I hate dressing up. There are few more effective ways to ensure that I will not attend an event than by adding the line “dress code: formal” at the bottom of an invitation. While I enjoy seeing others in their finery and take great delight in complimenting someone on a particularly good wardrobe choice, I do not feel special in a dress and what my grandmother would have called “real” shoes. Nor do I feel more professional if getting ready for a work-related event has taken me more than the usual 11 minutes.

Once a year, however, I will happily throw on something black tie-appropriate and some fashionable Tes FE-orange accessories and stumble awkwardly around an incredibly glamorous London hotel ballroom for an event I care about very deeply: the Tes FE Awards.

Last Friday, more than 600 representatives of colleges and training providers from around the UK came together to celebrate the very, very best that FE has to offer. We heard their stories as well as those of individuals within them who were so inspiring that the whole room went quiet as their achievements unfolded.

There was adult learning provider Redbridge Institute, whose “outstanding” curriculum rating means that even England’s inspectorate, Ofsted, says learning there is “fun”. And college of the year Bridgend College, which was transformed from one of the worst in Wales to one of the best.

Teacher of the year Samantha Jones, of Bedford College, set up the UK’s first research summit for FE in 2017, which was then impressively followed by a much larger event last year. For 2019, six research meets across the country are planned.

And how about former Edinburgh College principal Annette Bruton? She was recognised for her amazing 40 years in education with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the glitzy ceremony.

Their stories are ones that inspire and give others the opportunity to learn from the very best practice - from how you set up a successful apprenticeship programme to, at the most basic level, what a good college video looks like. (For reference: your choice of music for the video says a lot about the institution you run. Maybe angry-sounding techno isn’t the best choice.)

At the drinks reception before the awards, I watched teachers and principals based hundreds of miles apart chat and exchange ideas and experiences, and leaders who had previously only talked online meet in person and agree to work together more closely.

This is, of course, only on the surface an FE story. Because while the awards ceremony in itself is a great CPD exercise - case studies in best practice with a rather nice dinner and drinks thrown in - events such as the Tes FE Awards, just like its sister events for the schools sector, are so much more than that.

In the daily hustle and bustle of running institutions - schools or colleges or any other education setting - there are never enough opportunities to celebrate your work and that of your colleagues. So it’s wonderful to see hard-working and talented people lifted by cheers of delight and normally vocal leaders stunned into silence by the emotion of being recognised by their peers.

Most importantly, though, these events give us the opportunity to look beyond our own borders here in Scotland to see what “excellence” might look like elsewhere. We all need to see the best in the sector and discover what we can learn from them.

Scotland’s colleges and schools do great work for their thousands of students and for the communities they serve. However, that does not mean there is no room for improvement. To improve, one needs to set aspirations by casting one’s eyes around to see what others are doing well.

And so, as I fold away my orange scarf for another year, I challenge you to do just that: find something that your neighbour excels at. And then do it better.

Julia Belgutay is a reporter for Tes Scotland. She tweets @JBelgutay

This article originally appeared in the 29 March 2019 issue under the headline “Awards inspire us to look beyond borders and learn from the best”