Think Again special issue
in hospitality. Trainee doctors here could have a module with a further education [FE] college.
You admire the educationalist Ken Robinson, who has argued for an end to outmoded industrial educational systems and proposes an organic approach. Can you explain how this approach might help hospitality? DF Ken Robinson is advising educators in the US – he should be here. His Creative Schools book shows that young people need to be engaged.
In one failing US school, the students wanted to concentrate on football, so he said, “OK, learn football, but the deal is you also need to do some English and maths”. And, of course, the levels in those subjects went up. Likewise, we need to make curriculums relevant and engaged. PJ Students need to learn in a variety of ways – with practical application. There is a lot of intellectual snobbery. If you are a doctor, the time spent in practical work in wards is seen as acceptable. But in hospitality, practical learn- ing is not given enough resources.
Can you explain the funding issues affecting FE colleges? PJ Since 2002, higher education has had the opportunity for growth, benefiting from a significant rise in income since the introduc- tion of student fees supported by student loans. There is no cap on the number of stu- dents who can attend. Plus, additional funding comes from research grants. FE colleges, however, have seen a reduction in the funding allocation per student per course, as well as increased competition from sixth-form colleges and schools. Schools want to retain students post-16 to be able to draw down the funding associated with that stu- dent. FE colleges are also, in effect, “capped” as to the number of students they can recruit on a course through the funding mechanism.
There are anecdotal reports that schools are not keen for chefs or managers to visit because they are worried it will encourage young people to leave and take apprenticeships, thus depriving them of the funding. How does this affect FE colleges? PJ The schools want to keep pupils until they are 18 because they are chasing funding. So they have an incentive to encourage students who may be borderline at GCSE to stay on for A-levels. But that is not necessarily right for the individual. Pupils may be being set up to fail A-levels, yet they may have gained from a vocational course or apprenticeship. You have even got some schools offering their own FE courses to retain the funding. A few years ago, the then minister for skills, Kim Howells, visited the University of West London. He understood the situation. He commented that he had visited schools next to beautifully equipped FE colleges set up for technical and vocational education. But although the schools weren’t as well equipped, they held on to the pupils because of the way
10 | The Caterer Professor David Foskett
●● Former dean and head of the London School of Hospitality and Tourism at the University of West London.
● ● Member of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, the Craft Guild of Chefs and a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality.
● ● In 2016, he was appointed chair of the International Olympiad and International council in India. He is a member of the management committee of the Craft Guild of Chefs, the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and the Council of the Institute of Hospitality. A member of the education board at the AT- Sunrice Global Chef Academy and the Hotel Future board. On the advisory board of Bromley College and the City and Guilds of London Institute, and on the national council of the Institute of Hospitality.
“Realistically, help from the UK government won’t happen. The industry has got to do it” David Foskett
the funding works. So FE colleges are seeing a reduction in students. And, ultimately, there could be fewer colleges with the expertise to deliver hospitality courses. The danger is that through Area Reviews, colleges are being encouraged to merge to help reduce costs and improve their “efficiency and effectiveness”. When two colleges merge, students in one catchment will have to travel considerable dis- tances to access hospitality provision. They don’t get maintenance grants or funding for travel, and previous experience suggests they probably won’t travel out of their area.
Give us some examples of why you claim hospitality courses in the rest of the world have more recognition than those in the UK PJ Look at the way Europe does it. Hotel schools in France and Austria are in many cases sponsored by chambers of commerce, not the education system. They see that tour- ism is vital to the area, so they invest in it. Salzburg Chamber of Commerce, for instance,
● ● Consultant on hospitality services, hospitality education and training and restaurant management. A recognised external examiner in a number of universities and colleges, and a visiting professor in Hong Kong and New Buckinghamshire universities.
has financed four hotel schools, a five-star hotel and a concert hall. DF I am a visiting professor in Hong Kong at the Vocational Training Council of further and higher education, which has seen government investment of €75m [£68m]. A college open- ing in 2018 will offer hospitality training with a 30-bedroom hotel, a 120-seat Chinese restau- rant and a 100-seat European restaurant. In China, if you study hospitality, you get half your fees paid. That is because they know manufacturing will move to Bangladesh, India and Indonesia, and they see tourism and hospitality as a massive growth area. In Italy, I am setting up courses for post-
18-year-olds in hospitality at a new University of Hospitality and Tourism in Sicily. Again, the authorities put money into hospitality schools because they realise tourism is so important to the economy.
Other governments have got real vision;
they know manufacturing won’t last, so they are supporting their service industries. You
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