Case study
Further education:
Teaching skills for all
DorothyLepkowska reports from Barking College, which has an unusual college to college Diploma delivery
partnership and is opening a £14 million purpose-built Skills Centre in 2011
arking CounCil could not
B
have made its position on the
importance of Diplomas more clear.
in September 2011, it will open a
£14 million purpose-built Skills Centre which
will accommodate more than 400 students a
week taking Diplomas and other vocational
qualifications. Construction of the centre, in
Barking town centre, is expected to begin next
March and there is a real sense of excitement.
The Skills Centre is being paid for partly
through £5 million in government funding,
with the rest being met by the local authority.
Mike Paxton, head of construction at
Barking College, explained: “This is a big
thing and we are not sure if anything similar is
happening anywhere else in the country.
“it will provide a real working environment
for students comprising genuine businesses
and training and conference rooms.”
Skills vision: An artist’s impression of how the
initially, the centre will house facilities for
£14 million Skills Centre will look come 2011
the Diplomas in Hospitality, Health and
Beauty, iT, and Construction, but more may included in the menu the day after. The centre make sure the building itself is sustainable and
follow as the qualifications evolve over time. is also looking at developing catering links iT friendly,” he added.
The five-floor building is being constructed with the town hall and the local Broadway Jamie Tuplin, a seconded deputy head
from scratch. it will have a bistro on the Theatre. from Dagenham Park Community School,
ground floor, which the public can access among the facilities in the hospitality currently working for the local authority as a
through an entrance from the main road. department will be simulation areas, including 14 to 19 advisor, said the centre would be an
a hairdressing salon will occupy part of the an office, a hotel room, and the inside of an “exemplar facility”.
first floor. Both facilities will be run as proper aircraft. He added: “The profile of five a* to C in
businesses, giving students not only first-hand a lecture theatre in the basement will seat the borough is going up, as is the staying on
experience of the skills they require to carry 160 people and there are plans for this to be rate post-16. But the vast majority of courses
out those particular jobs, but also in managing hired out for conferences. a roof garden has available at level 3 for students are academic
a business. been designed for hosting events too. qualifications, namely a levels.
During holiday times, the facilities will be Mr Paxton continued: “We want people “We have got our eye very much on raising
open for businesses as usual, giving students to see this as something different and to participation levels and this means more high
employment opportunities. show that the centre offers a clear distinction quality vocational qualifications, as well as
“The chef advised us we couldn’t open only between Diplomas and other learning academic ones. We want to engage students in
in term-time as we risk losing our clientèle, programmes. We are confident that enough courses that have a practical element to them,
so it will be open year-round giving students students will want to do the Diplomas to and we envisage the Skills Centre as being an
paid work during the holiday and training make this worthwhile. important part of the jigsaw.”
during term-time,” Mr Paxton said. “one of the key aspects has been in trying He said that students taking vocational
The training kitchen will teach students to ‘future-proof’ the building because, for courses did not always have the benefit of a
about the efficient use of food and how fresh example, iT facilities can often be out-of-date clear path to the workplace.
produce not used on the first day should be as soon as they are constructed. So we have to “Students who are academic have a very clear
30 Delivering Diplomas • Volume 1 No 1 Autumn 2009
30-31 barking.indd 12 17/9/09 19:05:33
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