Record numbers attend FAB 2016: Conference, Awards and Exhibition

On 20 and 21 October, over 350 delegates attended the FAB 2016 Conference, Awards and Exhibition, in Leicester.

Whilst the Post-16 Skills Plan dominated the agenda of the conference, another prominent theme included the lack of end point assessments in apprenticeships. During the conference information was provided on a new national programme which has been launched, by the Education and Training Foundation, to improve the delivery of independent end-point assessment in apprenticeships.

At the AGM held on 20 October, members elected Paul Eeles as its new Chair and Terry Fennell as its new Vice Chair, replacing Fiona Ballantine Dykes and David Grailey.

Paul Eeles said “I’m delighted to have been elected by members as the new Chair of FAB on 20 October.  Our role at FAB is to ensure that we continue to offer the best service to members to meet their needs and to raise the profile of vocational education in these turbulent times.  The conference is just one of the many ways in which we seek to achieve this and I’m pleased that record numbers attended this year.  Congratulations to all of our Award winners, the standard of entries was exceptionally high”.

The FAB Awards were held at the end of the first day of the conference and provided an opportunity for delegates to recognise and celebrate some of the key areas of excellence within the awarding industry.  In response to winning Awarding Organisation of the Year, CMI’s Director of Qualifications & Service Delivery, Steve Heappey, commented “we’re delighted to have received this prestigious award from FAB. Through working as an awarding body in partnership with employers, higher education institutions, education partners and other professional bodies, we’re now creating many more routes for established and new managers to develop the professional skills the UK needs to meet our future productivity challenges.”

The winners announced on the night were:

Awarding Organisation of the Year (Sponsored by Cirrus Assessment)
Chartered Management Institute

Team Contribution of the Year (Sponsored by PSI)
Institute of Directors Professional Standards Team

Qualification of the Year (Sponsored by Creatio)
AIM Awards Level 3 Diploma and Extended Diploma in Games, Animation and VFX Skills

Individual Contribution of the Year (Sponsored by Gordon Associates)
Paul Morrison, Quality Manager, TQUK

Innovation of the Year (Sponsored by British Council)
YMCA Awards Online Learning Games, YMCA Awards

[Press release from The Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB): the trade association that represents over 130 organisations that award vocational qualifications in the United Kingdom and over 15 stakeholder organisations. www.awarding.org.uk.]