Business review - Individuals
In the year ending 30 September 2007 the City & Guilds Group registered an amazing 1,820,566 learners.
In 2006-2007 we worked hard to identify, support and recognise the efforts of individual learners and the communities in which they function so that registration was only the beginning of their relationship with us.
Campaigning
Discover the top learner aspirations and what they're doing to achieve them.
Global reach
City & Guilds are a permier partner for WorldSkills 2011, which will hopefully see the UK team be as successful as they were in 2007.
From the ground up
Read more about our work developing a new set of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) qualifications.
Rolling out the red carpet
The 'skills oscars' was a night not to be missed, find out who the winners were.
Practical recognition
Partnering with UK skills we've developed a new way of recognising excellence in our learners.
Great oaks
The winner of the Prince Philip medal this year was City & Guilds-qualified ‘Blue Peter’ Gardener, read more about how he got there.
Campaigning
City & Guilds cast a wide research net over the UK to better understand the nation’s learning requirements in 2006-2007. Work published in August 2007 revealed that despite the emergence of newer industries, the more altruistic sectors of education and healthcare hold the most appeal for 26% of today’s younger generation. City & Guilds’ Aspiration Index explored the career choices of the UK’s school and college leavers, and uncovered what young people perceive as the routes, and barriers, to success.
According to the survey, almost two-thirds (62%) of people under the age of 25 have a clear idea of their dream job. Of this group, nearly half (48%) are currently studying to follow their career aspirations, and approximately a quarter (24%) are already working in or towards their job of choice.
Many younger respondents admitted to temporarily shelving their career ambitions or being discouraged by what they see as a saturated market in their chosen area. Nearly one in three (30%) believes work experience is the best way to land their dream job, with another quarter (26%) believing the right skills and qualifications will open the door for them.
Global reach
City & Guilds is a Premier Partner for WorldSkills London 2011 and was a main supporter of the UK team at WorldSkills Japan 2007. This support, together with headline sponsorship of the Apprenticeship Awards, the National Training Awards and the National Business Employer Awards, positioned City & Guilds as a key player in promoting, identifying and celebrating excellence in vocational skills in 2006-2007.
In November 2007, A team of 22 highly skilled young people travelled to Japan to represent the UK at WorldSkills. The UK team was supported by City & Guilds, and managed by UK Skills, in association with partners from education, government and industry. The chosen few went through a highly demanding training programme to ensure that they delivered a top-level performance before 200,000 spectators – and that is just what they did, moving from 12th to 11th in the world overall and winning a gold medal for cabinet making, a silver in graphic design, and two bronzes, in autobody repair and car painting. We also won nine medallions of excellence, in welding, bricklaying, joinery, floristry, hairdressing, beauty therapy, confectionery, landscape gardening and IT PC & Network. Three out of four of our medals and seven out of nine of our medallions of excellence were won by City & Guilds-qualified team members. Gold medal-winning Gary Tuddenham, who studied for his City & Guilds level 3 qualification in handcrafted cabinet making at Kendal College, achieved the third highest score amongst the 850 competitors.
City & Guilds’ support for individual learners is not restricted to the UK. After gaining a gold medal in the Cookery Skill category at the SkillEX 2006 National Finals Competition last year, New Zealander Simon Mercer was also sponsored by City & Guilds to participate in the WorldSkills 2007 Competition. ‘In addition to proudly supporting the UK team, sponsoring members of the New Zealand WorldSkills team is an excellent way of recognising the contribution City & Guilds-qualified people make worldwide,’ said Nigel Moore, Head of Group Marketing at City & Guilds.
From the ground up
At the end of 2006, the Leitch Review recommended that the UK commit to becoming a world leader in skills by 2020, with an objective for 95% of adults to achieve the basic skills of functional literacy and numeracy by 2020. In 2007, City & Guilds was involved in an important project with the UK Government to develop a new set of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) qualifications. These will be particularly aimed at migrant workers to the UK, focusing on the vocabulary they need for their work.
In the world of IT, new innovative approaches to iTQ (the new IT NVQ) are being explored with John Lewis. Meanwhile, City & Guilds launched the Individual Profile in Active Citizenship with the support of the Right Hon Hazel Blears MP and has been successful in another bid in conjunction with Liverpool Hope University for a Managing Equality and Diversity (MED) Project with the focus on childcare.
