Laura Cook 0:04

Hello and welcome to the first episode of our new Cadet to Career podcast, dedicated to the world of opportunity available through Cadet Vocational College. I'm Laura Cook and I'll be your host for this series, bringing together a wide range of people who will each add some personal insight into how and why their lives have been improved by vocational qualifications. Throughout this series, we'll hear from young people taking their first steps towards a career or their learning journey, from adult volunteers who were looking for a career boost, and employers about what they're looking for when recruiting, and from the tutors and mentors who guide people through their qualifications. We'll also talk to volunteers from youth organisation and community leaders about the social impact of their work and how vocational qualifications help validate what they do. Whether you're a member of a youth organisation, a cadet, an adult volunteer, teacher, parent, or potential employer, I'm glad you can join us and hope you find this series interesting and useful. In this episode, we'll explore the vital role that Cadet Vocational College plays in delivering vocational qualifications to young people and adult volunteers in youth organizations. Whether you're a new member of your organization eager to learn about the opportunities available to you or an experienced volunteer looking to enhance your skills, this podcast is for you. Vocational qualifications are more than just certificates, they're pathways to personal growth, professional development, and future success. They enable individuals to demonstrate tangible practical skills and knowledge that can be an advantage in real-world settings. So without further ado, to kick off the series, I'm joined in Frimley by CV College Principal and Chief Executive Guy Horridge, Vice Principal Michelle Parry, and the Commandant of Shropshire ACF, John Mitten. Welcome to you all. So, Guy, shall we put you in the hot seat to start off with? To let me know, tell me a little bit more about the C V College, where it all started.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

I was lucky enough to be working with the Army Cadets, and I realized really what a wonderful group of young people they were. I couldn't believe how in their own time they turned up and did so many activities and with such enthusiasm, it is infectious enthusiasm, and I really got quite excited by it. But I realized that in the outside world, people did not understand cadets. They did not realise the quality of the young people they were dealing with. So with a friend, we set about looking to see how we could show an employer that a young cadet was the person that they wanted to employ.

Laura Cook 3:07

Right. And when was all this? When did all kickstart?

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Well, it makes me a bit old now, but it was about.

Laura Cook 3:12

You winced when I asked that question.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

I did indeed, because I thought, oh no, it was 27 years ago that we started doing that.

Laura Cook 3:19

So you were four years old when this started.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Well, thank you very much. Some said I haven't got any older. Um and it was hard work. I went tonight, it was really hard work because we were dealing with a department for education which was understandably skeptical about what we were doing, and there was no funding for it. So it was a lot of work to translate what cadets did into an academic language, not academic but into an educational language, and then persuade people to fund us. And it was five years slog to get the BTEC started, but well worth it.

Laura Cook 3:58

Because I suppose then when we're talking about the sort of the traditional education and vocational, when you're talking about, well, I'm going to take back my compliment there, I don't mean it in this way, but we're talking about those that many years ago. Um, it you're right, it was the more traditional approach that that was that was being pursued, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 4:17

It was. And I think people were just beginning to recognise that actually there are so many ways that young people, and not so young people, myself included, learn. And when you look back at it, so many jobs are learnt by vocational means. Even the army, when I went to Sandhurst, I learnt by example. You've followed a training progress. And it's exactly the same if you're becoming a plumber, an electrician, or a train driver, whatever profession you choose to do. These skills, the not those professional skills, but the ability to do those skills, the cadet forces were bringing out in these young people. However, there was no way of showing an employer that you had that skill. That's what we set about doing it, because it's a way of showing off how great the cadets were, because they are brilliant. And I mean that, they're brilliant young people.

Laura Cook 5:10

So, Guy, they're brilliant. We're gonna take that away. That's going to be the word of this podcast. I think, you know, we're gonna show exactly the examples that make you realise that these cadets, these youngsters, they are brilliant. Tell me about the qualifications that the CV College provides, the portfolio of qualifications that brings out that brilliance.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

We have a whole raft of qualifications. Um, we we we start at level one, which is your introductory level qualification, and that's uh looking at teamworking and working young people working together, and we go all the way through to a level seven, which is a master's equivalent. So I think that's quite impressive that somebody can come in as a young cadet and get a qualification with us, and anybody can get an adult qualification. And what makes our qualifications, I think, so special is you do not need a prior level of learning to attain the level that you're at now. So, in other words, if you're in an employment, if you're in work, you have the experience to do a level six, which is a graduate level qualification, then it doesn't matter if you may have just done uh A levels, you may have a B tech at level two, it doesn't matter. It's the skill set that you have now that matters to us, and that's what we look at.

