Scotland’s finest come out top in National Training Awards
Four of Scotland’s training heroes received the ultimate accolade on Thursday 30 October 2008 when they were named ‘UK Winners’ in their respective categories at the National Training Awards.
The annual awards showcase individuals and organisations who have made an outstanding commitment to skills development and achieved excellence through training.
Scottish Widows, The Franchise Academy, Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) and Malcolm Hamill from Dunfermline scooped the top prizes at the prestigious ceremony, held at Glasgow’s Hilton hotel.
Larger Employer category winner Scottish Widows developed and implemented a training programme to ensure that all of their 350 Financial Advisers were fully equipped with the skills to advise on and sell pensions.
The Franchise Academy ‘cleaned up’ in the Providing Education and Training category by helping residential cleaning franchise business, Myhome, expand from just six franchisees to hundreds by training would-be managers in running their businesses successfully.
Partnership and Collaboration winner, SQA, stormed the category by successfully completing a hugely ambitious five-year project to modernise Scotland’s Higher National Certificates/Diplomas (HNC/HNDs). Those involved, the Scottish Qualifications Authority, 43 of Scotland’s colleges, the Scottish Further Education Unit and the Colleges Open Learning Exchange Group, worked to make the qualifications more relevant to the 21st century.
Individual Award category winner Malcolm Hamill proved that that it is never too late to make a new start when he left his job of 39 years on the Rosyth Dockyards behind to gain his first ever qualification at the age of 57. Malcolm is now a fully qualified registered care worker.
The four winners will now be invited to the UK gala ceremony at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel on 11th December 2008 where they will compete against other UK Winners from England for the chance to be named Overall Winner of the Year.