Centre of Excellence

The Bedford College Group is now a member of the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence.

Key members of Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) subject staff are undergoing an advanced training programme for educators.

Hosted at Tresham College’s Wellingborough campus and Shuttleworth College in Bedfordshire, the classes were led by WorldSkills UK professional Frazer Minskip who challenged the team to embrace new approaches which will result in students achieving better results and improved career prospects. This included considering moving students outside of “perfect training environments” to instead adapting their application to a real world environment, which is very often less than perfect, but, where they still have to perform to the highest standards.

The success of Bedford College has been shared across the Tresham College campuses since the merger in 2017 into The Bedford College Group.

It is fitting that as the college celebrates becoming a member of the Centre of Excellence, a record number of students entered WorldSkills UK competitions this year.

Dr Jo Baxter, Vice Principal of Tresham College, said:

“We’ve worked hard to level up the world class skills taught across campuses within The Group, and this move to join the Centre of Excellence has been welcomed by staff who have given some great feedback to the course.

“We look forward to embedding the practices they learn across all our STEM subjects which lead into the highest quality careers and where employers are crying out for well skilled staff.”

WorldSkills UK’s Centre of Excellence is supported by its partner NCFE