A college in Derby has said it is aiming to bring in more people from the world of industry to teach the city’s workforce of the future.
Derby College Group (DCG) has been chosen as one of 54 colleges and training providers to recruit and train new further education teachers and improve links with industry in key technical areas.
DCG will be among the first colleges to offer T Levels from September 2020 in the areas of childcare and education, digital, engineering and construction.
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To support this, DCG will be recruiting five industry specialists in engineering, robotics/mechatronics and digital.
It will support them through full teaching qualifications with funding from the second wave of the £5 million national Taking Teaching Further programme.
Melanie Lanser, Derby College Group’s director of teaching, learning and academic research, said: “It is extremely difficult to recruit teachers in these specialist subjects due to competition from elsewhere in the education sector and industry itself.
“This funding will enable us to bring more current industry knowledge and experience into the classroom and gives us a head start in launching T Levels in 2020.
“With this additional funding we can provide our new teachers with intensive support to support their development, help with the transition from industry to education and rapidly develop dual practice.”
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A further aspect of the programme will be to develop the college curriculum to better prepare the future workforce in automated manufacturing.
DCG has launched its “We are the robots” project to tackle the skill shortages in the automated engineering and manufacturing sector, including food and drink manufacturing which is one of the eight key sectors of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.
With more than 400 food and drink manufacturers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire employing 17,000 people, D2N2 LEP has reported that food and drink companies wanting to grow or expand are facing a skills shortage.
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In order to support industry priorities, DCG said it will tailor its curriculum to suit. It is planning to introduce advanced manufacturing engineering in order to support the development of a future skilled workforce.
The provision will be centred around DCG’s new £1.75 million mechatronics laboratory, which is due to launch this summer.
Melanie said: “Working in partnership with regional employers will enable industry-led teacher development to address the current barriers of teacher specialist knowledge within this area and engage with employer organisations so that they inform and direct the pedagogical approaches in pursuit of shared objectives.”