Leeds City College finalist for BKSB Awards

@leedscitycoll (LCC) has been shortlisted for Provider of the Year accolade at the @bksbUK Awards.

BKSB is the UK’s leading eLearning solution for Functional Skills and GCSE English and maths. The Skills Awards aim to reward the quality and diversity of educational delivery and achievement in the best education institutions.

Programme Manager, Craig Lane, said: “Being shortlisted for this award just proves that, hard work, commitment and passion to improve standards can result in success.

“Over the past 12 months, the Functional Skills team have worked to improve quality, technology and relevance in teaching and learning throughout several different sectors, resulting in increased employability for many in the Leeds area.”

In the last 18 months, LCC has been working with a range of employers to provide an innovative and engaging English and maths programme. Employers have included Leeds City Council, NHS and Leeds Beckett University.

The college’s innovative teaching and learning model, gives learners the flexibility to complete a number of online resources prior to classroom teaching. This allows for teaching, learning and assessment (TLA) to be tailored to individual needs and creates opportunities for identifying targeted learning outcomes.

The college has also adapted a bespoke Google Classroom resource that gives students the independence and flexibility to learning outside of the classroom. With the current coronavirus pandemic, online learning is reshaping education and students are utilising this online resource at a time that suits them and has increased productivity and positive outcomes.

“This is a time where significant technological progress is essential in teaching and learning and we have been ahead of the game with this.

“By providing all our resources online we have allowed students to take ownership of their own learning and development with regular interventions from tutors, utilising the technology available to the individual’s needs,” said Mr Lane.

He added: “Open assessment with specific one-to-one learner feedback encourages dynamic learning and tailored objectives. The recent pandemic has also given us an insight into how to tailor learning to the learners’ technological ability and has allowed the education sector to shift from content dissemination to establishing augmented relationships with teachers and students.”

Meanwhile, the pre-apprenticeship model allows students to complete English and maths to progress on to an apprenticeship such as Level 4 NHS training. There is also the employer provider apprenticeship route, where learners are already on an apprenticeship and can complete English and maths alongside this.