Young at heart

Vocational training hit the national media at the end of February when education secretary Ruth Kelly unveiled the latest thinking on education for 14-19 year olds. While her overhaul stopped short of scrapping GCSEs and A-levels, there are radical plans to reshape the way young people go about learning, including more work placements.

The Government’s plans may well take years to come to fruition, but February’s national conference from m&e training agency JTL will hopefully bring more immediate results.

Bringing together employers, colleges and careers advisers for the first time meant lively discussion on a host of issues including government funding, particularly for adult trainees, and how to make it more attractive for employers to take on apprentices.

JTL chair Bob Harris is no stranger to such issues. As a past ECA president and boss of R T Harris, he knows full well that those employers who do train can find themselves undercut by those that don’t. “If the marketplace is not sympathetic to training, then it is difficult. Part of our work is procured by main contractors and there is no code of conduct on how that work is let.”

While there are clients that will only use m&e contractors with a directly employed workforce, they are few and far between. With composite companies and the rise of firms relying almost solely on agency labour, the playing field is anything but level.

The current ECA president Tony Morgan pointed out other reasons why firms might not be keen to take on apprentices: “Many employers have become defeated by the fear of young employment on health and safety grounds and the impracticality of a maximum 40-hour working week which has to include travelling time.

“There is also the even bigger fear that, having made a commitment to train, on completion that skilled person is then poached by others who make no commitment.”

Despite such fears, Morgan believes employers should face up to their “moral responsibility” to train and that it is “indefensible, particularly if a level playing field is created, for employers to shirk their responsibility”.

A few years ago, a conference like this would have centred on what can be done to attract more young people into the industry. Now it is all about getting more employers to offer places to those youngsters that are interested.

The statistics speak for themselves. Last year, JTL saw 33 000 applicants from young people looking to become electricians, with 9000 going on to pass the aptitude test. Unfortunately only 2500 places could be found for them.

If would be interesting to see if firms rushed to take on trainees if the Government made more funding available for adults looking to enter the industry following a career change or redundancy.

If figures in the CITB’s Skills Foresight Report are to be believed, and there is a shortfall of electricians, then adults looking to change direction would be a useful way of filling the gap. With the demise of UK manufacturing, there are many workers out there with the fundamental skills required in building services. Unfortunately, lack of government funds for training means they are rarely taken on.

The Government came under fire at the conference for its lack of commitment to vocational training. Tony Morgan questioned whether the Government’s focus on higher education was deserved: “The government has convinced the populace that at least 50% of school leavers can and should go to university. Why? To get better jobs? Better than what?” He felt that some schools are opposed to giving out information which might cause a bright student to leave at 16.

The Learning and Skills Council’s director of work-based learning Stephen Gardner was on hand to defend the Government’s commitment to vocational education. “There is a £9 billion budget for work-based learning and the expansion is unparalleled.”

He did criticise the sector’s dominance of white males. Ethnic minorities and females are woefully under-represented in the m&e sector. “While there is pressure to introduce targets, I don’t think this is the way forward,” said Gardner. “But if we are to resist this, we have to find ways to boost numbers.”

Gardner laid down a challenge for SummitSkills, the m&e industry’s Sector Skills Council, to ensure that apprentices are provided with the skills that employers actually want and that further training is offered for electricians so that they keep up with developments in the industry. Earlier Simon Bartley, chair of SummitSkills, explained exactly how it plans to do just that by working alongside employers, JTL and colleges (see page 11).

Clearly the industry has got plenty to offer young people considering their career options. Testament to that came from feedback from a selection of apprentices past and present.

Rachel Perry and Sarah Blackshaw are plumbing apprentices with Leicester City Council. Both were enthusiastic about the trade, the variety of work it offers and the fact that you are out meeting people.

Alan O’Garro qualified as an electrician in 2001 and is now contracting as a design engineer with AMEC. “This is the right career for me. There is a lot of respect for me on site as a qualified electrician,” he said. As a black man, he had not felt discriminated against. “Ethnicity should not stand in the way.”

A big plus for all apprentices is the “earn while you learn” factor. This was ably demonstrated by fourth year electrical apprentices James Whelan of Shepherd Engineering Services and Mark Backhouse of L J Monks. Both have mortgages already, and as James Whelan pointed out: “If you go to university you end up with a different sort of debt.”

Plenty of happy customers then but not enough employers coming forward to take them on. Obviously there is a cost to taking on apprentices – one delegate put the figure at around £24 000 per apprentice – but it is a complex calculation that needs to take in the fact that young people are productive pretty soon into their apprenticeship and that you are investing in the future prosperity of the business. Many apprentices are the bosses of the future.

The simple fact for employers is this: 7000 electricians leave the tools each year. If only 2500 join annually, at some point the skills shortage is going to bite.