As part of growth and development plans, a group of Tees Valley colleges and training providers has acquired a Gateshead-based training provider with significant reach into the professional services apprenticeship market.

The Education Training Collective (Etc.), an ambitious and dynamic college group which includes Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training Group, Redcar and Cleveland College, Stockton Riverside College and The Skills Academy, has completed on the acquisition of Innersummit, a boutique training consultancy with a 20-year history of supporting companies UK-wide with apprenticeship delivery.

This acquisition further strengthens the Etc. business to business offer, and will see the organisation not only widen the portfolio of courses and apprenticeships it can offer current employer partners, but also drive its reach into the wider North East region and beyond.

Grant Glendinning, chief executive at the Education Training Collective, said: “This acquisition is the culmination of a lengthy due diligence project, and is something we are naturally very excited about being in a position to share.

“In the last year, the leadership team and governors have really put a magnifying glass over the Etc., identifying our priority areas for focus – this has resulted in the launch of our new Clean Energy Education Hub at Redcar and Cleveland College, the addition of the new £2.4m annexe at Bede Sixth Form College, we have great plans in the pipeline for NETA, alongside the ongoing works at Stockton Riverside College, and now we are enhancing our apprenticeship and commercial training offer with the addition of Innersummit to our college group.”

Chris Andreou, managing director at Innersummit, added: “When the opportunity arose for Innersummit Ltd to become part of the Education Training Collective, a larger organisation with a reputation for being an excellent employer, and an organisation which is committed to providing high-quality training and development for its staff, students and communities, it was a discussion I was keen to take further.  It is clear that there is a match between the intent of both organisations – who essentially just want to support individuals and businesses to achieve their full potential.

“Both organisations bring a mutually complementary offer to the table, and we are looking forward to working together to ensure training and skills offered meet the needs of businesses across the North East and beyond.”

As part of the acquisition implementation plan, the organisations will now work closely to ensure a smooth transition of operations, working with businesses across the region to expand its reach and deliver high-quality training and development programmes that meet their needs – both current and future.

From clearing litter to transforming a sensory garden, hundreds of volunteers headed out into the community in a college group’s giant effort to make “Time for Teesside”.

Around 250 members of staff from the colleges that make up the Education Training Collective (Etc.), took time away from their day jobs to embark on 21 projects for local good causes.

“The idea was to give something back to our communities in a real practical way,” said Etc. chief executive and group principal, Grant Glendinning. “What better way to make a real impact than rolling up our sleeves and giving our time to offer a helping hand in whatever way we can?”

Sourcing projects across the Tees Valley, volunteers carried out litter picks at the Tees Barrage, Redcar beach, Ingleby Barwick and Billingham, and volunteer days were spent at Daisy Chain and Teesside Hospice charity shops, Thornaby Church Baby Bank, Norton Community Centre, Vision 25, Low Grange Community Centre, Dogs Trust Darlington and Maxi’s Mates.

Linking in with Middlesbrough FC Foundation, construction and maintenance challenges took place at The Finlay Cooper Centre in North Ormesby, North Ormesby Resource Centre, and the Herlingshaw Centre, Middlesbrough, with further projects at Billingham Environmental Link, St Benedict’s Primary School in Redcar, Friends of True Lovers Walk, Yarm, Piper Court Care Home, Stockton, and a fundraising dog walk.

Helping muck in with a transformation of the outdoor space at The Finlay Cooper Centre, Grant said: “The diversity of the voluntary activities taking place was fantastic and a real reflection of the incredible work that goes on by amazing organisations right here on our doorstep.”

Keen to make a difference, he said: “The benefits of the day were two-fold, this was a chance to help others and play an active part in our communities, but it was also an opportunity for staff to do something completely different and spend time with colleagues who they may not have worked with directly before.”

The Etc. incorporates Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training, Redcar and Cleveland College, Stockton Riverside College, and The Skills Academy, and together the teams put in approximately 2000 voluntary hours between them.

