Connect with us
Advertisement
Advertisement

Education

Vocational qualifications importance emphasised

Published

on

THE IMPORTANCE of vocational qualifications to the Welsh economy was emphasised at the launch of this year’s VQ Awards in Wales at the Senedd in Cardiff.

Speakers called for vocational qualifications to have parity of esteem with academic qualifications and for the Welsh Government to continue prioritising investment in the sector.

Iestyn Davies, chief executive of ColegauCymru/CollegesWales, said Wales was one of the remaining parts of the world where there had been a reluctance to recognise the value of vocational qualifications.

Academic qualifications had hogged the limelight when young people were considering a career path. However, he believed a significant change was underway with politicians now accepting the key importance of vocational qualifications to the economy of Wales.

He called on the people assembled at the launch event to spread the word about the success of vocational qualifications and lifelong learning in Wales to ensure that the Welsh Government continued to prioritise investment in the sector.

Vikki Howells, AM for Cynon Valley, who sponsored the launch event, said during her 16-year teaching career she had wished that there was a greater vocational offer for her students.

There remained a challenge to make young people and their parents, who played a crucial role in directing their children, embrace everything that vocational qualifications had to offer.

She praised the Welsh Government for the work it had already done and continued to do to promote vocational qualifications.

The VQ Awards are jointly organised by the Welsh Government, the National Training Federation for Wales (NTfW), ColegauCymru/CollegesWales, Qualifications Wales and the Education Workforce Council. The Welsh Government’s funding has support from the European Social Fund.

The Education Workforce Council’s chair Angela Jardine said it was exciting to be a new partner in the high-profile awards which celebrated the success and high standards achieved in vocational education to create the Wales of the future.

By maintaining a Register of Education Practitioners, the council aimed to contribute to improving the standards of teaching and the quality of learning in Wales. The register would provide the professional evidence to achieve parity of esteem between vocational and academic qualifications, she added.

Sarah John, chair of the NTfW, said: “The VQ Awards provide a great opportunity for learners, employers and their trainers to celebrate and publicise the positive impact that vocational qualifications have on the lives of individuals and the productivity of businesses in Wales. Upskilling in the changing vocational skills needed by businesses to be competitive is critical as they continue to evolve.”

Cassy Taylor, Associate Director for Vocational Qualifications with Qualifications Wales, said: “Vocational qualifications are the gateway to a rewarding career and we are delighted to be sponsoring the VQ Awards again this year.

“The awards are a perfect way to showcase the talent of learners and the commitment of tutors and employers to develop the skills in our workforce that are the bedrock of the economy.”

Stacey Davies, Human Resources Manager at Gestamp Tallent Ltd, an automotive manufacturer from Llanelli, spoke about the company winning the VQ Employer of the Year Award last year.

“Winning this prestigious award was an immensely proud moment for the plant,” she said. “To be recognised for the early accomplishments of an ambitious but exciting learning and development strategy continues to be very encouraging for all the stakeholders.”

Vocational qualifications play a key role in the Gestamp Tallent Growth Programme, which aims to upskill the entire workforce by creating tailor-made, individual development plans, revamping an apprenticeship programme and introducing leadership and management solutions and a programme for high potential employees.

The VQ Awards are designed to recognise and celebrate star learners, trainers and employers in every part of Wales who have used technical, practical and vocational qualifications to achieve success.

Nominations are now sought in four categories: VQ Intermediate Learner of the Year, VQ Higher Learner of the Year, VQ Trainer of the Year and VQ Employer of the Year. It’s easy to enter the awards. Just download a nomination form at https://www.vqday.wales which has full details about the awards. The closing date is noon on March 8.

From the entries, a panel of judges will select the category finalists for a high-profile awards ceremony to be held at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff on May 15 to coincide with VQ Day.

Education

Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men cancelled in Wales over racial concerns

Published

on

WJEC, the Cardiff-based Welsh exam board, has announced that John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men will no longer be included in the GCSE English syllabus in Wales. The decision comes amid concerns over the book’s repeated use of racial slurs and its potential emotional impact on students.

First published in 1937, the novella explores the friendship between Lennie and George as they navigate life during the Great Depression. Despite its literary significance, the text will be phased out from classrooms starting in September.

Rocio Cifuentes, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, supported the decision, describing the text as “psychologically and emotionally harmful” to Black students.

She explained: “During our research into racism in schools, many Black children specifically mentioned this text and the harm it caused them.”

In Of Mice and Men, the character Crooks, a Black stable hand, is subjected to racial slurs and repeated use of the N-word.

‘Not Censorship’

Ms Cifuentes emphasised that the decision was not about censorship but safeguarding students’ wellbeing.

“This is about protecting children who have told us how harmful classroom discussions around this text have been for them,” she said.

“They’ve often been the only Black child in the room when these discussions occur, surrounded by derogatory depictions of people who look like them.”

WJEC said the decision was part of a broader overhaul that merges English Language and Literature into one GCSE. The board also employed an anti-racism consultant to advise on the selection of appropriate texts.