Laura Cook 6:29

I think that's very important in inviting people and taking the pressure off and thinking anybody can do this if they if they want to. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

The door is open for them. And I think you've the key point there, if they want to, if you want to do it, we will offer that opportunity and we will help you because we've we have old older learners who may come back at 40 or 50 who may not have looked at a book since they were 16, and that's very scary. But Michelle and her team, they will lead them through and they will help them. And I think that's another great opportunity that the cadets can offer is this ability to get qualifications regardless of where you've got to in life.

Laura Cook 7:08

So tell me about the CV College values, the backbone of what we're talking about here. What are you instilling in these people, whoever they are, wherever they've come to? What are the values?

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Our values as an organization are that we are entirely focused on the learner and helping them to develop themselves. Because we think that everybody has much to offer and we all learn at different speeds and at different times in our lives. So I think our value is that by being caring, by being supportive, by focusing on those young people, it allows us to be very. I'm going through, I'm actually going through our values because I think our values sum us up. And our values actually come from our learners themselves. They told us what the how they saw us. It wasn't just me sitting down one day and thinking, oh, I'll put that because that looks good on paper. No, we had them validated by young people. And I'll give you a classic example that um we we didn't have inclusive and diverse because I thought, well, do we need to say that? Because we are. And the young people came back to us and said, actually, you must say that because you not only are you big time, but it's great that we see that you are. Tell us you are, because that's what it's all about. So we added that to it. So it's about listening to our learners, and clearly we're getting through to them because they wouldn't say that if they didn't believe it. So our values are really helping the learner achieve what they want to be, and that allows them to have that value as I can do it, and it gives them the confidence to do it.

Laura Cook 8:42

That's really fascinating about you you listening. So the whole listening process is very much from them to you to you to them. It sounds like an evolutionary process as well. So, what what sort of if I ask you the evolution from when you started this to now? Because you've got various generations coming through now, haven't you? From from the start-off to you know the to today's learners. Um it you must learn all the time, you must as well, from from leaders.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

I've I I I have learnt so much. I I think you could say we're a classic case. We started with revolution because it was revolution. What we did was revolutionary to bring qualifications into the cadet forces, which were nationally recognised. But you're so right there, Laura. It has become evolutionary because we have listened. And we mentioned earlier, I've been doing this 27 years. I actually feel in mind younger now than when I did when I started, because I'm working with young people, I'm listening to them, and my goodness, do they keep me on my toes? Yep, certainly do. And I love it, I really do.

Laura Cook 9:43

This is a podcast, but I have to tell you, when Guy just said that last sentence, he took his glasses off and looked me in the eye. So he clearly means that, doesn't he, Michelle? If I can ask you now to sort of move on a little bit about from what Guy's saying, the values, the the background of CV College. If we look at the qualifications particularly, talk me through because these are recognised by employers, schools, colleges, universities. Tell me a little bit more, let's get to the get to the nub of exactly what these qualifications involve.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

