by Dawn Foxall | Mar 12, 2025 | Articles, News
Over the past five weeks, Libby Esler has been running The Broadweavers Trailblazer Programme — an intensive, hands-on creative initiative designed to inspire 9 Year 12 A-Level Textile students from 2 Coventry Secondary schools – Blue Coat and Bishop Ullathorne, to enrich their portfolios and encourage them to think about their future studies.
This programme has been funded by the Broadweavers and Clothiers Guild of Coventry, who also offer bursaries to support further education for the most talented and dedicated students who have shone throughout the Trailblazer sessions.
On Saturday 7th March Mark Francis from ‘Sew Mark Francis’ and participant in BBC’s The Sewing Bee, joined the group to set a Sewing Bee Challenge and Dawn from TSC joined them for the final day of the programme and help critique and judge the entries.
The programme has been truly special, covering:
✨ Week 1: Introduction to fashion drawing
✨ Week 2: Introduction to weaving and textiles
✨ Week 3: The importance of AI in the world of fashion
✨ Week 4: A guest speaker from Loughborough University discussing careers and creative pathways
✨ Week 5: A sewing challenge set by Mark Francis from The Great British Sewing Bee, where students upcycled Olympic tracksuits into fabulous bucket hats!
It has been an incredible journey, and to wrap things up, we will be hosting a presentation and appreciation event for the students who have participated, where we can announce the bursary winners and celebrate their achievements with tea and cake !!
Quote from Mrs Clare Webster, textile teacher at Blue Coat school:
The Broadweavers Trailblazer Programme has been highly beneficial in deepening students’ understanding of the textile and fashion industry. Through exploring fashion illustration, AI applications, and engaging with industry professionals, students have gained valuable insights that have broadened their perspectives. This experience has not only influenced their sketchbooks and creative development but has also encouraged them to consider end uses and sustainability in their designs. The programme has truly opened their eyes to the vast possibilities within the industry, inspiring them to think more critically and innovatively about their future in fashion and textile industry.
by Dawn Foxall | Feb 27, 2025 | Articles, News, Uncategorized
10th ANNIVERSARY of TEXTILES SKILLS CENTRE 2025
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED AND THE IMPACT OF OUR WORK
As we continue to celebrate a decade of inspiring and developing textile education. The month of February is all about looking at the IMPACT Textile Skills Centre has made; we also wanted to share some feedback from teachers across the country that have been part of our TSC community.
We are proud to have made an impact in the classroom, empowering teachers to learn with us and pass their knowledge on to the next generation of textile practitioners.
TEACHER FEEDBACK:
‘I have to say joining the Textiles Skill Centre family has not only made a huge impact to teaching but also my life. I joined having got a job as a textile’s teacher covering maternity. I was also offered a permanent position at the school due to my enthusiasm and commitment which would not have been apparent if I had not have found the Textiles Skill Centre family. I wasn’t very confident in textiles.
This all changed when I joined. Not only did I feel welcomed but reassured from the start and no question was too silly. The amount of skills, techniques and connections I made were second to none. I was able to relay the skills I’d learned, teaching my pupils new techniques and fresh up to date ideas that proved successful within KS3 and GCSE.
My grades with my first class went up 3 grades to some students. An external specialist within the trust noticed where I had taken over with regards to their coursework and was very impressed. The confidence TSC gave me in my ability to teach and achieve great results was a feeling I will never forget. The pupils were excited at learning new techniques in KS3 and it was evident as there appeared to be more interest in choosing the subject for GCSE. I couldn’t have asked for more. It was also comforting and reassuring to know that the team were only a text message away should I need any advice. Going from a teacher with limited knowledge and skill set in Textiles I felt I was now armed with the right tools, knowledge and confidence to make a difference and become a good teacher who is passionate about the subject.
I truly think and believe that with a resource/centre like this every school /education establishment would benefit immensely from the knowledge and resources gained. To be in a school with limited funds / resources and behaviour issues, see pupils engage, wanting to try and enjoy new up to date techniques projects gained from the courses was truly inspirational and confirms the reason why I love to teach.
I would undoubtedly recommend Dawn, Nicky and their band of Merry contributors to make a HUGE difference to results, achievements and participation in a subject worthy of recognition in schools. I am now a converted Textiles Teacher and it’s all down to Textiles Skill Centre.’
