Skillstories

Brown tells summit “talent is our greatest challenge”

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown MP, told business leaders gathered for the Leadership Summit on the Talent Challenge that creating a Britain where everyone has the chance to make the most of their talents and fulfill their potential is one of the greates

Veteran of Train to Gain leads Upskilling Initiative in New Zealand

Twenty employees of Downer EDI Works, one of New Zealand’s largest infrastructure companies, recently gathered for a presentation and celebration as they received graduation certificates from Prime Minister Helen Clark. These 20 employees from all over country formed a representative sample of the 800 employees Works has put through TeamWorks, an on-the-job training programme aimed at building leadership skills through a strong underpinning of literacy, language and numeracy (LLN).

The ceremony was the result of the first partnership under the Upskilling Partnership Programme (UPP) between an employer, training provider, Industry Training Organisation, and the New Zealand government. The UPP draws from many of the lessons learned from Skills for Life. Programme director Jenny Thornton, who moved to New Zealand after five years on Skills for Life and Train to Gain says research and evaluation around the outcomes of LLN training is crucial for New Zealand.

Britain slumps in world league table for maths and reading

Britain is sliding down the world league table in reading and maths, according to the findings of the most authoritative international study, published yesterday.

Legal right to training to Level 2 should not cost employers a penny

The government has assured employers they will not be hit in the pocket or lose staff despite plans to give all adults a legal right to training.

Gordon Brown announces skills initiative to regenerate Thames Gateway

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised to invest over £9 billion in a London based regeneration project between now and 2011 through successful implementation of Learning and Skills Council’s skills initiatives in a bid to equip local people of Thame

UK schools slip down global table

UK secondary school students have slipped down an international league table of reading and maths standards.

Homes firm’s twin pledge opens doors to learning

STOCKTON’S Tristar Homes has made a double learning pledge. It has signed a learning agreement with its in-house unions, and at the same time signed the Government’s Skills Pledge.

Axing second degree funding will make us more competitive, says Rammell

Higher education minister Bill Rammell was forced to defend the government’s decision to redistribute £100m funding to people with no qualifications again today, at his first session with the new Commons’ Innovation, Universities and Skills select commit

UK workers think colleagues lack the training to do their jobs

More than half of workers think their colleagues lack the training to do their jobs properly, a recent survey has found.

England falls in reading league

The reading performance of children in England has fallen from third to 19th in the world in a major assessment.