Good evening ladies and gentlemen.
A career in the Armed Forces offers all sorts of opportunities. Joining the services – I believe – gives young men and women a real chance to develop and realise their potential.
It’s also a career with unique challenges and demands. We ask a lot of these people who serve their country. It’s essential they are well supported – good training and education is at the heart of that.
This is a young working population who will at some point go on to new jobs in the civilian world – preparing them for that transition begins from the their very first day in the Armed Forces.
Defence is an organisation that’s committed to lifelong personalised learning. And that begins from the very first day. At the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, for example, young school leavers are each assigned an Individual Learning Planning Tutor and spend the first year of their army career building key skills in English and Maths, and taking part in a wide- ranging learning and development programme.
Many of these junior recruits gain nationally recognised vocational qualifications and they all undertake an Apprenticeship for IT Users, which includes a Level 2 National Vocation Qualification (NVQ2) for IT Users. It’s the kind of vocational training that gives young people a huge boost – throughout their army careers and beyond.
In fact, as a major employer we are one of the largest single providers of training and education in the UK. From basic educational skills and ICT through to NVQs; Apprenticeships; Foundation Degrees; Higher Education – the list is quite literally endless. Valuable inter-Departmental partnerships, working with the QCA and bodies like the National Employer Service and the Learning and Skills Council is central to that.
Defence is making a huge contribution to closing the skills gap. We are – for example – one of the biggest providers of Apprenticeships in the UK today. At any one time we have over 10,000 Defence personnel studying for a whole range of apprenticeships.
And we’re determined that personnel should always have access to these opportunities wherever possible – we also have Theatre Education Centres in Iraq and Afghanistan which offer a full range of education and training opportunities.
Across the board at every level our Armed Forces are a dynamic learning community. We want this high quality on-the-job training to be recognised. That’s why this Awarding Body Status is so important. Because whilst many of our people are gaining tangible, nationally recognised qualifications, it’s also clear that there’s a huge amount of world class training and education delivered within Defence that is not accredited-in the civilian world.
And that’s particularly true when it comes to languages. The Defence School of Languages is a real Centre of Excellence teaching a range of languages at every level. And to the whole of the Defence community - from the most junior Private Soldier or Airman to Major Generals and Admirals. Many of these personnel do sit for external exams, but much of what they achieve under very pressurised circumstances goes unrecognised by the outside world.
But there are many people undertaking specific language training that to date has not been accredited. The survival level language training in Arabic or Farsi that is taught over a period of just 10 weeks is an example of that. These are the kind of essential language skills that enable service personnel on the ground to communicate with the local population in Iraq and Afghanistan. With Awarding Body Status the School will now be able to ensure that level of achievement is properly recognised.
It’s a clear message of support from the QCA for the MOD ‘brand’.
And can I just say how personally delighted I am that Defence is leading the way for the rest of the public sector in this initiative. It’s certainly something we want to build on. We’re continuing to work closely with the QCA examining other possible areas that will benefit our people. My personal thanks to QCA - and congratulations to all those who have got us to this stage.