So, um, what we do with these qualifications is um we don't just want the learners to achieve, um, we want them to understand what skills, knowledge, and behaviors that they've developed. So they'll start these with their youth organization, um, and then we help them to understand, because sometimes they'll achieve something they don't realize that they've developed all of these skills, like resilience, for example. Um, so we use a lot of practical activities and what we call recognized prior learning from what they will have done in their youth organization. For example, um, Duke of Edinburgh. So, you know, when they feed back to us, because we use that as an example, um, that they'll say, you know, oh well, it was pouring with rain, the temp fell down, this happened, you know, my feet were sore. And what they do is they pick themselves up and they support each other as a team and they just get on with it and do it. They don't realise, you know, that that is a really important skill that you need when you when you move into the world of work, you know. Sometimes you'll be working on your own in an office, but you need to be able to work with other people, and it is really important. Um, we also want to make sure that they have the best experience possible. Um, but the other thing we do is we've taken all of the military speak out that where it was in some of the qualifications to start with, and then just you know, interspersed it with um sort of terminology that employers will understand. Um, so yes, I mean it's one of the qualifications that we do, the the very lowest level one, the BTAT level one, a lot of the learners uh that do that qualification may not be going to achieve at school. It may already be evident that they're not academic. Um, and they're really surprised when they when they achieve this qualification because they can do it through totally through the syllabus of their youth organization. Um, and it's really nice to see, and we get feedback from parents as well, you know, that it's helped them on their way. And it's really important to capture these young people at the earlier stage, as well as offering it obviously to adults as well. Um, so that's that's what I find um really important. You have to break down the barriers and break down the language and really support the learners.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Michelle's so right there. But I think the other thing they learn, particularly on the level one, is that learning can be fun. And school is not always fun in school. I know I've sat in a classroom and you've learned things, but actually, they're out doing their team activities, getting a qualification. Wow, what a fun way to learn and get a qualification.

Laura Cook 12:39

I'm gonna bring John into this as well because your uh experience, your direct experience as well. We'll obviously talk about the the um BTEC and the IM qualifications in a short while. But John, your experience and uh on this matter.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

I I am. I've been involved in in one way or another with uh CV College right from the start, and there's a few superlatives you you you mentioned there, brilliant. They are absolutely brilliant. Um, my interaction with with cadets, I might go along on a Monday evening and uh I might be talking to adults, and I'll go away and I think, why am I doing this? On a Thursday night, I talk to cadets and then I go away and say, that's why I'm doing it, because they are so enthusiastic. What we've not talked about yet is the coalface as they're progressing through the cadet syllabus, they don't realize some of them that they're actually ticking the boxes of the BTEC qualification as they progress. Uh, and it evolved, use your phrase, it does evolve, resulting in a certificate. Uh, a small award ceremony, it might be a one-to-one with a group of cadets, or it might be in front of 200 cadets. We try and showcase that individual's achievement. And do you know what? It's the smile on their face when they walk away with that certificate in their hand. But also, I was at a presentation evening last year, and uh a man and woman came up and they explained they were the parents of two girls who both joined the cadets at different times. Uh and they were so enthusiastic, and they said, Do you know what? That BTEC uh got the youngest one into college to do I can't remember what. Uh and the the eldest one is still in cadets working towards it, and you know, we didn't realise that they could get these qualifications. So that to me is is what it's all about, really. Um, achievement, the smile on their face, and the icing on the cake is if they or their parents or whoever comes back and says thank you.

Laura Cook 14:40

How rewarding that must be. Absolutely. Um, touching on um another point, Michelle, you when you were saying about the the examples and the practical examples, and knowing that they they might not realize that that's the skill, it it's so important, isn't it? As an employer, I know if if anyone listening to this podcast is sort of you know you've gone through an interview, you've gone through one of the examples now, is they what skills? Give us an example of when you've used this. Give us it. Lots of people don't have that stored in their brain, but if you're reinforcing that at a very early age, they know exactly, oh, I know, I know when I've used that, I've known when I've demonstrated that skill. And that's a really important thing to use because employers look at it very, very closely, don't they?

SPEAKER_03 15:22

Absolutely, yes. Um, the very first thing we'll do with any of our learners is an information advice and guidance session. And the very first question we ask is, what do you think the main skills are that an employer wants? Um, and the same ones come up every time, and then we'll reinforce that so when they sign up, we say, you know, what do you think you're good at? What would you like to improve? And and we can use that to sort of say, Well, if you want to improve your communication skills, you know, do the module on communication, and then we get feedback from them part of the way through and at the end, and then when they've finished as well, um, so we do get that uh you know feedback. What did you find useful? You know, what what would you what could help you even more? Because we're we're constantly, as guys already said, we're constantly reviewing our qualifications, and we do use all of our interaction with the learners to to get feedback from them of what they find useful and what not. And we're very lucky that we have a very good working relationship with the awarding organizations. Um, so they do allow us to change units, add units, um modules, um, so you know, we can keep the qualification relevant and current.