Jane Peters, Teacher, Shrewsbury
We have trained over 2000 teachers at live skills workshops hosted in schools and universities across the UK and beyond, including joint events with our colleagues at the Food Teachers Centre in the UK, Dubai and Abu Dhabi
‘I cannot recommend the face-to-face courses enough. You not only come away with new skills and samples but you make new friends along the way. This has supported me in my teaching practice far more than any school. Without TSC, I don’t think that I would’ve coped and managed setting up a Textiles department and writing my own curriculum. Working with TSC has given me something to look forward to as part of my teaching career. As a self-funder, it’s also been something that I’ve done for myself and has felt like a treat and me time when doing the face-to-face courses. Absolutely fabulous!’
Angela Walker, West Midlands
ONLINE WORKSHOPS
We have a variety of short and long online courses which can be access at any time and for all abilities.
MORE INFO – ONLINE COURSES
‘I’m just emailing to say how amazing the online, on demand Surface Textile Techniques course is. I’ve just had a look through and it’s made me so excited to teach my textile girls some great new skills. As an ECT 1 with no textile background I was defiantly nervous about teaching my textile GCSE class. I cannot explain how much these courses have helped me!’
Lizzie Mayall
‘I have taken part in the Textile Skills Centre courses, they have been instrumental in the design of my course, the resources that are provided along with the course enabled me to create a high quality scheme of work for my KS4 curriculum and since starting with this course textiles has been the highest performing subject in our academy for 5 years running, without the inspirational, hands on courses and practical resources I’m not sure I would have achieved this.’
“I have been lucky enough to attend a few of the Textiles Skills Centre courses and they have all been absolutely fantastic. After changing to the Art & Design specification after years of teaching D&T I was a bit daunted by how to approach he coursework. These courses have been an absolute game changer – I came away with so many ideas which I was able to put into practice immediately. TSC provides so many examples of sketchbooks and final outcomes that you can see first-hand how the skills being delivered translate to student work. The skills themselves are varied yet equally really accessible and they provide lots of suggestions on how to approach tight budgets. The enthusiasm and expertise is really inspiring and you can’t wait to go away and try it all! The student results following the introduction of the projects developed off the back of these courses were outstanding and moderator feedback was really positive too.”
Gemma Hibbard, West Yorkshire
‘The creativity of the outcomes in year 11 is massively down to the courses I have done with Textile Skills Centre; I would say the courses have had a huge outcome on the standard and creativity of my Year 11’s work and already I can see even bigger improvements with Year 10 – they are going to be an amazing year group!
TEACHER FUNDED PROGRAMMES
The ‘Become A Great Textile Teacher’ BAGTT Programme – TSC trained over 100 teachers directly and supported and trained over 300 – This programme was match funded through a grant from ASET (All Saints Educational Trust)
‘Enrolling in the How to Become a Great Textiles Teacher programme with The Textiles Skills Centre has been an invaluable experience. The programme was incredibly informative and has had a significant impact on my classroom practice, providing me with new strategies and confidence to deliver engaging lessons.’ Emma Gilbert-Cambridgeshire
‘I would say being on the BAGTT programme has had a huge outcome on the standard and creativity of my Year 11’s work and already I can see even bigger improvements with Year 10 – they are going to be an amazing year group!’
MENTORSHIP PROGRAMME
We have several mentors that volunteer their time to talk to their colleagues. They also get a lot out of the mentorship programme
‘Being a mentor helps promote self-reflection and actually makes me more motivated! It also connects me to the wider teaching community, that in turn helps me learn more. Mentoring helps me see how teaching is emerging and changing, which is so important. My aim is simply ‘Better Textiles Teaching’ which in turn will be good for the teacher, the school and that will be reflected in a better textile industry in this country.’ Nicky Simpson, TSC Course developer
We have mentored over 200 teachers. Here is feedback from one teacher:
‘I want to extend my thanks for your support and continued mentorship for this new course. It has been very helpful to go through best practice approaches for projects and having someone to talk through ideas and plans. Making the transition from Design & Technology to Art & Textiles was both daunting and at times quite over whelming but I have been so grateful for the help you have extended initially about the course structure and continually about the content and delivery. Your resources have been amazing to use and adapt as sources of inspiration for me and also by the students. I would highly recommend using the resources alongside the mentoring to get the maximum benefit.
The impact that mentorship has had on my teaching is that I have increased confidence with the delivery of the course which has then resulted in further enthusiasm for me. This has also had a positive impact on the students who are indirectly benefiting. Pupils in KS3 no longer look at Textiles as a Tiresome subject but have a new found buzz of interest. Other teachers have also commented on how much students are engaging with Textiles.
Since my sessions I have re- developed the curriculum so that it incorporates the essential requirements of the specification but is now taught in a more fun and engaging method. I am still drawing on the wealth of experience that you have to offer so I do continue to develop my practice with learning exciting decorative skills to methods of making a garment or to just having someone go through inspirational Artists.
