Year of Food and Farming Teacher Training & Careers Awareness Day

Venue:    Laneside Farm, Waddington, Clitheroe, Lancashire BB7 3JE
Date:      19th June 2008

Background to the day

Ian and Sally Macalpine, Laneside Farm,  have kindly agreed to host a teacher training day to which RABDF, working with EFFP, FACE and the Education Business Partnership, is inviting teachers and careers advisers from throughout the North West region to demonstrate how a dairy farm can provide a platform for teaching functional skills. In addition, the event will offer information on the plethora of career opportunities in the food chain, from farm gate to retail.   The day will involve a number of presentations from organisations involved in the agriculture sector, covering topics that fit in with ‘functional skills’ taught at both primary and secondary schools. 

What are Functional Skills?

Functional Skills cover skills that are traditionally taught in GCSE Maths, English and IT but in an applied way. Students are expected to gain mastery of a suite of skills meaning they can apply them in their chosen work area.  Many employers have had the experience of recruiting students who on paper have achieved qualifications in the core subjects but in practice have little or no grasp of the concepts and cannot use them in a functional way. Functional Skills aim to work with employers to use ‘real life’ examples to teach key English, Maths and IT skills. This should make the learning more meaningful meaning students are more likely to retain and use the skills. Students are more likely to gain mastery of a skill when they can see its applicability and its use to them as an individual.

Overview - The Diploma Structure

In September 2009 certain consortia made up of schools, colleges and employers begin delivery of the new 14-19 Diploma in 5 selected areas across England. These Diplomas have been designed by Higher Education Institutions, Employers and Sector Skills Councils to try and change the school experience for many students. These Diplomas have been designed to:

• Re-engage students that are not suited to traditional school education
• Better prepare students for Higher Education and the World of Work.
• Provide employers with employees with skills relevant and useful to specific employment sectors.
• Allow a range of organisations the opportunity to contribute to the education of young people.

The Diploma Structure  

The Diplomas are made up of several aspects.

• Principle Learning – A chance to study subjects relevant to a specific employment sector – in the case of this event the main sector is Environmental and Land-based (2009 start)  but your industries may also feed into Manufacturing and Engineering amongst others. For more info on ELB Diploma see http://www.diplomaelbs.co.uk/.
• Specialist Learning – A chance for learners to increase their specific skills in one particular area e.g. students interested in Agriculture may complete industry qualifications in spraying, tractor driving, chain saw use etc.
• Functional Skills
• Personalised Learning and Thinking Skills – Students work on skills that will be useful in later life e.g. communication, organisation, study skills etc.

For general diploma information see www.dfes.gov.uk/14-19

Presentations 

The presentations are aimed at English, Maths and IT Staff within schools as well as Connexions (careers) staff and college Key skills tutors. They are aimed at getting teachers to look at delivering core skills in a different way and being able to access the resources and guidance to do this effectively.  

Sessions contain:

• An overview of the job, focusing on specific skills and ways into the industry.
• Experience of general issues with new employees – most teachers have little or no industry knowledge and are restrained by the traditional educational and exam system.
• Skills within the job that fall within the general boundaries of English, Maths and IT as well as guidance to teachers as to where they can access information to help teach these skills e.g. certain websites, magazines etc.  Skills might also come under the umbrella of Personalised Learning and Thinking Skills (Students work on skills that will be useful in later life e.g. communication, organisation, study skills).

The idea is that teachers can understand the need for these skills in a specific sector and engage students by teaching them skills that they will need in industry. They need to be able to access resources and in some cases specialist help from employers reasonably easily to make this viable. 

Industry Examples - Farming

English 

• Initial letters of application
• Movement and Medical Records
• Cross Compliance
• Single Farm Payment Documentation (Also requires Maths)
• Entry Level Stewardship (Also requires Maths)

Maths

• Farm Accounts (also IT)
• Chemical/Fertiliser orders and applications – area and volume
• Material order and use e.g. perimeters, costing etc.
• Stock taking
• Rationing and yield calculations

IT

• All computerised farm records
• Spreadsheets / databases
• Accounts programmes
• Cattle records – bcms movements.

For more information on Functional Skills or 14-19 Diplomas please contact Laura Wallace at Myerscough College on 01995 642222 /  lwallace@myerscough.ac.uk.

Background to

 The Ribblesdale Herd was established in 2002 with the aim of producing high quality milk into the Channel Island market.  Although originally the herd was predominantly Danish bred, sires from Canada, America and Denmark are being used to get a mix of genetics to increase yield without losing quality.  The aim is to breed high production, long lasting cows with a good health status.  The farm is 65 hectares, all grass and our system revolves round limited grazing and a TMR ration.  Although we do not show the cows they have had some success in the Lakes Jersey Club herd competitions and the herd has been placed second twice in the Lancashire Milk Records Interbreed County Championship also being the highest placed herd on twice a day milking. The 210 cows are all bred to the Jersey and all heifers are reared.  At 6 months they leave to be contract reared until 2 months prior to calving.

Useful Contacts

Organisers: RABDF
Laura Dickinson, tel: 0845 4582711, email: lauradickinson@rabdf.co.uk

Katy Pallas, School Development Manager, Myerscough College Tel: 01995 642341 email kroberts@myerscough.ac.uk

Functional Skills and 14-19 diplomas
Laura Wallace, Myerscough College, tel: 01995 642222, email: lwallace@myerscough.ac.uk

Ian and Sally Macalpine
Laneside Farm, tel: 01200 422574, email: ian.macalpine@farming.co.uk