A WJEC spokesperson said: “We’ve provided a choice of works from writers of diverse backgrounds, nationalities, genders, and communities. This new selection aims to enrich the educational experience with themes that resonate with modern learners.”

Tory Criticism

Natasha Asghar MS, the Shadow Education Secretary, has spoken out against the decision, arguing that banning the book is counterproductive and limits educational opportunities.

“Instead of banning Of Mice and Men, we should teach it within its historical context, showing students how overt racism and sexism were commonplace and accepted in the past, and why this was harmful and wrong.

“Censorship doesn’t solve the problem; it prevents young people from confronting and understanding these prejudices, some of which, sadly, continue.

“Even in 2024, we continue to see racism and sexism in society. If we want to tackle this, then instead of banning a classic text, we would do better to challenge media companies that produce music containing misogynistic language and words with racist connotations.”

Teachers React

Rhian Evans, an English teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin in Carmarthen, acknowledged the book’s value but understood the reasoning behind its removal.

She said: “We always addressed the use of the N-word carefully in class, discussing why it shouldn’t be repeated. But as a white woman, I can never fully understand how it feels for a child of colour to encounter that word in an educational setting.”

She added: “There are other authors from diverse backgrounds who explore similar themes in ways more relevant to today’s students.”

Previously, Of Mice and Men and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird were removed from the OCR English Literature syllabus in 2014, after then-Education Secretary Michael Gove pushed for the inclusion of more British authors.

The updated WJEC syllabus includes classics such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Contemporary additions include Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library and Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo.

The changes aim to ensure a more inclusive and representative literary curriculum for Welsh students.

Continue Reading

Education

Respite care facilities at Pembrokeshire school approved

Published

on

PLANS for a respite care facility at Haverfordwest’s Portfield special school have been approved.

An application to Pembrokeshire County Council by Morgan Sindall Group, on behalf of Pembrokeshire County Council, sought permission for a three-bed respite unit for pupils aged between 16 and 19 years old.

Portfield School is an additional learning school for pupils aged three-19, and forms part of a broader network including Y Porth based at Ysgol y Preseli and Haverfordwest High VC School.

Portfield School is currently located in two buildings, one for primary school students, along with a secondary school building for key stages 3 to 4, and pupils aged 16-plus.

The proposed location of the respite care is where the existing lower school currently lies.

Demolition of the lower school was granted as part of a recently approved planning application for the wider site redevelopment, including a masterplan for the campus, the redevelopment of the new primary school building, refurbishment works to existing sixth form block and associated works.

A supporting statement by agent Asbri Planning said: “The proposed location of the respite care was marked out on the approved Site Masterplan as ‘proposed area for future development’. As Pembrokeshire County Council were unsure whether the funding would be available for the respite care, they decided not to include it within the scope of works for the main school application approved earlier this year. The funds have now become available which has allowed the application for a new respite care facility to be submitted to the Local Planning Authority.”

It added: “The respite care aims to conjure up a positive arrival experience for users by introducing an entrance courtyard, whilst enhancing links to nature where key vistas towards nature are considered. The users of the building will have full access to the communal areas and facilities.

“There will be no access for the general public, only the users of the building at that time. The unit will operate 24 hours a day all year round. Full-time care is to be provided and there will be staff available at all times for pupils.”

The application was conditionally approved by county planners.

Continue Reading

Education

Stonehenge may have been built to unify the people of ancient Britain

Published

on

THE RECENT discovery that one of Stonehenge’s stones originated in Scotland supports a theory that the stone circle was built as a monument to unite Britain’s early farmers nearly 5,000 years ago, according to a new study by researchers at UCL and Aberystwyth University.

In a research article published in the journal Archaeology International, academics analyse the significance of the recent discovery of the Scottish origin of the six-tonne Altar Stone, which confirmed that all of the stones that make up Stonehenge were brought to Salisbury Plain from many miles away. 

In their new paper, the researchers say that Stonehenge’s long-distance links add weight to the theory that the Neolithic monument may have had some unifying purpose in ancient Britain.

Lead author Professor Mike Parker Pearson from the UCL Institute of Archaeology said: “The fact that all of its stones originated from distant regions, making it unique among over 900 stone circles in Britain, suggests that the stone circle may have had a political as well as a religious purpose – as a monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos.”

Co-author Professor Richard Bevins of Aberystwyth University, said: “It’s really gratifying that our geological investigations can contribute to the archaeological research and the unfolding story as our knowledge has been improving so dramatically in just the last few years.

“Our research is like forensic science. We are a small team of earth scientists, each bringing their own area of expertise; it is this combination of skills that has allowed us to identify the sources of the bluestones, and now the Altar Stone.”

The study has been published (on 20 December) the day before the winter solstice, when the setting sun dips below the horizon over the middle of the Altar Stone and between the two largest upright stones (one of which is now fallen).  During this winter period, Neolithic people feasted close to Stonehenge at the great village of Durrington Walls, and the midwinter solstice was probably central to these events.