My projects are already feeling more exciting, although I plan to develop them with your support to suit changes in the environment / current trends and also most importantly for students to make the best progress and reach their true potential in an enjoyable manner.’
Leena Chauhan, Leicestershire – Curriculum Leader of Design & Technology
SOCIAL MEDIA
TEXTILES SKILLS CENTRE INSTAGRAM: @textileskillscentre
Our Facebook Community has over 10.5k, Instagram over 2000 followers, where we share competitions and giveaways from our amazing sponsors:
TEXTILE TEACHERS CENTRE FACEBOOK GROUP
FACEBOOK GROUP
OUR SPONSORS
We are very grateful to our sponsors who we have been working with for the last 3 years. They have donated amazing prizes for the competitions and social media giveaways and supported with equipment when needed. HUGE THANK YOU to:
JANOME UK & IRELAND Sewing machines
JANOME UK
DRYAD EDUCATION RESOURCES
DRYAD EDUCATION
STUDENT TEXTILE ARTIST COMPETITION
Our competition last year received over 600 entries. The prize winners received the coveted TSC trophy, a sewing machine from Janome and a voucher from Dryad, as well as a free TSC course.
‘’I would like to say a huge thank you for the opportunity your team creates for our students. Being able to enter the competition enables students to showcase their work to a wider audience, giving them confidence in the quality of their creativity and skill, especially when a prize winner! This can be springboard to next steps in the textile industry/study programme, being a national competition.’
Neve Scott with her teacher Gemma Hibbard
COMPETITION – MORE INFO
FREE CPD/EVENTS
We originally started running networking events during lockdown, so that teachers could talk to each other and ask questions. They were a real source of support in desperately lonely and difficult times especially for teachers of practical subjects and new teachers.
They were so successful we continued the events and run at least one every month, covering a huge variety of topics and presenters, from educationalists to artists and designers.
We have hosted over 100 of our Tuesday Tea ‘N Chat evenings, regularly attended by so many teachers it would be hard to count. These range from Textile artists talks and demos to Career evenings. Keeping up with the age of technology we have recently explored AI in Textile education and have planned a session on 3D printed fashion. Our ‘Exploring the ESA’ events are particularly successful, especially for new teachers. Each session comes with resources and the recordings of the sessions are uploaded to our YouTube channel where you can find all of them, for free:).
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
‘The Virtual Tea and Chat sessions for GCSE and A-Level externally set assignments have been a great source of support. These sessions have helped me—and many other teachers—navigate exam content with clarity and confidence, ensuring that we can best support our students. I highly recommend The Textiles Skills Centre to any textile’s teacher looking to develop their skills, gain fresh ideas, and be part of a supportive professional community.’’
Emma Gilbert, Cambridgeshire
‘The weekly tea n chats are great, as not only are they informative but I made a lot of friends /connections all over the country, even as far as the Isle of Man!’
Jane Peters, Shrewsbury
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
Over the past 10 years we have been part of several national events, including the BIG D&T MEET in July last year, regularly run workshops at the KNITTING & STITCHING SHOW, STITCH FESTIVAL and FESTIVAL of QUILTS.
We have also hosted conferences with our friends the Food Teachers Centre (Textiles Skills Centre joint Teachers Events: 2015-2017) both in the UK and in UAE (Dubai & Abu Dhabi)
RESEARCH.
In the last 2 years we have been lucky enough to gain funding to research into textiles education in the UK and have published 2 reports which have gained much praise and used by academics and stakeholders with the aim to secure the future of textiles education in schools.
o Unravelling The Fabric Of Textiles Education (April 2024)
o Stitching Together and Understanding of the Barriers and Facilitators to Textiles Education in UK Primary Schools (January 2025)
o Textiles Education – Inspiring Creative Minds and Sustainable Choices(April 2025)
We are working with various organisations including UK Universities and Textiles Guilds(Livery Companies) on a variety of projects to support our aims.
by Dawn Foxall | Jan 8, 2025 | Articles, News, Research
STITCHING TOGETHER AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE
BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS TO TEXTILES EDUCATION
IN UK PRIMARY SCHOOLS
Published January 2025
This research was commissioned and produced by Textiles Skills Centre with a grant from ALL SAINTS EDUCATIONAL TRUST.
The survey and report were designed, collated, and written by Roy Ballam and Lynne Mason.
