Chichester College Group selected to join skills revolution

Young people in West Sussex are set to benefit from a radical new approach to delivering high level skills following the induction of the Chichester College Group (CCG) to the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence it was announced today (21 September)

The group – which includes Chichester College, Crawley College, Brinsbury College, Worthing College and Haywards Heath College – is among the first 20 in the country to have been selected to join the Centre of Excellence, which has been launched by WorldSkills UK in partnership with education and skills charity NCFE.

Shelagh Legrave OBE, Chief Executive of CCG, said: “We are delighted to be part of the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence.

“We are absolutely committed to delivering excellence in our training and teaching programmes across all of CCG colleges. That’s why we are working with WorldSkills UK and NCFE to provide our students with a world-class skill set and mind set so they and their employers will succeed.

“We are extremely proud of our pedigree at WorldSkills competitions, where our students have won gold medals in cabinet making in 2013 and 2015.

“We hope that, alongside enhancing our teaching and curriculum innovation, working with the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence will also see students in other areas of the group competing and achieving at UK and international skills competitions – putting their knowledge and talent to the test against the best.”

It’s hoped the Centre of Excellence will mainstream world-class standards in skills development.

Parisa Shirazi, Head of skills development and international competition at WorldSkills UK, said: “This is a milestone moment – a unique opportunity for the Chichester College Group to work with colleges across the UK and join the dawn of a skills revolution.

“Working with the staff at CCG colleges 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.”

In addition to its work with Further Education 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.

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 CCG colleges to embed world-class practises and techniques in their teaching, learning and assessment practices.

By creating a cadre of world-class educators, it is hoped all students at the college will benefit from the highest quality training.  

David Gallagher, Chief Executive at NCFE, commented: “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.

“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.”

Chichester College has a long-standing pedigree in WorldSkills, with students from the college representing the UK in cabinet making at three of the last four competitions – picking up two gold medals along the way.

Lecturer Christian Notley is also the training manager for Team UK’s cabinet makers. He added: “I am a big advocate of the Centre of Excellence, and I believe it will make an enormous difference to the quality of skills education up and down the country.

“It will also open up the competition, and my hope is that will encourage more students at colleges across CCG to get involved in WorldSkills UK and competitions.

“These are a fantastic way for students to benchmark their skills against the very best, and demonstrate their pedigree. I think this is great news for the skills industry.”