Continuing Professional Development opportunities

Exclusively for our Centre of Excellence members, we invite educators, trainers, and curriculum or quality leads to join our upcoming webinar series, hosted by the Quality & Standards team. These sessions are designed to support you in embedding competition-based learning into your curriculum, using practical benchmarking tools to enhance teaching strategies, align learning with industry expectations, foster learner excellence, and enable responsive feedback through our benchmarking tracker.

Click below to register on your preferred date:

• 17 July – 12pm
• 28 August – 12pm
• 10 September – 12pm
• 23 September– 12pm
• 9 October – 12pm
• 23 October– 12pm
• 19 November – 12pm
• 10 December – 12pm

Join us for a dedicated day of professional development tailored for teachers, trainers, and learning support staff. Led by expert Centre of Excellence coaches, these hands-on workshops will explore WorldSkills UK’s proven excellence models Competence to Excellence, Assessment for Excellence, and Benchmarking for Excellence.

Through evidence-based strategies and collaborative learning, the sessions will:
• Build teaching confidence and capability
• Drive curriculum innovation
• Enhance assessment practices
• Improve learner outcomes across all levels

Whether you’re aiming to refine your approach or raise the performance ceiling for your learners, this is an unmissable opportunity to engage with cutting-edge pedagogical thinking.

Date and time:  Thursday, 21st August 2025, 09:00AM – 3:00 PM
Location: Edinburgh College, Sighthill Campus, Bankhead Ave, Edinburgh EH11 4DE

Schedule:

09.00 Arrival   – Welcome – tea/coffee
09:30 –  09:45  – Introduction to the Event
09.45 – 10.45 –  Session 1
10.45 – 11 – Mid morning break
11- 12.15 – Session 2
12:15 – 13:00 –  Lunch (provided)
13:00 – 14.45– Session 3
14:45 – 15:00 – Recap and Close

Event price: No charge

Please note – The event is open to all educators across the Scottish FE Sector.

This session unpacks the WorldSkills UK 7-step methodology, supporting educators to understand the importance of developing higher order competencies that meet industry needs. Educators will:

• Differentiate between competence and excellence in technical and vocational education.
• Apply marginal gains theory to improve learner performance.
• Identify and adapt WorldSkills UK strategies to raise the performance ceiling for all learners.
• Create a learning environment that promotes continuous refinement and excellence.

Location: The Business Centre, Cardiff & Vale College, Dumballs Road, Cardiff, CF10 5FE
Date: 26 November 2025
Time: 10:30-12:00

This session explores how competition pedagogy can enhance learning for all students, while aligning with the latest Inspection Frameworks.  Educators will:

• Understand the principles of WorldSkills UK competition-based assessment.
• Explore assessment tasks and marking criteria that reflect excellence in performance.
• Communicate assessment expectations clearly and transparently to learners.
• Use assessment as a motivational and developmental tool.

Location: The Business Centre, Cardiff & Vale College, Dumballs Road, Cardiff, CF10 5FE
Date: 26 November 2025
Time: 12:30-14:00

This session introduces benchmarking tools and resources to embed world-class training and standards into curriculum planning and delivery.  Educators will:

• Understand the principles of the WorldSkills UK Benchmarking for Excellence pedagogical model.
• Apply benchmarking practices to identify and raise performance standards across contexts.
• Track and monitor learner progress locally or regionally using comparative data.
• Use benchmarking as an evaluative tool to measure the impact of teaching on learner progress and outcomes.

Location: The Business Centre, Cardiff & Vale College, Dumballs Road, Cardiff, CF10 5FE
Date: 26 November 2025
Time: 14:00-15:00

This session will share the collaborative work completed to date by NCFE’s Provider Development Team and WorldSkills UK to support teachers in engaging vocational learners to maximise their assessment outcomes. Key topics:

• Guidance related to applying elements of competition into learner assessments
• How competition can be used to engage and motivate learners in any subject and at any level
• Sharing of discussions with vocational teachers in our CPD and support activities
• How we use the principles to support provider staff to improve retention and achievement.

Location: The Business Centre, Cardiff & Vale College, Dumballs Road, Cardiff, CF10 5FE
Date: 26 November 2025
Time: 14:00-15:00

Facilitated on the 25 April 2025, but the recording is available at any time on our YouTube channel.