New report published with WorldSkillsUK

Jul 5, 2019

Dr Susan James Relly, in partnership with WorldSkills UK , has authored an insightful report on the existing opportunities to move world class practice in World Skills competitions into mainstream Further Education. The research question ‘How, if at all, does the knowledge and skills developed by training managers during their WorldSkill sUK experience transfer to pedagogical leadership in their day to day teaching roles’ was used to underpin this piece of qualitive research. Conducted with 24 of the 35 UK WorldSkills Training Managers, the report lays out eight recommendations for adopting a systems-wide approach to the development of skills in the UK:

  • Incorporate some WorldSkills-specific time to curricula development and team planning to utilise Training Managers’ expertise.
  • Further Education institutions could allocate WorldSkills-specific budgets for Training
  • Managers in further education to allow them to exercise their experience.
  • WorldSkills UK could work closely with the senior management teams at each of the institutions where a Training Manager is employed to ensure they understand the Training Manager job role and requirements.
  • Ensure that colleges and PTPs (where suitable), especially those that are not currently involved in WorldSkills UK Competitions, are part of a regional cluster to promote and develop WorldSkills UK opportunities. This is especially important in terms of developing curricula and CPD opportunities to be to disseminate best practice, knowledge and skill.
  • WorldSkills UK could work with the awarding bodies to ensure training managers, given their unique positions, are involved in the development of awarding body qualifications.
  • WorldSkills UK and Training Managers could work with their individual institutions to develop formal strategies and methods for succession planning.
  • Building on the Training Manager success and working with them, WorldSkills UK needs to develop an approach and strategy that allows for more ready mainstreaming of WorldSkills excellence into Further Education.
  • WorldSkills UK should promote the recommendations in the Augar report wherever possible.

To read the full report click here.

To learn more about this research and WorldSkillsUK’s newly created Productivity Lab visit : WorldSkillsUK Productivity Lab