The board of Metier, the National Training Organisation (NTO) for the arts and entertainments sector has voted to collaborate with the cultural heritage sector to create a new Sector Skills Council when NTOs are abolished by the Government at the end of this month.
When the NTOs were placed under Government scrutiny last year, Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries which had been a core funder of the cultural heritage NTO (CHNTO), expressed enthusiasm for the creation of fewer but larger and better-resourced skills agencies. But until last month, Metier has consistently resisted any suggestion that it should join forces with any of the other agencies which together formed the Impact group of NTOs, including film, broadcasting and museums and heritage. Resource?s view was considered by Metier to be ?out of line with other sponsoring agencies and the DCMS?. However, despite an appeal in December 2001 by Chief Executive Duncan Sones and Chair Alan Rivett for the backing of the arts and entertainment sector for Metier to remain independent, collaboration with the cultural heritage sector has now been identified as the best way forward and negotiations with the cultural heritage NTO are to take place to design the structure of the new organisation.
Consultations are also taking place with the arts sector to determine what the new organisation should look like and what it should set out to do. Six areas are seen as being key to the new organisation, with an emphasis on the delivery of training:
? Support for freelance training and development
? Supporting management and leadership
? Developing standards, and linking standards to training delivery
? Investigating models for validating the quality and content of training and education
? Monitoring employer investment in training and development
? Developing new models for supporting professional development
For further information and a copy of the consultation document t: 01274 738800 e: admin@metier.org.uk