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Wates: industry needs to engage with schools

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  1. When thinking about enthusing young people to come into our industry let’s not forget that the best time to interest youngsters is prior to the comprehensive sector. Primary schools also need the information about the industry, there are after all many ways of incorporating construction and design into the modern primary curriculum and building enthusiasm for the industry early will open new avenues for, and widen access to new working opportunities, among the young who can aspire to a career in the construction and related industry sectors.

  2. My work in school maintenance brings me into contact with teaching staff. A recent overheard comment from a teacher to a misbehaving pupil was “stop messing about you do not want to end up as a brick layer”. As I was the only person present and the comment slightly barbed, asked the teacher how many degrees or equivalent did he have, one was the reply. I politely stated I have one and nearly finished my second. The silence was stunning. But its shows sadly teacher bias against skills in which they believe “you get your hands dirty” This is not he first time I have observed this.

  3. For a masterclass in how to engage with students, staff and schools and inspire young people to join our industry – check this out…Class of Your Own…..simply brilliant workshops …http://designengineerconstruct.com

    These guys are streets ahead!

  4. Working in the construction industry can be a hugely fulfilling and rewarding: Being able to look round at the end of the day knowing that you built that – or helped build it – can be incredibly satisfying.
    I trained as a CITB Construction Ambassador back in 2005 specifically because I wanted to encourage young people to come and share this pleasure.
    I cannot help but be concerned however that I would be short changing anyone enticed into the construction industry right now: Training schemes for tradesmen are poor, with many of the participating employers in it for the grant money rather than any earnest desire to share skills. The Richard Review of Apprenticeships highlighted the poor quality of today’s apprenticeships in general with particular reference to the incremental box-ticking approach to qualification: current construction apprenticeships fully reflect this criticism. The result is that very few construction workers qualifying today can hold up their heads and consider themselves rounded tradesmen – the poor quality of workmanship widespread on site bears testimony to this. (Though I would also argue that commercial pressure and preoccupation with programme contribute significantly to this).
    There is a further issue that many of the ‘trades’ dominating today’s construction industry do not have trade level qualifications at all: concrete occupations, ground-works (pipe-laying) and timber framing all stop at NVQ2 level. This means that for many trades there is no infrastructure to drive aspiration and success.
    To conclude, if we want to attract young talent into the construction industry, we need to offer a little more in return: We need to take on board the conclusions reached by the Richard Review: We need employers to engage not only in recruitment but also in design and implementation of training. We need to raise the quality of training to a level parallel to that witnessed in Germany and Switzerland: We need construction apprenticeships to be regarded as a career path equal to that of university education – something to be aspired to and not just something to drift into. Then, and only then, we will be able to complain about careers advisors whose attitudes to construction are somewhat half-hearted…

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