A selection of readers’ comments about news and issues in the industry from across the CIOB community and social media.
How CIOB is reshaping the apprenticeship model
As apprenticeship reform gathers pace, CIOB’s Steve Conopo argues that competence, not quick qualifications, must remain at the heart of skills development.
Aligned with the skills shortage the assessment of “competence” is the critical issue for the sector going forward.
The industry has a real problem in that education and training has become a lucrative business opportunity and consequently there are those who are selling competence qualifications for cheap. This results in corners being cut and brings into question whether competence is being effectively assessed.
We are about to enter an era where we will have a bunch of people who have either been ethically assessed or unethically assessed, the consequence of which is not knowing whether the person with the certificate is actually competent.
I’ve seen it first hand and am concerned that the drive to prove competency is leading to behaviour in the sector that would lead one to question the ethics of what’s going on…Industry governance is spread across so many different bodies that pulling together a coherent approach to education and training is difficult.
Time for CIOB to step up and challenge the status quo.
Tim Jones
Just 9% of teens eye construction careers, despite interest in skilled trades
Teenagers are ditching the traditional idea of success defined by job titles, management roles and “climbing the corporate ladder”, according to new research.
I’m sure that there will be many parents and grandparents who have worked in the construction industry, but were unemployed at various times in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s because governments used the industry as an economic regulatory, and then because overseas workers were cheaper, who would be advising youngsters in their orbit not to enter the industry. If we want more people, we have to address this.
Steven Boxall
Just where are the manual jobs going to come from if a sizeable proportion don’t go into building? When growing up, a person needs a skill they can sell, start your own business or be self-employed. Promote modern apprenticeships or there will be no building possible in future years. Office workers can’t do it, skilled tradesmen will name their price.
Nicholas Everett
From call centre to CIOB fellowship: an unconventional career path
Tracey Field FCIOB explains why a traditional academic start is not the only route into a successful built environment career.
Anyone who spends time in a housing association (HA) maintenance call centre will find it to be life changing. This is where reality hits theory head on. Call centre staff are often undervalued and under trained, in my opinion, and worse than that are often powerless… As a long since retired HA director, our call centre staff should have a direct line to the contractors and the power to exercise “non-performance” clauses where repeated failures occur.
Jonathan Sullivan
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