FAB Awards

4 November 2021

NCFE is a finalist in two categories at this year’s prestigious FAB Awards. The Federation of Awarding Bodies event celebrates the success of leading awarding organisations and has shortlisted NCFE for both Collaboration of the Year and Learner of the Year.

The Centre for Excellence initiative, developed by NCFE and WorldSkills UK is up for the best collaboration award. The innovative three year pilot brings together a radical new teaching programme to train teachers and delivery staff in a range of world-class teaching methods and practices.

The scheme has been welcomed by government ministers for its innovative approach to driving up standards of teaching in the sector and was highlighted in the Department for Education’s ‘Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth’ White Paper.

NCFE Learner of the Year finalist, Katie Albert, won plaudits from her T Level tutors for her positive attitude, work ethic and determination. Studying Education and Childcare, Katie also completed a maths qualification while completing her T Level and was voted as student representative. By volunteering to become a Department for Education T Level Ambassador, Katie’s vast experiences are now helping to shape future practice for other learners.

Dawn Baker, Director of Innovations and Investments from NCFE, said:

“We are delighted to be shortlisted in two fantastic categories.

“At NCFE, we believe that collaboration is needed to shape real change, and we couldn’t be happier our work with WorldSkills UK on The Centre for Excellence programme is getting this recognition.

“Our learners are at the heart of everything we do and we have been blown away by Katie’s commitment, pluck and dedication to learning. She is most definitely our Learner of the Year.

“No matter what the outcome from the awards, NCFE will continue to galvanise the education sector to help create a fairer and more inclusive society.”

WorldSkills UK CEO, Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE, said:

“We are thrilled to have been shortlisted for this award with NCFE, which shines a light on how innovative and effective our collaboration on the Centre of Excellence is proving to be.

“The Centre draws on WorldSkills UK’s unique insights into world-class skills development and NCFE’s experience in vocational awarding in order to help mainstream excellence in training and assessment.

“The programme sees WorldSkills UK’s international training experts share their knowledge and experience of global best practise to educators in colleges and training providers across the UK.

“Although only in its second year, we are delighted that the Centre of Excellence is in high demand by further education leaders, is backed by ministers and was commended in the Skills for Jobs White Paper for providing high quality training and development for teaching staff in the sector.”

Now in its sixth year, the FAB 2021 Awards dinner, sponsored by Creatio, is being held at the end of the first day of the FAB Conference, on 11 November at the Marriott Hotel in Leicester.

Tom Bewick, FAB Chief Executive, said:

“This year we received an abundance of excellent nominations for the FAB Awards, all of which were of a very high standard and demonstrated the commitment of our members to learners and the sector."

"I am immensely proud of how our industry has risen to the challenges of the last two years and I have heard and seen so many examples of excellence demonstrated by individuals and teams pulling together to support one another as well as centres, employers and of course learners."

“We look forward to celebrating as an industry on 11 November.”