Laura Cook 16:26

So tell me about all that sort of um how you're monitored, how you're measured, who you're measured by, all of that, so it kind of reinforces exactly how important these are, and and that uh you know it's it's it's all done properly.

SPEAKER_03 16:37

Yes, I mean we receive um government funding from the Department for Education, um, and that's only for 16 to 18 year olds for certain qualifications, and they have to be delivered in England. Um, so we get a grant funding, so it we don't get more funding if more learners want to do it. Um, so and currently we have a waiting list for our level two teamwork and personal development, so we have more people wanting to do it than we have places for, which is a nice place to be, but obviously for us quite frustrating as well because we'd like to allow you know more learners through. So, to give you an idea, about two and a half thousand learners will sign up for this um BTAT level two that we have every year, and we have another at least 500, I would say, that would like to do it, um, that we don't have the funding for. Um, so um, and because we're funded by the Department of Education, we are subject to Ofsted inspections. Of course. Um, so we've had three Ofsted inspections since we started. Um, the first one was a surprise for us all because they they didn't understand us and we didn't really understand what they wanted. Um, but we were inspected for the third time in November, um, and we we have we remain at good, but it is it's really hard work to remain at a good, um, especially when you're a unique organization such as ourselves. So it can be quite difficult for inspecting teams to understand exactly who we are and how we operate. Um, we like to think of ourselves as a almost a department within a college. So if you think there's a public services department or a business studies department, but we're still expected to do everything that a college would. So obviously, our learner safe, you know, safe safety is is at the at the forefront of everything we do. Um, information advice and guidance, careers guidance, all of all of this we're expected to do. We're all multi- multitasking, multi-hatted.

Laura Cook 18:28

So you work in partnership with various people, various groups. Tell me a little bit more about those partnerships, Guy.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Yes, well, the title is a bit of a clue. We work with the cadet force organizations and they consist of the army cadets, the sea cadets, the Royal Air Force Cadets, and the combined cadet forces in the schools. And I should say, because in case we have any complaints, the Royal Marine Cadets, but they are part of the Royal Navy, but I do recognise them in their own right. So the cadet forces, I I can't remember how many in all of them, 140, 150,000 cadets combined. Roughly, I think, is that right, John? Yes, it's right. So there are those, and they they start at 12 and they go through to 18. And I'm very lucky because I I've got to know those cadets. I think, dare I say, we're going back to my length of service now, but I've been there longer than almost anybody else in what I call the the paid parts of the organisation. So I've seen these organizations develop, respond, respond to the changes in society. And each cadet force has its own way of working, it has its own um identity, and we have to understand that identity because it's a bit like different families. Everybody gets a bit precious about certain things because they're their own and they don't like to be subjugated or everybody think that they're just that like I did with the Royal Marine Cadets. They are they are very different from the Sea Cadets. In fact, the Royal Marine Cadets activities are more aligned to the Army Cadet Force activities, but they are a distinct group of people, and it's getting to understand that. It's getting to understand, not for me, because I have a military background, but for most people who join us have no military background, but they have to understand the military way of life. There's a hierarchy in the military, and some people stand on their own importance, and some people are very open about it, and you've got to get the subtle differences between the two, because ultimately it's not about us. The story is not about us. The story is what we can do for them, how we can help them achieve. And when I say them, I'm not talking about the cadets alone, I'm also talking about the adult volunteers, because it's so important to support them. Everybody will tell you that there isn't a shortage of cadets. What there is a shortage of is volunteers to support these cadets and to run those activities safely. So if doing a qualification with us allows an adult to stay in the cadet force longer, because it may be just to finish the qualification, then that's a good thing. So it's understanding that nuance that cadet forces aren't just a sole entity, they cover so many things. And people join cadets for so many different reasons. They join to play music, they join for adventure training activities, they join to get dirty and to crawl around in the mud, all sorts of things young people do. We have to get all those nuances and try and put them together into a qualification. So having a close relationship with them, and that's working at my level and all the levels down, means that we understand them and can give them what they want.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

It's quite interesting what you say because um what C V College does transcends across all of those organizations and teaches them the the skills, or or it it brings out the skills in the form of a vocational qualification. You know, leadership, but it's still the same sort of principles in the army. Navy, Air Force, and Royal Marine cadets. And not forgetting the volunteer cadet force as well. Absolutely. Yeah. And St.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

