&MY TUTOR
ME
The coaching skills that Neil Cockcroft brings to the Uniformed Services course at Greater Brighton Metropolitan College helped Jake Wright put his school experiences behind him and join the Royal Navy.
JAKE WRIGHT At school I was unmotivated, getting into trouble and just being an all-round nuisance. I came out with zero qualifications, and it wasn’t until I started college that I realised that my life was going nowhere without relevant qualifications. During my three years on the Uniformed Services course I gained Level 2 and 3 extended diplomas, plus a Level 3 first aid at work qualification. I also gained GCSE maths and English. Neil brings something special to teaching using his coaching skills and experiences in the military as a physical training instructor. He understands that no one is the same. In practical fitness sessions he was able to push our bodies beyond what we thought was possible.
Neil would also go the extra mile for us. When I expressed an interest in the Submarine Service, Neil arranged a bespoke presentation team to come into college. After I left college, Neil managed to find time to give me extra physical training to ensure I passed the fitness selection test, which I did. He also attended my passing out parade at HMS Raleigh, Devon. Having successfully joined the Royal Navy Submarine Service,
I aim to make it a lifelong career using the skills that were developed by time spent at college and with Neil.
WHAT’SNEW
NEIL COCKCROFT Jake was a conscientious, hard-working student who realised that he had not got off to the best of starts with his education. He was determined to better himself and set out a career path. Having spent more than 18 years in the Royal Navy as a physical training instructor, it was a natural progression for me to step into teaching. There are many similarities between training young recruits in the Royal Navy and helping young people studying on the Uniformed Services course. I believe that I am more of a life coach than an academic- style teacher. I like to introduce a subject with work-relevant examples, demonstrate skills to be used, explain techniques and methods, and then support students to apply those techniques and methods. I then get the learners to repeat so that repetition embeds their learning. I have introduced a combined cadet force at the Greater
Brighton Metropolitan College and I am the contingent commander. This means that I and the staff have had to join the Royal Naval Reserve, which keeps us up to date with developments in the military. I hold many different teaching and coaching qualifications and consistently attend continuing professional development (CPD) training provided by the college.
IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING? AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?
WHAT’S NEW City & Guilds Group’s new report, Missing Millions, says that just 53 per cent of the general workforce has received any workplace training in the past three years, and that 17.8 million people (34 per cent) have never received training or did so more than five years ago. The research reveals that employees from lower socio- economic groups are less likely to be upskilled, with 68 per cent (versus 44 per cent of those in higher socio-economic groups) having received no workplace training in the past five years.
Those working part-time, mainly women, were even less likely to have received training in the past five years (72 per cent).
WHY SHOULD I CARE? The findings by City & Guilds are reflected in the collapse of adult education numbers across further education and training, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies reporting in 2019 that numbers had dropped from 4.4 million in 2004-05 to 1.5 million in 2017-18. The hollowing out of adult education and training in FE and the workplace raises concerns for UK productivity at a time of rapid technological change, and the potential impact of Brexit on the availability of skilled employees. Kirstie Donnelly, chief executive of City & Guilds Group, said:
“We need to see urgent action from the Government to reverse the decline of the lifelong learning sector.”
www.cityandguildsgroup.com/research/missing-millions
inTUITION ISSUE 39 • SPRING 2020 9
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