart of everything they do”.
The event was hosted by Steph McGovern, a presenter on BBC’s Breakfast Show.
As well as winning the award, staff and apprentices from WGTA designed and assembled the trophies presented to all the award winners, in the form of an intricate pear design”.
Congratulations to H&WGTA for the recognition of their truly employer responsive approach to member companies workforce development needs – a great example of a GTAs unique characteristics.
GTA England are delighted to announce the appointment of a new Board member, EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation. A key advantage of collaboration would provide a stronger voice for the manufacturing sector and more effective and efficient service to it’s employers. This is underpinned by a mutual understanding of the sector’s needs, particularly with reference to education and skills.
Board membership will underpin and create a mutually beneficial partnership for members and employers.
EEF are extremely supportive of the work of GTA England and its members do to deliver high quality training to employers in the manufacturing and engineering sector.
GTA England welcomes new Board member: EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation
Herefordshire and Worcestershire GTA - Award
“At the Worcestershire Apprenticeship Awards 2015 at the West Midland Safari Park recently, Worcestershire Group Training Association were awarded Training Provider of the Year.
GTA England News
The GTA England member is extremely proud to announce a major investment in West Cumbria to establish a state-of-the-art facility that will allow substantial expansion of Gen2’s training and educational services for the energy, engineering and advanced manufacturing business sectors in Cumbria and beyond.
The multi-million pound investment, will establish a new world-class facility, located adjacent to Gen2’s current operations at the Energus building and the recently opened Energy Coast UTC, on the Lillyhall Business Park in Workington. The centre will provide huge job opportunities for more young people through apprenticeships, traineeships and ground-breaking higher education programmes. It will also allow Gen2 to provide an extended range of commercial training courses tailored to meet the skills needs of employers in Cumbria, including those in advanced manufacturing, nuclear new build as well as the service and business sectors.
This is a major investment in West Cumbria, but one that benefits the entire Gen2 organisation and it is our determined objective to also build on our position in both the North and South of the county. The new facility will allow Gen2 to develop new products as well as our business in ways which allow us to bring new opportunities and investment potential in our other Cumbrian sites.
The 7,000 sq metre facility will include 3,000 sq metres of cutting-edge engineering training workshops equipped with the latest specialist equipment and machinery, along with classrooms to accommodate an additional 500 learners. These facilities will create new opportunities for Gen2’s existing clients throughout Cumbria and allow the not-for-profit organisation to fulfil ambitions to substantially expand the range of services on offer to new customers.
Planning for the project is at the advanced stage and subject to all necessary approvals, Gen2 aims to be fully operational in the new facility from 2016/17.
Speaking for Gen2, Mike Smith OBE, Chief Executive Officer explains “This project has been a long time in the planning, and will eventually see the creation of the largest engineering and advanced manufacturing training facility in the North West, if not the UK. As our existing facilities on the Lillyhall Business Park have been at full capacity for some time, we’ve had to make some short-term arrangements for additional accommodation due to the increase in demand from employers and learner growth, which this year saw the opening of our Skills Centre on the Salterbeck Estate in Workington. The new facility will be large enough to accommodate all of our existing provision at both Lillyhall and Salterbeck, and become the company’s new Head Office. It will also give us room to further expand our capacity and capability well into the future, as the demands for skilled engineers and technicians in support of the county’s large scale industrial projects, such as the new reactors to be built by NuGen at Moorside, start to take place. As such this should not only be seen as a vote of confidence in Gen2’s future, but the economic future of West Cumbria and the county as a whole.”
3
Gen2 rises to the Skills Challenge and invests to support the future of Cumbrian Energy, Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing
employers with Announcement of Multi-Million Pound project to construct
flagship training centre at Workington.
GTA England News
NITAL Training Academy to meet the needs of employers
In October of this year GTA England member NITAL Training and Development opened the doors to their new training Academy in Kettering, Northamptonshire
The academy will train and develop apprentices across a range of engineering disciplines, ensuring each apprentice is trained optimally to the standards required by their employer and industry. In addition to the day release learners there will also be full time attendees, some on Apprenticeships and others on Traineeships.
In recent times it has become abundantly clear the previous day release and full time technical certificate provision in Northamptonshire had not been at the levels NITAL and their employers require for high quality apprenticeships so it was essential this facility was established.
Alan Smith CEO of NITAL has been a driving force behind the project and has overseen it’s development. “For too long NITAL have had to rely upon others for the delivery of technical certificates and unfortunately our expectations and the expectations of our employers has not been met. Due to the levels of our experience, knowledge and
ethical approach we knew NITAL had to establish their own training academy to meet the needs of our employers and their apprentices. We have incredibly high standards, good success rates and now a training academy to ensure we can train and development people in the right way”. NITAL have invested significantly in the Academy through their own reserves.
The Academy currently has a range of machine tools, hand tools, fabrication and welding equipment to meet the demands of the first cohort of day release and full time learners. Over the next year further investment will see the development of fluid power, maintenance, electrical and electronic works shops to ensure service provision is at the levels to meet employer’s needs and to deliver a thorough engineering and manufacturing education to those attending the centre.
