Recent skills initiatives from the Government via both the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) through its "Skills for Life" Strategy and the impetus towards encouraging more vocational education amongst the young learners in the Learning and Skills Council's (LSC) "14 "“ 19 Skills Paper" and the "Agenda for Change" have been seen by some as a move towards the spirit of the Tomlinson Report recommendations, if not in keeping with the letter of the document.

The Rathbone Centre in Workington centre in Workington is a purpose built shared facility with a partnership organisation called Routes to Work. The partnership has been established for four years. The programmes run at this centre include apprenticeship programmes in construction; health and social care; child care; administration; and retail.

The Prizes

The youngsters from Workington's Rathbone Centre were presented with awards for completing their apprenticeship programmes and were congratulated by MP Tony Cunningham who was delighted to join the young learners, aged 16 to 19, at a ceremony hosted by education charity Rathbone. The centre also caters to learners less than 16 years old as well as running programmes to bring unemployed people into education and training.

The young people all gained a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) at Level 2 or 3 in their chosen areas of administration or social care. In keeping with the primary motivation "“ to get more people into employment after their participation in training - six of the apprentices have jobs, with one going on to further education. To top off the ceremony, seven of the staff also received awards for their outstanding work in the field.

Jethro Marsh

Congratulate excellence on both sides of the fence in the FE Blog