More colleges sign up to deliver qualification

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Three more colleges in Wales are set to offer the Baccalaureate from September 2007 following a “very successful” pilot.

The Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification was launched in 2005 and is now halfway through its six-year pilot project.

The qualification is offered alongside existing qualifications, both academic and vocational, to enhance education among 14 to 19 year-olds. There are currently fourteen colleges taking part in the pilot.

Colleg Gwent is one of the fourteen colleges that has been offering the WBQ since the beginning of the pilot and is looking forward to expanding its provisions in September this year.

Howard Burton, Principal and Chief Executive of Coleg Gwent, said: “Students in the WBQ pilot clearly enjoyed the variety of work provided by the programme. The excellent success rate of our students ““ particularly the 100% pass rate achieved by Childcare students sitting the Intermediate WBQ at our Pontypool Campus ““ proves that students value, and benefit from, the qualification”.

The College Ystrad Mynach, which won the UK Skills Challenge Award for Key Skills in January 2007, is of the three colleges to be taking part in the first roll out phase in September.

David Finch, Deputy Principal (Academic), said: “The college has been planning carefully for this opportunity for a number of years. Key skills will be an integral part of our Welsh Bac provision”.

John Graystone, Chief Executive of fforwm, said: “The FE colleges that were involved in the pilot phase worked extremely hard to develop a bank of materials and expertise. Thanks to their professionalism and commitment in meeting the many challenges of piloting this new qualification, the FE sector is looking forward to rolling out the WBQ with confidence”.

Kimberly Jordan.

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