At North Ormesby Resource Centre a team of Etc. volunteers helped to revamp a sensory garden.

Centre manager Jackie Reilly said: “We have a unit here for people with dementia. The Etc. team worked throughout the day to help us create a sensory garden and what a fantastic job they did. This will now enable our service-users to enjoy the outdoors in a safe and tranquil environment, using touch and smell to hopefully help bring precious memories to them and promote mental health and wellbeing.”

With plans to make Time for Teesside an annual event, Grant said: “This is the beginning of what will hopefully become a bit of a movement for Teesside. We hope that next year other members of the business community will consider joining us.”

Etc. chair and financial leader Stuart talks helping to build skills for the future

Doing something that makes a real lasting difference to people’s lives has got to be the best part of life on the governing board of the Education Training Collective (Etc.).

“It doesn’t get much better than that,” says Stuart Blackett, who took the reins as chair of the board last summer.

One year in the Etc. hot seat and he beams with pride for the Teesside-based college group, its dedicated staff, and thousands of learners.

On the back of a string of a summer success, for individuals and teams across the group, he says: “It’s the type of place where you run out of superlatives.”

The Education Training Collective comprises four colleges in the Tees Valley, Stockton Riverside College, Redcar and Cleveland College, Bede Sixth Form College, The Skills Academy (Billingham), and engineering training provider, NETA Training.

Together the Etc. sites offer everything from vocational courses and A levels to apprenticeship training, higher education, commercial and bespoke employer-led training.

It’s a world that just a few years ago Stuart admits he knew little about. Today he describes it as, “exciting and challenging – but only in a good way!”

Following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Mark White CBE DL, was always going to be one of those challenges, as he says: “Everybody knows Mark, or knows of him, because he is an “education-lifer.”

Considering himself somewhat unknown in education circles, it initially felt like “big shoes to fill” for the Wynyard dad-of-two, but today he says: “I now realise it is simply a case of different shoes.”

A chartered accountant by profession and chief financial officer at Railpen, Stuart brings his own unique set of strategic skills and expertise to the role. He values the part his fellow board members play, each bringing a wealth of experience to the group, among them vice chair of the board Dot Smith, who is also something of an “education-lifer”.

Appointing new Etc. chief executive and group principal, Grant Glendinning, last summer was one of the first big jobs under Stuart’s leadership.

He says: “Getting Grant in was a great achievement and it’s great to see how he has picked up the baton from Phil Cook and has continued to take us forward. I am really pleased and excited about the future.”

With big plans in the pipeline both for the Etc. and across the Tees Valley, there’s much to look forward to.

Stuart adds: “With investment coming into the area from the likes of Teesworks, the freeport and the Treasury in Darlington, it feels like we are on the cusp of something really special that could be transformative for the area.”

Recent visits to the group’s campuses from the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, as well as industry leaders, employers and our local MPs, is further testament to the part the college group has to play.

“In education we are at the heart of our community,” says Stuart. “The Tees Valley has been one of the most deprived areas in the country and we need to change that, the best way to do this is through education.”

As a dad of two young boys himself, he has even more reason to be passionate about the opportunities ahead, but he is also quick to point out that colleges are about more than your 16-to-18-year-old cohort. Colleges are changing the lives of adults too.

The key to continuing to get that right is a complex mix. He explains it involves looking to the future, not just the next two or three years, but what does 2040 look like? The college group must also be agile and adapt, while simultaneously continuing to deliver in the here and now.

“As Dot says, ‘it is standards, standards, standards’,” he says. “We have a duty to ensure our colleges are the best they possibly can be for our learners. We have to do the day job.”

At the Etc. that has included a recent £11.7m capital investment in facilities, made possible with funding from the Department for Education’s T Level Capital Funding Grant, DfE Post-16 Capacity Fund and the Redcar Town Deal Fund.

Completed works include the revamped facilities at Redcar and Cleveland College, the creation of their £3.2m Clean Energy Education Hub and a £2.4m annexe, making room for an additional 200 students at Bede. Work is now underway on a £2.8 refurb at Stockton Riverside College and there are also ambitious plans for NETA.

“There’s been a lot going on,” said Stuart with a smile. It clearly hasn’t put him off. Not a fan of hierarchy, he gives all the credit to others.

“This isn’t my day job, I already have a career. It sounds cliché but, for me, this is my way of giving something back.

“The truth is, I get a lot back out of being in that chair. It doesn’t feel like work to me, this is something I look forward to, this is the fun bit. When you add in the fact that we are we are making a real difference here, well there seems little that can be more worthy.”

Stepping down from the helm of a booming Teesside college group was always going to be a big move for education stalwarts Mark White and Phil Cook.

But their years of hard work and commitment to delivering skills and training for school leavers and adults of all ages in the Tees Valley, haven’t gone unnoticed.

The former leaders of the Education Training Collective (Etc.) have earned a spot on the King’s Birthday Honours list, both recognised for their services to further education.

Mark, who was chair of the group’s governing board, will be made a CBE, while former chief executive and group principal, Phil, is to become an OBE.

“I am thrilled and humbled by this award,” said Mark, who is a familiar face to many, having moved to the area as a student 47 years ago and making it his home ever since.

Phil, who in his nine years as Etc. chief executive led the transformation and growth of the college group, including mergers with NETA Training and Redcar and Cleveland College, said: “I feel very proud but also lucky.”

Phil has worked in the further education sector for more than 30 years. The former deputy principal of Barnsley College joined Stockton Riverside College and Bede Sixth Form College as chief executive in 2013 where he would go on to see the turnaround and growth of the Teesside-based college group.

Retiring from the Etc. last summer, Phil, who also served three years as one of the Secretary of State’s National Leaders of Further Education, said: “I have always believed that further education can truly change people’s lives and it’s been a privilege to work in the sector for so many years.”

Mark built a lifelong career at Teesside University, up until his retirement in 2016. Over the years he has dedicated countless hours to a host of organisations, including 27 years committed to the governing boards of the colleges that now make up the Etc.

Retiring from his role as chair of the Etc. last year and chair of AoC Sport (the membership body for college sport in England) earlier this year, Mark is a Deputy Lieutenant of County Durham and chair of Thornaby-on-Tees Town Deal Board. He is also chair of Stockton-on-Tees Strategic Education Board, a member of the council of governors of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and chair of the Association of Colleges Charitable Trust. He was made an OBE in 2016 for services to education, particularly in Teesside.

Despite the royal acknowledgment, both Mark and Phil are quick to shine the spotlight on those around them.

Phil said: “My family have been incredibly supportive throughout my career, and I have been fortunate to have worked with many talented and kind colleagues over the years.”

While Mark added: “I have worked with wonderful, dedicated people and, to me, this award recognises and celebrates the value and importance of our essential further education sector.”

The Etc. incorporates Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training, Redcar and Cleveland College, Stockton Riverside College and The Skills Academy (Billingham).

Stuart Blackett, chairman of the Etc. governing board, said: “We are incredibly proud of both Mark and Phil and the incredible legacy they have left behind for us to continue to build on here at the Etc., for our learners, colleagues and communities.”

Whether it’s cutting down on electricity use, car sharing, or swap shops, thinking green is fast becoming part of the ethos at the Education Training Collective (Etc.).

Now the group of Teesside colleges has seen its efforts recognised with a silver award from the Investors in the Environment (iiE) and recertification from Carbon Neutral Britain for the second year running.

“As a college group working with thousands of people every year, we made a decision to lead by example when it comes to reducing our environmental impact,” said director of marketing and sustainability lead, Erika Marshall.

“What started out as small steps such as reducing the number of plastic bottles in our fridges and swapping single-use plastic cutlery for more sustainable options has grown to a whole group approach.”

For the Etc., which comprises Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training, Redcar and Cleveland College, Stockton Riverside College and The Skills Academy, greener thinking led to the creation of a Green Initiatives Group, made up of more than 30 volunteers from across the college sites.

“By working together and sharing ideas the initiatives have just become bigger and more ambitious,” said Erika.

Efforts to reduce the group’s collective carbon footprint have included increasing recycling, reduced general waste and energy consumption, along with clothing, book and gift swaps and the introduction of a car share scheme.

Now with the iiE Green Award in their sights, the colleges are increasingly turning their attention to ways students and staff can reduce their carbon emissions both in the classroom and at home.

Erika said: “By spreading the word and making more sustainable choices a part of college life we hope to spread the word, through friends and family, to our wider communities.

“Making more sustainable choices is not just good for the environment but also can be beneficial to households facing the challenges of the cost of living and fuel crises.”

Jo Holmes, managing director of environmental sustainability consultancy, Genee Consulting Ltd, said: “During their iiE membership over the past year, Etc. have made some really positive strides when tackling the impact of transport on their overall sustainability, as well as commendable work towards managing their waste.

“Through their excellent communications and campaigns, they have been able to integrate sustainability into the day-to-day of the organisation and we’ve loved seeing their progress. We’re positive that 2023 will see Etc. reach green iiE accreditation.”

Apprenticeships have always, rightly, been celebrated for the on-the-job training they provide, but also for their unique potential for equipping apprentices with ‘Skills for Life’.

At the Education Training Collective (Etc.) our colleges are situated in Teesside, where trades such as welding, manufacturing and engineering did literally provide skills for life – that was their basis. The apprentice would start on a pathway and continue on that route, either in the same role or progressing through levels – often until they reached retirement.

Since those days, other sectors, job roles and industries have recognised the benefits, using those same methodologies to create new apprenticeships – in industries such as creative, digital and media – this has resulted in a variety of on-the-job training that is richer than ever before, not just for our youngsters but for adults too.

In the last decade, apprenticeships have experienced something of a roller-coaster, spiking in terms of popularity, going from being the ‘in’ careers pathway, falling out of favour and then back again – often with overt alignment with other programmes, such as traineeships, and ‘return to work’ schemes. And that’s not to mention the jolt that pandemic lockdowns have served up.

As reported in FE Week (January 2023), according to provisional in-year Department for Education data apprenticeship starts in England dropped by six percent in the first quarter of 2022/23 and are three percent down on the same period in 2019, pre-pandemic.

But, as National Apprenticeship Week draws to a close, should this be reason for despondency, on a journey that we have already likened to a rollercoaster? I would like to think not. The same data shows that take up of higher apprenticeships has continued to grow, at our colleges we have witnessed students moving on to higher apprenticeship programmes that they could never have imagined a few years ago.

Today, T Levels are the new skills ‘kid on the block’ but far from working in competition with an apprenticeship, the reality could be that they work alongside, offering the employer a more holistic approach to skills for the future, and the learner a broader scope of post-secondary choice than ever before.

As is always the case when a new learning route is introduced, there is a lot to unpick and understand, but with T Levels having been on the roll-out across the UK since 2020, they are now becoming more embedded, and a solid part of the curriculum offer.

For employers, T Levels should not be a distraction from an apprenticeship, rather they are complementary. Each offers their own benefits to both the learner and employer – right learner, right employer, right course.

At Stockton Riverside College – part of the Etc. – we believe in apprenticeships and we champion our employers and communities to recognise the role that an apprentice plays in society and the workplace; it is this recognition and understanding that is the fundamental difference between a student leaving education with just the bare essentials and one who flourishes, completing their apprenticeship ready to be part of the workforce of the future. I can think of so many examples where the learner has thrived and as a result, the employer has seen their business positively impacted.

When we think about ‘Skills for Life’, we’re not just considering those learnt in the classroom, but those honed in the workplace – traditional practical skills in a chosen trade or discipline and a real understanding of what it means to be in the world of work. Surely these, combined, either as part of a T Level, a mixture of classroom-based learning with work experience or an apprenticeship, are what make up the perfect blend when it comes to building skills for life!