Simon Webster, Head of Business and Development, had this to say about the academy “The academy allows us to offer employers engineering and manufacturing apprenticeship programmes that work. Each student attending the centre will learn and develop the required levels of knowledge and understanding essential to becoming an engineer. We already ensure an incredibly high standard of work based learning delivery in company, the addition of the academy ensures our engineering and manufacturing apprenticeship service provision is unrivalled.”
These are truly exciting times for NITAL, as they are now best placed to truly meet the needs of employers and their apprentices.
4
6/1/16 GTA England welcomes the National Audit Office to contribute to research of the management of the apprenticeship programme by Department for Business, Innovation & Skills.
7/1/16 – Quality Improvement event. Venue Rochdale training with a focus on best practice in topics including: the Prevent agenda; reinforcing British values; “When an Inspector calls” (the lessons of recent inspections); successfully delivering English and Mathematics. Led by GTA England Quality Improvement Co-ordinator, Trevor Alley.
13 & 14/1/16 – Engineering the future conference with inputs from Renishaw and Siemens hosted by GTA England sponsors XYZ Machinery and WNT (UK).
15/1/16 - GTA England members are invited to nominate employers for inclusion in the Employer Advisory Group as agreed at the annual conference.
20/1/16 - Quality Improvement event. Venue EEF, Aston Birmingham with a focus on best practice in topics including: the Prevent agenda; reinforcing British values; “When an Inspector calls”
(the lessons of recent inspections); successfully delivering English and Mathematics. Led by GTA England Quality Improvement Co-ordinator, Trevor Alley.
26/1/16 – SME consultation and contribution to the Machining Apprenticeship standard .
27/1/16 GTA England attends national area review advisory group.
28/1/16 - GTA England Board meeting to finalise the strategic plan.
4/2/16 – Day 2 Training officer course Venue JTL, Birmingham.
Dates for the diary
GTA England News
From an ex-Apprentice to CEO; GTA England welcomes Lee ChildsAfter leaving school, Lee Childs joined Black & Decker in Spennymoor as an engineering apprentice and spent his first three months learning basic skills at South West Durham Training in Newton Aycliffe.
Now, 16 years later, he has returned to take over as chief executive from Trevor Alley, who has moved on after a successful two years at the helm which saw, GTA England member, SWDT named one of the highest performing engineering training providers in the country.
Lee, from Shildon, said: “I am an engineer – that’s my background, that’s what I trained as – and I’m very passionate about apprenticeship training and vocational skills. High quality apprenticeships are an absolute must for the future success of manufacturing and engineering in the country; we need to invest in the training of young people. Our trainees are equally passionate – they come here to secure jobs and we want to get them all into employment while providing the training services our employers need.”
In July 2014 SWDT received an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted report, receiving the top grade in all four categories: overall effectiveness; outcomes for learners; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; and effectiveness of leadership and management.
Last month, the centre, which employs 27 staff and has over 100 trainees, welcomed new apprentices from Hitachi, Cummins, Glaxo, 3M, Cleveland Bridge and Nifco. All are on engineering/manufacturing programmes with bespoke elements required by their employer, including hydraulics, pneumatics, electrical, fabrication and welding.
For latest news and information visit: www.gta-england.co.uk
And the Winner is…Following the GTA England annual conference at the IMechE in London, we are delighted to confirm the winners of the Apprentice of the year awards 2015:
The Business Services Apprentice of the year Award is Henry Clark employed at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and undertaking a Higher Apprenticeship in Business Administration at Training 2000 in Blackburn, Blackburn with Darwen.
Ruby Udin, employed at Rochdale Borough Council undertaking an Advanced Apprenticeship in Business Administration at Rochdale Training, Greater Manchester achieved the runner-up award.
In the Engineering and Construction category, the winner is Lucinda Jones, employed at MBDA UK Ltd who is undertaking and Advanced Apprenticeship in Engineering at Alliance Learning in Horwich, Bolton.
Casey Allen, employed at Foxwood Diesels undertaking an Advanced Apprenticeship in Manufacture Engineering at NLT Training Services, Chesterfield, achieved the runner-up award.
The remaining finalists: Dayna Crabtree (Whitefield House Ltd undertaking an Advanced Apprenticeship Business Administration at Alliance Learning Harwich, Bolton); David Morton (employed at DSV Solutions, whose Advanced Apprenticeship Logistics Operations training is provided by at NITAL Training and Development in Corby, Northamptonshire); Ryan Cox (employed at Majorlift Hydraulic Equipment Limited whose Advanced Apprenticeship in Manufacture and Mechanical Engineering is provided by Gloucestershire Engineering Training in Gloucester; and Liam Woinson (employed at Paradigm Precision whose training in Advanced Apprenticeship Machining is provided by Training 2000 in Blackburn, Blackburn with Darwen) will join the winners in an all-expenses paid, two day excursion courtesy of GTA England sponsors XYZ Machine Tools and WNT (UK).