Stonehenge is famous for these solar alignments on the solstice and even today attracts large crowds to the site on the shortest and longest days of the year. In addition, it was also the largest burial ground of its age. Some archaeologists think it might have been a religious temple, an ancient observatory and a solar calendar, and this new research adds a political dimension.

Professor Parker Pearson, a Professor of British Later Prehistory, added: “We’ve known for a while that people came from many different parts of Britain with their pigs and cattle to feast at Durrington Walls, and nearly half the people buried at Stonehenge had lived somewhere other than Salisbury Plain.

“The similarities in architecture and material culture between the Stonehenge area and northern Scotland now make more sense.  It’s helped to solve the puzzle of why these distant places had more in common than we might have once thought.” 

Stonehenge’s 43 ‘bluestones’ were brought from the Preseli Hills in west Wales some 140 miles away, while the larger ‘Sarsen’ stones were hauled from their sources at least 15 miles away to the north and east of the stone circle.

Transporting these massive monoliths was an extraordinary feat. Although the wheel had been invented, it had not yet reached Britain so moving these massive stones must have required the efforts of hundreds if not thousands of people.

The researchers point to how Stonehenge’s horizontal Altar Stone is similar in size and placement to the large, horizontal stones of the stone circles of northeast Scotland, where the Altar Stone originated.

These ‘recumbent stone circles’ are found only in that part of Scotland and not in the rest of Britain, so there may have been close ties between the two regions. Megalithic stones had ancestral significance, binding people to place and origins. The Altar Stone may have been brought as a gift from the people of northern Scotland to represent some form of alliance or collaboration.

It is difficult to pin down a precise date when the Scottish Altar Stone was brought to Stonehenge, but it probably arrived around 2500 BCE around the time that Stonehenge was remodelled from its original form.

This is the timeframe when the Neolithic builders erected the large sarsen stones forming an outer circle and the inner horseshoe of trilithons – paired upright stones connected by horizontal ‘lintels’ – that is present today. The Altar Stone lies at the foot of the largest trilithon, which frames the midwinter solstice sunset to the southwest. This was the second stage of construction at Stonehenge, long after the first stage (around 3000 BCE) when it is thought the bluestones from Wales were erected.

This second iteration of Stonehenge was built at a time of increasing contact between the people of Britain and arrivals from Europe, mainly from what are today the Netherlands and Germany. The researchers suggest that this period of contact may have been what spurred this second-stage rebuilding, and the monument was a reaction to these newcomers meant to unite indigenous Britons.

The new arrivals brought with them knowledge of metalworking and the wheel and, over the next four hundred years, their descendants – known as the Beaker people on account of the distinctive pots they buried with their dead – gradually replaced the population of indigenous Britons, and people with this European ancestry became the dominant population across the island.

The geological research was supported by the Leverhulme Trust.

Ends

Picture: The Altar Stone, seen here underneath two bigger Sarsen stones. Credit: Professor Nick Pearce, Aberystwyth University.

Continue Reading

Crime1 hour ago

Police hunt driver after dog walker killed in Carmarthenshire hit-and-run

A PEDESTRIAN walking his dog has died after being struck in a hit-and-run collision on a Carmarthenshire road on Monday...

Business13 hours ago

Holyhead closure: Storm damage could delay reopening until March

HOLYHEAD port faces an extended closure following significant storm damage, with fears it may not reopen until March. The disruption...

Crime20 hours ago

Begelly man sentenced for carrying metal bar during nightclub fight

A MAN has been sentenced after approaching a Pembrokeshire nightclub armed with a metre-long metal bar. Just after 2:30am on...

Education23 hours ago

Respite care facilities at Pembrokeshire school approved

PLANS for a respite care facility at Haverfordwest’s Portfield special school have been approved. An application to Pembrokeshire County Council...

Community3 days ago

Festive celebrations at St Davids Cathedral this weekend

ST DAVIDS Cathedral is set to host two special events on Sunday (Dec 22), offering a blend of joyful participation...

News4 days ago

Ferry accident causes delay on new Dublin-Fishguard route

IRISH Ferries’ Isle of Innisfree sustained damage during arrival on Friday (Dec 20) at Fishguard port. The incident occurred as...

Entertainment5 days ago

River-themed lanterns light up Cardigan in spectacular parade

THOUSANDS of people flocked to Cardigan on Monday (Dec 18) for the much-anticipated Giant Lantern Parade, hosted by Small World...

Business5 days ago

Pembrokeshire care home group hit by £150,000 budget blow

A COMPANY with six care homes in Pembrokeshire has revealed it is facing a £150,000 financial hit due to controversial...

News6 days ago

Rift between Neyland councillors now ‘as wide as Grand Canyon’

THE DIVISIONS within Neyland Town Council deepened further this week after a controversial attempt to block an Extraordinary General Meeting...

Politics6 days ago

Pembrokeshire Long Course Weekend changes could be made

PEMBROKESHIRE’S annual Long Course Weekend triathlon event could be run on a different route in future, in an attempt to...

Popular This Week