Hertford Regional College (HRC) is delighted to be working with colleagues in Tanzania on a British Council mentoring project. This follows on from previous successful projects that HRC has been involved with in Sri Lanka and Vietnam and underlines the college’s commitment to skill-sharing and mentoring – both locally, and globally.
The key impact areas identified for the project are:
- Designing courses with employer and learner voice used as a fundamental driver
- All staff being aware of the importance of their role in successful employer engagement
- More sustainable progression routes into employment for learners
- Establishing consistent practices that can be shared with other organisations within Tanzania
In December, we welcomed our Tanzanian partners from VETA Kigoma, VETA Morogoro and VETA Dar es Salaam, as well as a curriculum specialist from VETA HQ, for a visit to our College. The visit was focussed on supporting these institutions to develop their employer engagement in the construction sector. Representatives from our partner employers, Winchmore Brickwork and Lee Marley Brickwork, were on-hand to offer an employer’s perspective to the group, while a site visit to Morgan Sindall demonstrated the social value work that they embed into their practices.
HRC staff and students were heavily involved in the week’s activities, including sessions with the HRC Apprenticeship team and a presentation by HRC T-Level students, as well as sessions by our partner employers who discussed how they work with HRC to co-design programmes and ensure that the skills taught are relevant and include new technologies and hands-on, practical skills.
The feedback from our visitors was overwhelmingly positive with a number of areas highlighted for future consideration and implementation, including:
- Annual reviews of the curriculum offer
- Staff development opportunities through employer-based CPD
- The roles of individuals and expectations around their engagement with employers
- How to have safe and supportive conversations with teaching staff to ensure development of their practice and involvement with employers
The visit concluded with the development of action plans and the group’s summary report will be shared with the other VETA colleges within Tanzania.
Moving forward, the relationship between HRC and our Tanzanian partners will continue to develop, with HRC tutors undertaking monthly mentoring calls, while a reciprocal visit to Tanzania is being planned for later in the year to observe the positive impact that the project has had.
