LDE UTC welcomed Apprenticeship and Skills minister Alex Burghart, Chairman of Baker Dearing Trust Lord Baker and CEO of Baker Dearing Trust Simon Connell to celebrate and display the impact of employer led projects throughout the college. With the support of our sponsors- Harry Wain from Skanska, Laura Crispie from Thames Water and Rebecca Oyibo from Costain, we demonstrated the value and skills gained from the projects we have undertaken in this academic year.  

Having previously worked in tertiary education, Alex Burghart now serves in the department for education where he has several responsibilities including apprenticeships & pre-apprenticeships, student experience and widening participation in higher education and furthering education providers.  

In 2009, Lord Baker and Lord Dearing established Baker Dearing Educational Trust to promote and develop UTCs. Baker Dearing Educational Trust created and owns the UTC brand and trademarks and licences their use to all UTCs. Baker Dearing have worked tirelessly to open new UTCs, as well as supporting new and existing UTCs to ensure the programme continues to improve and develop, embedding itself within the education system and providing employers with the skilled workforce needed for UK industry to thrive.

To best demonstrate the benefits of our employer driven teaching style, we called on learners from across the college to present their projects to our esteemed guests. Year 10 built environment learner Abbie presented the masterplan and model that her class made for the Mayor of London Competition. This employer led project saw a number of employers visit the college to deliver masterclasses that not only helped learners reach the final of the competition, but also covered content and skills that are valuable to the built environment curriculum and in industry.  
 
‘Through Employer Led Projects, I can see what companies I’d like to work with in the future and gain valuable skills that will be useful in the workplace. I felt great presenting and it is nice that my work can make the college proud,’ year 10 learner Abbie.  

Next, sixth form learners Jericho, Mahia, Tianna and Sameer presented the spatial models they made of the college terrace for an employer led project on landscape architecture. Learners discussed how they achieved the client’s brief by presenting their bio-phillic inspired concept. Zayn from our year 12 engineering group also presented the results of a collaboration with year 12 art learners to design and produce a pectoral cross for the newly appointed Bishop of Barking, Lynne Cullens.  
 
‘I felt quite a lot of pressure presenting to a Minister and a Lord but when I got started, I really enjoyed talking about what I’ve achieved in this project and the skills I’ve developed.  I feel like presentations and projects like these are the perfect way to prepare us for working in industry,’ year 12 learner Sameer. 

Our learners exemplified the value of employer engagement and masterclasses by presenting the amazing results of their projects, sharing the skills they had learnt in the process and discussing how they fulfilled the aims from the brief. Learners demonstrated a confident understanding of how they benefitted from the opportunities to work with leading employers and use the skills learnt from the curriculum in an industry context.  

The Minister was extremely impressed with how LDE UTC integrates employer engagement into the delivery of the knowledges, skills and behaviours through the subject’s key concepts and described the employer and college relationships and achievements as “best practice.”

Our Principal and CEO Geoffrey Fowler shared, ‘I was delighted that the Skills Minister was able to make time to visit LDE UTC this week. Our learners, teachers and employers were able to showcase their amazing achievements which really impressed him. He was able to witness first-hand the excellent work done by learners and the impact a successful UTC, working in partnership with its employers, can have in providing our learners with the work skills to succeed in life whilst gaining their qualifications.’ 

'The Minister’s visit to the UTC was such a brilliant opportunity to demonstrate the real benefits that a UTC, working in effective partnership with employers, can bring to its learners. Its always exciting to see learners at the UTC sharing their amazing employer led projects, demonstrating how the UTC’s curriculum is so clearly align with the needs of employers. From a sponsors point of view, it was a chance to share the benefits that a partnership with a UTC can bring to our business and the role that relationship plays in shaping a future workforce,' Harry Wain, Skanska Learning and Development Manager.