The education secretary is spot on in his ambitions for the FE sector in England. If we are to motivate more young people to take up apprenticeships in sectors vital for economic recovery, we need a world-class system that will deliver the high-quality training that employers are demanding.
As work begins on the reforms ahead of the publication of the FE White Paper expected in the autumn, we cannot afford to ignore the importance of international benchmarking in shaping the future of our skills systems across the UK.
We have been a member of WorldSkills, the global hub of skills excellence, for over 65 years. This international network is second to none in the world of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Its membership includes the richest and largest nations as well as some of the poorest, and it represents two-thirds of the world’s population. This access has given us a unique insight into skills development practices from the world’s leading and emerging economies. We have witnessed the transformation of skills systems in China, Russia, South Korea and Brazil as they have used their membership of WorldSkills to mainstream global industry standards into their training.
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Following the example set internationally
In developing a world-leading technical education sector, we must follow the example set by our fellow WorldSkills members and use global benchmarking to bring back international best practice to the UK. It was this thinking that drove our ambition to launch the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence, in partnership with NCFE, earlier this year. Through this, we are using our know-how to work with colleges to help mainstream world-class standards in teaching, learning and assessment, helping thousands of young people boost their potential.
In recent months, our membership of WorldSkills has once again delivered critical insights as we have dealt with the economic and social consequences of Covid-19. I have been in regular contact with my global colleagues to share best practice around initiatives that are enabling young people to continue, in lockdown, to develop their skill set and mindset to the highest possible levels so they can continue to build their confidence and potential. Here in the UK, this has meant increasing our digital careers resources to help young people make informed choices around apprenticeships and technical career routes and moving to remote training to ensure our preparations for WorldSkills Shanghai 2021 can continue.
This is because we all know that young people will be disproportionately affected by the fallout of the pandemic. That is why, this World Youth Skills Day on 15 July, we are joining with WorldSkills and its members across the world to celebrate the importance of equipping young people with high-quality employability skills that will provide them with a rewarding future.
Working with WorldSkills and our partners in industry, education and governments here in the UK, we will continue to champion a skills-led recovery, which is driven by international benchmarking and rightly values high-quality apprenticeships and technical education routes for all young people.
Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann is the chief executive of WorldSkills UK
