Steve Gibson, Principal of Newcastle Sixth Form College, said he welcomes the Government’s commitment to post 16 and adult learning, which Secretary of State Vince Cable outlined in his keynote address at a recent national education conference.
In his speech, Mr Cable said colleges produce exceptional results for English and Maths, where students had failed in the school system and that there was lots of innovative work in colleges to cope with the funding cuts. He also highlighted the now acute skills shortages in the car, offshore and IT industries and issued a call to action to inspire future talent, or accept even more reliance on skilled workers from overseas to fill highly paid roles.
Steve said : “It was fantastic to hear that the Government recognises the importance of FE colleges in shaping the next generation of future workers and I am extremely proud that the North East is leading the way in this venture, as we continue to address skills shortages and prepare students for Higher Education, training and skills.
“Too few teenagers are studying IT and we are lagging behind other countries in the number of 16 to 18-year-olds studying maths. We value the contribution to the economy by creative and social science graduates, however we need to do more to encourage young people to study maths and STEM subjects to A-Level and beyond, as they are part of the foundation for addressing these now crippling shortages.
“However, in order to achieve that, we need to educate them about the thousands of exciting, highly paid careers out there and the importance of getting a good education.
“It is our aim that by the time our students leave to go on to higher education or enter the workplace they will have the skills, experience, ability and confidence to apply the knowledge that employers are looking for.”
Newcastle Sixth Form College, which unveiled a new £22m building last year, is one of the leading sixth form colleges in the North East. A record 30% of its students went on to study at Russell Group Universities last year after gaining excellent grades in their A-Levels.
Steve regularly presents at national education conferences within the UK, and has been responsible for developing a project between Newcastle College and a partner institution in Freiburg, Germany.