John, who we work with.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

St. John, police cadets. Yeah, it's it's it's really good. And I see it on a day-to-day basis when I talk to my cadets, especially we're on a weekend and they're setting up a camp to use your um example earlier, Michelle. Um, and I'll say, Well, how how do you organise this then? Well, I did the cooking. Well, why do you do the cooking? Well, I do a little bit at home, yeah. Well, what are the others doing? Well, they're putting up the tent. And why are you doing that way? Well, we've all got different skills, so you know, and you know, and and it's brilliant. What they don't realise, you can translate that into a qualification. Hey, that's teamwork, exactly. That's identifying responsibilities, uh, and and all the rest of that.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

And of course, helps them in later life because as we put our own teams together, we identify that everybody is needed to complete a task. And just because you can't do that, it means you're relying on somebody else and learning to rely on other people to trust other people. I just think these are great life lessons that they they get, and if we can validate that, so much the better.

Laura Cook 23:11

I want to just pick up on when you said um we've all got different skill sets. Uh, you you mentioned you that's just one word there kind of highlights to me what I noticed. We'll talk about the Westminster Awards in a second, but what I noticed about all the young people that were in the Westminster Awards, when you were talking to them, guy, they come up, there's a respect, there is a healthy respect among all of them, among their peers, among their leaders. It's really refreshing to see that. It's them demonstrating that, and it's it's unusual. Um, I don't like saying it's unusual, but it is. But there it was demonstrated in full force, really.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Well, it's just there's two things for that. Uh, first of all, it's voluntary, they they sign up to it, if you like, and so they fall into the way that we do things. And secondly, um, going back a few years now, but one of my detachment commanders uh went into a school to sell the cadet force to try and get recruits. Um, and I asked him how did it go? He said it was great. He says it was really, really good. And I think I made an impression, a positive impression. He said, I said, Well, how did you do that? He says, Well, we were walking down the corridor, I was with uh two teachers, and the bell rang, and the the pupils were all going to the various different places, etc. And two of them saw me, stood to attention and said, Good morning, sir, and then carried on. And the teacher said, How did you do that? Because they don't certainly behave like that in the classroom. Well, they're in the cadet force. It it's values, it's respect for for what we do, I think, really, not respect for elders or discipline.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

I think I agree with you entirely, John, but I think also there's more to it in the sense that I certainly respect them.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

I tr we treat them much more as equals than you do in a school. We listen to their opinion and we will actually act upon their opinion. So they're not, oh, go away, stupid person. It's right, okay, thank you. Good point, or that's very valuable. And so I think the respect, because we show them respect, they show respect back. And I think that's so important. And in life, that's a great life lesson. That if when you were young and people listened to you, as you get older, you realise, hey, listen to somebody else and see what they've got. I've learned so much through my life by listening. Don't they say, is it listen for 90% and talk for 10%?

Laura Cook 25:30

I'm probably Guy, really?

SPEAKER_01 25:32

I haven't I well, that's what they say. I'm not good at practicing what I preach, obviously.

Laura Cook 25:39

Anyone listening to this knowing Guy will will we're just teasing him. But if you come and meet Guy, he's a larger than life character, and and yes, you'll you'll you'll you'll question his his last comment. Anyway, anyway, let's let's move on. So talking about the the benefits, the BTEC, the ILM qualifications, if we're looking at that, let's let's have a little discussion about. I think first off, actually, what when you were talking about the volunteers, be anyone listening to this might think, oh, well, I it's very well getting qualifications. I don't have time to do this, I don't have time to volunteer. Let's talk about an important part of this, about how long these qualifications take to complete and how they can be completed, because it's not it's not like you have to come to this this this amount of hours, these amount of hours to learn, you have to do this, you have to do that. Michelle, tell me a little bit more about how that that approach works.

