Weston College has been awarded funds to train five industry professionals to work as post-16 teachers.

It is one of 45 further education (FE) providers selected by the government to receive funding as part of the Taking Teaching Further (TTF) programme. The initiative was unveiled last year to recruit and retrain industry specialists to work in the FE workforce.

The College will use the funding to recruit specialists from the engineering and digital industries.

Successful candidates, who must have at least three years’ experience in either the engineering or digital sector, will benefit from a specialised teacher training programme over the first two years of employment.

This includes:

• A fully recognised teacher training qualification

• An eight-week induction programme

• A reduced teaching timetable to provide more opportunities for professional development, planning and reflection.

If you’re interested in applying, or would like more information, contact Edd Brown on 01934 411693 or email your CV to Edward.brown@weston.ac.uk or attend our Engineering to education event on the 25th July. 16:00 - 18:30 at our South West Skills Campus. 

TTF is part of a wider drive to prepare for the introduction of T Levels from 2020. T Levels, which will be available at Weston College, are vocational equivalents to A Levels and will cover 15 industry-related subjects. They have been introduced to help produce skilled workers for sectors that have found it difficult to recruit in recent years.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College, said: “This is a unique opportunity for engineering or digital specialists to embark on a rewarding career in further education.

“It not only gives them a head-start in the industry, but enables them to work at one of the country’s top Colleges and benefit from all the support, resources and progression opportunities they’ll need to achieve success.”

In announcing the winning TTF bids, Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, Anne Milton said: “Teaching in further education is an incredibly rewarding career. We are reforming technical education in this country with the introduction of new T Levels and we want more staff with industry skills to pass on their expertise and inspire the next generation.

“I’m thrilled to announce the second round of providers who will be offered funding to help over 160 industry professionals to become FE teachers.

“We’ve already seen fantastic stories of success. The fund has supported 47 new teachers to date, and I am looking forward to more teachers joining the profession to inspire, energise and bring on the next generation of highly-skilled young people.”

TTF was designed in partnership with the Association of Colleges and the Education and Training Foundation.

The foundation’s chief executive David Russell said there was a “vital need” to bring industry talent into the sector to pass expertise and experience on to learners, teachers and trainers.

A team of Weston College business students have taken part in the UK final of an International Trade competition.

The seven first-year students, who earlier won the regional event, travelled to The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London to compete against five other schools and colleges.

They presented a pitch on how to get young people interested in international trade and, despite not winning, impressed the judges with their understanding and confident pitching technique.

The team of Klaudia Wiecek, Julia Kaminska, Carlotta Browne, Immy Talbot, Max Kelly, Ryan Latham and Oscar Buxton also got the opportunity to visit 10 Downing Street and meet Liam Fox MP, the Secretary of State for International Trade. They also took part in a treasure hunt around Whitehall.

The competition was part of a Department for International Trade (DIT) initiative to find the next generation of business leaders.

DIT invited students to register for ‘summer schools’ in Bristol, Birmingham and Edinburgh, which offered the chance to develop entrepreneurial skills, work alongside business leaders and learn from successful exporters.

It also enabled them to enter the national competition, with the Weston College team winning the Bristol ‘heat’ held at Airbus.

Ben Melhuish, the College’s area manager for Business, said: “This event has been a great experience for the students.

“As well as being a hot topic due to Brexit, the practise of international trade is constantly evolving and offers a wealth of career opportunities.

“This event has allowed the students to explore what it has to offer and to learn from business leaders. They were also able to network with Airbus employees about opportunities available through apprenticeships, internships and graduate schemes.

“They performed extremely well to reach the competition final and delivered an excellent presentation in a high-pressure environment. We are very proud of them.”

Find out more about Business and Management courses here.

Weston College will be at the forefront of the brand new Digital T Level qualification, which will be launched to students in September 2020.

The T Level qualification is a highly technical alternative to A Levels, and is part of the Government’s commitment to giving people access to high-quality training opportunities.

T Levels will combine classroom theory, practical learning and an industry placement. The industry placement is a core component of each T Level and ensures students spend at least 315 hours (approximately 45 days) utilising the skills and knowledge they have learnt in the classroom and applying them in the workplace.

Damian Hinds, Education Secretary, said: “Everyone agrees that a radical shake-up of technical and vocational education in this country is long overdue. T Levels are our chance to do that – offering young people high-quality alternatives to our world-class A Levels from September 2020.”

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College Group, said: “The College is keen to start working with businesses in the digital sector to develop partnerships that offer industry placements to learners on the Digital T Level route.

“Industry placements can benefit businesses by helping them identify and nurture their future talent, allowing them to discover an early talent pipeline for their next generation of workforce.

"Also these placements can help to develop existing staff’s mentoring and management skills whilst improving recruitment sources for jobs, in a challenging recruitment marketplace."

If your business is interested in offering an industry placement for a Digital T Level student from September 2020, please fill out the form below and a member of our team will be in touch to let you know how.