10 January 2011

 

The News Editor

BBC

London

W12 7RJ

 

Dear News Editor

 

World Skills Competition UK 2011

 

In recent weeks the BBC has given considerable coverage to the issue of Tuition fees for Higher Education courses. It seems that all reporting of Education and Training polarises between Universities and Schools leaving Further Education and Work Based learning as silent players in the provision of the Nation’s skills. The BBC has also rightly given significant coverage to those dedicated people who are preparing for the forthcoming Olympic Games in 2012. In your programmes on both TV and Radio you have included examples of the preparation and training such individuals undertake in order to be top of their sport.

 

It is unfortunate that you have yet to provide any significant coverage of the forthcoming World Skills Competition hosted by the UK this year. The Competition is an International showcase for young people who have spent the previous four years working and training in a particular vocational skill area. They are selected via regional heats to become the national representative in their skill for the UK.

 

The event is an excellent example of how good the UK is at producing individuals who have the technical and practical skills the UK economy so desperately needs.  Yet as we see from your coverage, most of the emphasis is on those following academic courses in universities or those who excel at their sport.

 

In 2009 the bi-annual World Skills Competition was held in Calgary, Canada. The UK came in the top 10 countries for the number of medals achieved. In Construction one student won a Gold medal. Upon the team’s return to the UK there was no National media coverage of their achievements nor were any of the Gold medallists considered for any form of Honour. Compare this with those who achieve gold medals in sport and recognised in the Honours lists.

 

If our society is to appreciate the essential contribution skills make to UK PLC then the profile of our success needs to be raised. The media focus on tuition fees is a good example of the priorities given to the University route in our education system. However many students in FE pay their own fees, have little if any state support and many come from deprived backgrounds but achieve more in their time in an FE college than they did during twelve years in our school system. Yet more than 10% of Higher Education is delivered in Further Education and close to 50% of those leaving school do not have the equivalent of a level two in numeracy and literacy which then has to be achieved during their time in Further Education.

 

Are we to assume that the BBC does not recognise the importance of vocational skills when compared with academia? It is also noticeable that the coverage given to the Olympic Games in 2012 carries greater significance than that currently given to the World Skills Competition.

 

Writing on behalf of the British Association of Construction Heads, I request that the BBC plays a full part in bringing the important 2011 World Skills Competition to the UK public’s attention and in the process raise the profile of vocational skills as key to our economic success. Too often vocational skills are represented to parents and young people as a poor second choice to academia.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

Ray Dowd

President British Association of Construction Heads

 

CC

The Right Honourable Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State

Tom York, Senior PR Executive, UK World Skills

Martin Doel OBE, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges