LSIS’s work to promote innovation will be highlighted as international leaders from industry, government and education gather for the WorldSkills Premiere Experience in London next month.

Our partnership with S&B Automotive Academy on a project supported through the Flexibility and Innovation Fund (FIF) will feature in a seminar at this major conference and event programme which explores how to develop the highly-trained skills practitioners of the future.

The focus will be on the success of an award-winning initiative known as the Jericho project which has harnessed NetCam technology to help increase the number of school leavers and young offenders taking up apprenticeship opportunities.

To be held at ExCeL London from 4 to 9 October, the conference programme runs alongside the 41st WorldSkills Competition, the biggest showcase of vocational skills in the UK for more than 20 years.

Speakers from many different countries and organisations will share their stories, best practice and strategic plans for the future of skills development worldwide.  Among the keynote speakers are Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, and Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, John Hayes.

LSIS and S&B were specially selected to deliver a presentation on 7 October during the event’s Global Skills Marketplace, a series of internationally-themed seminars relating to skills development policy and practice, emerging technologies, the new global workforce and worldwide best practice. 

Jon Winter, Chief Executive of S&B, and William Lewis, LSIS Head of Innovation, will speak about the impact of the Jericho project, which received FIF support last year to advance its hi-tech work aimed partly at breaking down the myths of what it means to be an apprentice.

At the heart of the initiative lies a new approach to providing experience of training and workplace environments - virtually.  It has seen NetCam installed in locations such as motor vehicle workshops to offer live feedback to the classroom for pupils in Years 9, 10 and 11. They can watch vocational training live, enjoy a glimpse of a real working environment in action, and learn more about apprenticeships … all without leaving their desks.

Allowing two-way voice communications, the technology actively encourages the youngsters to communicate with the apprentices, trainers and employers who appear before them on the screen.

Earlier this year, the project won a coveted prize at the IMS Global Learning Impact Awards, designed to recognise the most influential use of technology in support of learning.

WorldSkills Premiere Experience details.