Colleges Week 2020: Celebrating the role of Further Education providers

This week, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) is supporting Colleges Week 2020, running from Monday 19 to Friday 23 October.

Colleges Week promotes the inspiring and impressive things that have been happening within colleges and other Further Education (FE) providers over the past year.

From building communities, to boosting businesses and supporting individuals, the role of colleges and training providers are crucial in supporting society and the economy through different national and global challenges.

The 2020 Colleges Week campaign focuses on different areas throughout the week, including:

  • Mon 19 Oct:The economic rebuild
  • Tue 20 Oct: Growing and supporting sectors
  • Wed 21 Oct: Innovation and designing the future
  • Thu 22 Oct: Supporting people and communities
  • Fri 23 Oct: The COVID-19 response.

As a supporter of Colleges Week, the ETF and its professional membership body the Society for Education and Training (SET) are encouraging all Further Education (FE) colleges to get behind the campaign.

David Russell, Chief Executive of the ETF, said: “The ETF is proud to celebrate the fantastic workforce development that takes place in colleges and the vital role they play in educating and upskilling the nation. While the Covid-19 pandemic has added more stress and uncertainty to further education than ever before, colleges have risen up to face these challenges to ensure that learners have continued to learn from home, whilst adapting to new ways of teaching. Colleges are a fantastic way for learners to get access to work experience, whilst studying qualifications at the same time to get one step closer to their future career.”

SET is encouraging members to contact them offering up their successes over the past year and to hear more why sector colleagues enjoy working in their organisation.

Colleges Week is a part of the Love Our Colleges campaign, and a partnership between Association of Colleges (AoC), National Union of Students (NUS), Association of College and School Leaders (ASCL), University and Colleges Union (UCU), GMB, TUC, National Education Union (NEU) and UNISON. Below are other ways to support the campiagn:

  • Sign up as a supporter.
  • Follow and retweet @AoC_info on Twitter and follow Association of Colleges (AoC) on Facebook and LinkedIn to share #LoveOurColleges updates and share your own content celebrating colleges.
  • Write a blog or a LinkedIn article about something amazing colleges are doing – see the different themes for the days for inspiration.
  • Tell your network about the campaign and ask them to support it too.