City & Guilds, ILM and Dysg (the operational division within the Welsh Assembly’s Department of Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills) led a project to support the development of basic skills in classroom settings in Wales. This will provide trainers and teachers with an opportunity to achieve a nationally recognised professional management qualification; either through developing their own Key Skills expertise or achieving the ILM Coaching and Mentoring award.
ILM centre Allied Business Solutions (ABS) won a National Training Award for helping nursery managers across the country improve their leadership and management skills. Over 1000 individuals in the sector have benefited from a personal development plan put into place by the Learning Mentor programme.
Rolling out the red carpet
In April 2007 City & Guilds rolled out the red carpet for this year’s Lion Awards, attended by high-profile speakers Steve Cram MBE and Ed Balls MP, to celebrate the achievements of exceptional students and lecturers from around the country. Dubbed ‘the skills Oscars’, the Lion Awards are the culmination of the Medals for Excellence programme, given to people who excelled in their achievements in 2005-2006 and who are an inspiration to others. Eight Lion Awards were presented to learners in 2007.
With 109 out of this year’s 117 medallists attending, most of whom had brought their own guests and nominators, City & Guilds Director-General Chris Humphries expressed his admiration for the finalists: ‘We issued nearly 1.5 million certificates to learners last year - 1,487,176 if you want to be exact - and only 90 of those learners have been awarded medals. Then, we only give Lion Awards to eight of our medallists. So, if my mental arithmetic serves me well, only 0.0005% of all the eligible learners go on to win a Lion Award. And all eight of you are in this room right now. I’m feeling pretty honoured to be in such exceptional company.’ Seventy year-old retired pensioner Ronald Barr was awarded Lifelong Learner of the Year. He believes studying for his many City & Guilds qualifications – six since 1999 – has kept him mentally and physically fit. Of his award, he said: ‘To say I am delighted is an understatement. I had to read the letter of confirmation quite a few times before the news seemed real.’
Practical recognition
The first achievers of the Star Units of Credit took place at MacDonald Ansty Hall Hotel, near Coventry, in July 2007. The purpose of the Star Units project is to identify practical ways of recognising and crediting exceptional performance within NVQs. Three different models were piloted across five colleges in the West Midlands in motor vehicle, construction, catering, customer service, hairdressing and beauty therapy. A total of 19 candidates attended the event and received their Star Units of Credit. Twenty-one assessors also attended, receiving Certificates of Congratulations.
The event celebrated the achievements of all those involved in the innovative project, sponsored by Coventry and Warwickshire Learning and Skills Council and led by UK Skills and City & Guilds. Jacqui Henderson CBE, UK Skills’ Chief Executive, said: ‘Being able to recognise exceptional performance is a real confidence booster to the individual and can motivate them to become even more highly skilled. This first year pilot has been enormously well received. During its third year, the project and its units of credit will extend to new skills and colleges, and involve more awarding bodies.’
Great oaks
This year’s winner of the Prince Philip Medal was City & Guilds-qualified ‘Blue Peter’ Gardener Chris Collins who has been gardening since he was a teenager. Chris is a notable example of someone who has built up his knowledge and expertise over a number of years to the point where he can encourage and inspire others to follow in his footsteps.
After studying at the City College, Brighton & Hove, and gaining three horticulture qualifications, Chris was employed as a gardener by Brighton Parks Department and then as a landscape gardener. His determination to ensure that he was properly qualified for his chosen career led him during this time to take the Royal Horticultural Society General Examination in 1989 and he subsequently passed his Diploma in Horticulture while he was working at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1993. Five years later, when he was in Japan, Chris gained a Masters Diploma in Horticulture at Tokyo University.
His first overseas posting was as a gardener in the Limbe Botanic and Zoological Gardens in Cameroon, the oldest garden of its kind in Africa, where he undertook plant exploration work and renovation. When Chris returned from studying in Japan he worked first at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew and then, for three years, as the head gardener at Westminster Abbey. Chris started his career as a TV gardener in 2003 when he presented a BBC series called ‘The Plantsman’. Since then, apart from his work on ‘Blue Peter’, he has also filmed four series of ‘Garden Rivals’ for UK Style, a new series of ‘Garden Invaders’ for BBC1 and presented ‘Gardeners’ World’.