SPEAKER_03 26:30

Yeah, I mean, we are very aware that these young people may be at school, college, they may be working, and that um not only do they volunteer with the cadet forces, but they voluntarily sign up to the qualification. So we do find that most of them are engaged to start with because they've chosen to do the qualification. Um, but what we do is we offer as many different ways of delivery, um, timescales, and of assessment and submitting work as possible. So where we have larger groups of people, um, we like to try and get as many people as we can together. Um, and we're at the moment we're working very closely with the Army Cadet Force, and we just trialled two weekends ago a um a weekend delivery. Often when the learner's doing the work with us, the practical skills are part of the cadet forces, but with us they do the writing. So they don't equate the whole qualification with fun. They they sometimes see us as, oh, we have to do the writing for the Cadet Vedocational College. So on this weekend we sent a team in, um, and what we did was you can't avoid, there has to be a bit of theory and a bit of writing. So if you're looking at teamwork, for example, as a module, we teach them a little bit about teamwork, or we ask them because generally they already know about it. Then we set them off on doing some practical tasks, which obviously they enjoy. Then we bring them back and we ask them how did it go. So we have a discussion on what went well, what didn't go well, and then individually they can also review their own, so the teams, you know, um how the team did, but also how they did as an individual. But it's done in a very nice way, it's not done in a way, you know, well, you did this and you didn't do that. Um, and we find that that's for a lot of learners, um, especially since the pandemic, people want face-to-face. Everybody had a bit of um online overload, didn't they, for several years. Um, and and we do find that um it builds their confidence as well. So I think it's very good at the moment in this post-pandemic world to allow as many young people together and working together and communicating together as possible. So that's sort of the way all of our qualifications work. You learn a bit about teamwork communication, um, you put it into practice and then you review it. And as much as we can, we um equate it to what they've done in the cadet forces. So very little of it is absolutely new. So we're not teaching them nuclear physics where they've got to go home and read and read and read. They already have it there. We're just bringing it out of them.

Laura Cook 28:55

And it's an important thing to say it's free. If you're a member of a recognized youth or cadet organization, you can access this for free. A BTEC level two qualification. So free, flexible, fun. The F's finish there because then fabulous, fabulous, of course. I mean, what more can you say about those? It's it's it's uh something that should spark the inspiration, spark the excitement, um, spark the brilliance in these young people. It's all it's all really interesting stuff. I mean, uh one of the interesting things we were talking about a little before this podcast was the correlation between people on free school meals, for example, and educational attainment. John, you were talking about this, your experience. Tell me a little bit more about what you know about this.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Yeah, well, it's um there's a correlation between um children who are on free school meals to academic uh achievements. And one of the reasons why C VQO, as was now CV College, started, was to give those uh youngsters who who weren't going to come away from school or or college with with an academic qualification, they'd have a piece of paper to say, I can do this. And that's really, really important. Um, where I am, it's roughly about 9% uh of our cadets are are on free school meals. Nationally, I understand it's approximately 22%. Uh and with 120, 140 cadets, a thousand cadets, that's that's quite a bit.

Laura Cook 30:29

It's quite a surprising figure, guy. What what do you do you or your thoughts on on the sort of traditional, more traditional methods versus what you're offering and the mainstream education where we've started touched upon it at the start, really, and the difference you're offering.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

I agree. I think the first thing I would say is we're not we're not there to supplant traditional education. When adjunct were a really good thing to have alongside it. I believe that if schools had the time and the money, they would do this as well. But they don't have the time and the money. So we there's this gap that we fill, and and interestingly, what John said, I mean, 22% on free school meals, that means we can target and we can see these young people and give them that opportunity and stop them falling through a net that they might otherwise have seen. So it's not an alternative, it's an adjunct, it's it's something else they can do. But I and what I do say to young people when they do our qualifications is in this world, those who just go to school, they all come out with the same qualifications and they all look just the same on a bit of paper. But if you come out and you've been in the cadets and you've got a BTEC, you might have the LM level three. Wow, you're you're different, you're a different person. Oh, that's interesting. Why have they got that? They haven't got it. I want to see this person because there's something about them. Oh, cadets, now tell me about cadets. What did you do in cadets? Oh, you went to chat and you got your D of V bronze. Wow, that's fantastic, and you can do first aid, you can save lives.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

What you're talking about is life skills, and universities, in particular universities now, are asking, Well, that's great. You've got eight, nine, ten A levels. What's your life experience? Yes. Well, I did this for five years, Army Cadet Force. Well, what did you get out of that? I got a vocational qualification, uh, and colleges are the same, and employers are the same. So, you know, it as you say, it's an adjunct, it's it supports any academic qualifications you might have, and it supports those without any academic qualifications as well.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

So I used the word at the beginning, brilliant cadets. I'm now going to use another word, wow, we add a bit of a wow factor. Wow to an employer, wow to the outside world, wow to a college, wow to further education.