The research examines the current state of textiles education in UK primary schools, gathering feedback from 166 participating teachers. Insights span demographics, teaching roles, capabilities, resources, and barriers to delivering effective textiles lessons.
Using the recommendations from this research, the Textiles Skills Centre will develop resources and CPD training for Primary teachers in the UK.
Thank you to all those contributed.
Download the full report HERE: FINAL REPORT
by Dawn Foxall | Jan 8, 2025 | Articles, Events, News
WE ARE 10 YEARS OLD!!!
In June 2015 we held our first events for textiles teachers and since then run networking events and workshops nationally, bringing together teachers with a passion for textiles. We also started to manage the Textile Teachers Centre online community and built this amazing group, connecting teachers from all over the world.
Our original aim was to support textiles in schools and build a community which would help each other and we support with textiles specific CPD, networking groups and resources to both encourage and inspire teachers . Through textiles education, we want to build a better world together – empowering, educating and inspiring the next generation.
In the last 10 years we have
- Joining forces with the Food Teachers Centre, to run events in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Dubai and Abu Dhabi,
- Hosted courses in schools to train over 1500 teachers
- Hosted 50+ online networking events with over 2000 attendees
- Developed 30+ different F2F workshops and CPD courses for both teachers, students and general public
- Since 2020 we have developed 40+ online courses
- We developed a Free Mentorship programme run by volunteers and which has mentored 100’s of teachers and technicians
- We have developed 100+ Free resources for teachers to download
- We set up our Youtube Channel which now holds 50+ videos for teachers to access
- Worked with various charities supporting in a variety of ways.
- With have work on curriculum advisory support with stakeholder groups and organisations
- We have engaged in and managed research projects considering textiles in education and published 2 reports used by curriculum influencers and stakeholders.
We will be celebrating with events, giveaways, competitions and a big In Person event in June this year, so watch this space for more news……….
by Dawn Foxall | Nov 10, 2024 | Articles, News, Research
DfE CALL FOR EVIDENCE
CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT REVIEW
DEADLINE 22nd NOVEMBER 2024
The government’s call for evidence invites US ALL to submit proposals on improving the current curriculum and assessment system.
This is the moment to have your say! – Complete the survey and save your subject and job!
The aim of the government survey is to review the current curriculum (both D&T and Art & Design)
We are encouraging teachers to contribute to the DfE’s request for evidence for this Curriculum Review. The more we shout about textiles the more likely they will listen!
The deadline is NOVEMBER 22nd so this needs to be done in next couple of weeks. You don’t need to answer all the questions as there are LOADS!!, just select a couple you can give evidence for.
We have done a bit of sorting through ourselves and created a quick answer/ideas document you might want to use as suggestions of what to write.
NB – YOU ONLY NEED ANSWER THE QUESTIONS YOU HAVE CONTRIBUTIONS FOR!
This is not about rewriting the curriculum; it’s about reviewing and refining the current offer. It’s an opportunity for us to get those changes made we have all been moaning about;)
They need evidence so, when answering the questions, please provide specific examples and evidence to illustrate and support your responses.
YOU CAN FIND THE FULL ONLINE SURVEY HERE
For PDF version of questions click HERE
REMEMBER YOU DON’T NEED TO ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS JUST THOSE YOU HAVE EVIDENCE FOR.
We have read the whole survey and selected relevant questions and added a few suggestions for answers – our suggestions may be similar to your comments/ideas, so all you need to do is add these with evidence.
Click here to see our suggestions: TSC SUGGESTIONS
Evidence can include anything curriculum related from issues arising in your school such as moving from D&T to Art & Design Textiles, to examples of where the curriculum has disadvantaged pupils over others.
We all need to contribute if we want to ensure textiles stays in the curriculum, so please do respond, even if you only answer one question🙂
Thank you in anticipation of your support 🙂
Dawn, Nicky and the TSC Associates
by Dawn Foxall | Sep 30, 2024 | Articles, Competitions, News
This is a GREAT competition for your students!!
Let your students’ creativity bloom with the Wool4School 2025 competition. Get your class inspired by plant-life with this year’s competition theme: BOTANICALS.
Help your students to create a design that celebrates Merino wool and the enchanting world of plants, where you and your students could win a selection of amazing prizes on offer
Whether your students are inspired by fashion, accessories, or interior design, help them to explore nature’s artistry with Wool4School’s Botanicals theme.
Students can draw on the diversity of the plant kingdom with 1 – 4 designs made from at least 70% wool and get creative with shape, scale, colour, texture and textile
techniques from prints to embroidery and beyond.
TO REGISTER
FREE SUPPORT RESOURCES
THE PRIZES