Laura Cook 32:49

And it's provable as well, if I could mention the Northampton report here, which showed the return on investment. Tell me a little bit more about that to prove that this all works.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Well, I think you can safely say that we have a good number of people. Over 140,000 people have got a qualification through us since we started, which I think is quite impressive. And they wouldn't have that qualification if we didn't exist. I think that's a different, there isn't an alternative. It's not that they could have gone to another college or school. So what have we done? We get, and it sounds a lot of money, we get £3.5 million from the government. We still get £3.5, and I've had the same money for years. Four years ago, they equated that value to society that we gave back each year the knock-on effect of up to £140 million. So your return of investment from 3.5 million is I'm giving you back each year 140. I would think anybody would snap my arm off for that sort of investment.

Laura Cook 33:47

That's a pretty big wow factor right there. That that's that's very, you know, very incredibly impressive. Significant positive impacts, I think. I read in that sort of opening the executive summary of that report, which from just our chat now, it's it's clear to see. Obviously, we'll be going into more detail about various aspects and and in future episodes and more about the adult qualifications as well. But Michelle, tell me a little bit more about the City and Guilds, the professional recognition awards as well, because that's that's quite important that people know about that. We've spoken about the BTEC, we'll we'll come on to the ILM qualifications as well in in subsequent episodes. But tell me a little bit more about that.

SPEAKER_03 34:28

So professional recognition awards, I mean, guys already alluded to the fact that you don't, you know, if they go from level four up to level seven, level seven is the equivalent of a master's degree. You don't have to have a master's degree to do the level seven, you don't even have to have a degree to do it. It's based on your experience and the role that you currently have. Um, so and what we find with the adult um learners is that they lack confidence even more than the younger people. So it's showing them that actually it's your experience that that counts, you know. Um, we assume that you can do that, you can, you know, the job that you're in, you can do that job, obviously. So what they have to do is to is to show as evidence of how they do things. So, you know, they'll talk about leadership and management, they'll talk about communication. So the the the areas that they talk about is not dissimilar to what we cover in the in the in the young, the younger people's awards as well, and qualifications. Um, but with with our adult um learners, we do find that a lot of them need actually even more support than than than the young people because they're learning, they're on their own, really, because everybody's job is different. Um, and that and we just support them as much as we can along the way. We're also very aware that as adults that they don't have much time. You know, people have full-time jobs. Most of our adult learners are have a full-time job, and then they're an adult volunteer, as John said, you know, twice a week, often at weekends. So it's fitting it in and try again, trying to make it as simple as possible. Um, and one of the things that I do is I review the qualifications, you know, with other members of staff very regularly. We look at the feedback from the learners and we're we're constantly working out ways of making it simpler. Why, you know, those that don't achieve, why are they not achieving and what can we do about it? Um, because obviously, as a charity, we're not we're not just about taking money and getting as many people doing it as possible. We offer it as uh you know as as reasonably as we can for our adult adult learners and just try to support them along the way. But again, you know, get them to understand um and build their confidence really, you can achieve, and we do get some lovely feedback, particularly from the adults, and it's lovely to watch them because they they get invited to the um graduation ceremony, so they can wear robes from Eden Raven Ravenscroft, and it's lovely, and their families are invited as well. Um, and it's just lovely to see them and to talk to them at the meal afterwards, how proud they are, how proud their family are, and it that that's you know, as far as the adults are concerned, that really does make it worthwhile, John.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Yeah, that's that's that's really uh really great because only last night I was talking to a Cadet Force officer who is actually down at the National Cadet Training Centre at Firmley Park at the moment, just starting a course. Uh, and he told me that uh he's a health and safety manager in his in place of employment, and he's talking to his uh uh one of the directors uh doing an annual review uh on his performance, and they asked him, or the person asked him, Well, what do you where do you see yourself in five years' time? Uh and he says, Well, I'd like to be a director. He says, Well, you need to get some qualifications on your palities. Well, funnily enough, he says, I'm in the Army Cadet Force and I want an ILM uh level seven, which is equivalent to a master's degree. He says, Oh, that'll tick the box, he said. So ambition is there, the will is there, uh, and that company recognised his uh potential. Uh so that that's really, really good.

Laura Cook 37:57

Brilliant, brilliant. We're talking to you uh from Frimley, as we mentioned in in uh in this introduction to this podcast, but um this isn't just based in one place, is it Guy? Tell me a little bit more about your sort of your your regional structure and how you exist across the country.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

Well, we uh exist first of all, we offer qualifications throughout the whole of the United Kingdom. We are funded for English cadets because the English government sees the value of what we offer. Uh unfortunately, this the Welsh withdrew their funding, as did the Scottish um governments, uh, and that's a choice entirely up to them. However, uh believing in equality of opportunity, we do try to get funding so that all cadets who wish to do the BTEC level two can do so. Uh, and and that's always been our criteria. So we have a structure of our team is scattered around the country to be able to go and support learners in different hubs, so in Scotland, north of England, in Cornwall, wherever you happen to be a learner, there'll be somebody nearby who can help you. And we have we still use online. I mean, we spoke about COVID, but it did actually teach us that at times online works, too much of it is not perhaps a great thing, but it has has a value. Because frankly, it could be quite expensive on our limited budget to send somebody a 400-mile return journey to see one learner. And then you have to think of other ways of dealing with it. But where we have a group of learners, we can come and visit them. We always go and talk to new people, and uh interestingly enough, it's not just the United Kingdom that there's interest, but overseas too, because there are a number of Commonwealth countries which use the English education system, and they value what we do because they see in their society a need for that sort of thing. Because I think what our qualifications do, and we've spoken about many things, but what we haven't spoken about is not just the opportunity we offer, but there's a great buzzword of social mobility. If you give people qualifications, they can go and earn money. And what better way to educate people to bring them out of poverty level and create that social mobility? So it's a matter of reaching out, and that's what we do. We offer social mobility to people who otherwise know. And overseas, they particularly notice that where they have great challenges. If there's a way of education, because education helps health, uh, it helps employment. So, and I think people forget the importance of good health in society, and if we can do that by education, and we do that through our programs, one of the things we can do is learn about things of, and the cadet force is teaching this high basic hygiene, all those things which some people take for granted isn't everywhere. Not everybody has running water, um, and it's and it's part of that. So when I say we reach out just to the United Kingdom and abroad, um in Gibraltar, we are doing um, we've got a a great program doing a level three, which is an A-level, um, for music and performing arts with the Gibraltar Academy. So sometimes our qualifications enable people to learn in a different way, but end up with the same value qualification if they've done it through the traditional route.

Laura Cook 41:22

We've spoken about some really inspirational stuff here, and if anybody has been inspired by that wow factor guy that you've been speaking about, how do they find out more and get involved?

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Well, there are obviously many, many ways you can do it. The easiest ways would be to look us up on the website at cvcollege.org. You can use social media. And John, must be through units you could do it.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

Yes, absolutely. Every organisation has a vocational qualifications officer, otherwise known as a VQO, and you can talk to them direct.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

And Michelle, a few more contact details? You can just call us on 01276-601701, and then you'll get through to our reception and be put through to the relevant person. You could always email us at inquiries at cvcollege.org.

Laura Cook 42:10

And that wraps up this first episode. My thanks to our guests, Guy Horridge, Michelle Parry, and John Mitten. And if you'd like to find out more about CV College and the qualifications on offer, as we've just said, go to the website cvcollege.org or contact learner support services team on 01276 601 701. If you'd like to take part or suggest topics for us to cover in future episodes, then just drop us an email to marketing at cvcollege.org. Well, in the next episode, we'll be talking to CV College learners about their experience of achieving BTEC and ILM qualifications and how they've helped them in their career journey. You can listen to this and all available episodes on our dedicated podcast channel via our website, as well as on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Amazon Music, or wherever you normally access your podcasts. The editor was Steve Taylor, and this has been Create Media Production for Cadet Vocational College. Thank you for listening.