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Skills Shortages

Timothy East
The construction industry (namely services) is suffering from skills shortages without an apparent solution. There has been a flurry of press activity but not much action. How does the industry make itself more attractive to the younger generation? There are short training courses offered but these are not the solution and there are many mature people entering the industry on the promise of a quick buck. The majority of these (that I have encountered) have little passion for the industry and the quality of work can be quite poor. We don't want to end up in a situation whereby these guys are training the next generation.

 

I think that the apprentice schemes should be made easier for SME's to take part in. Many are small concerns and cannot commit to the burden. However, some of these owner operators have so much experience to offer and it's a shame to let the knowledge pass by. Perhaps the 'apprentice' could be in charge of his/her own portfolio and it to be made easier for them to jump between companies to gain their experience? The colleges could hold a register of approved organisations so that the system is not abused by people wanting cheap labour....


I have met youngsters that have been able to attend and pass the first year of college but unable to progress further because they cannot find companies interested in taking them on. How can this be so with the skills crisis? I presume the bureaucracy is putting off the SME's.


I would guess that other industries have similar issues?
  • 0
    As a fine example to support Roy's post, here is our main local event supporting apprenticeships www.plymouth.ac.uk/whats-on/apprenticeship-jobs-fair The group here that I was involved with (when I was working in manufacturing) was Plymouth Manufacturers' Group who very much drove (and presumably still drive) the employers agenda - as much as they could with absolutely zero resources.


    I always felt that there was lots of goodwill from all parties, but got frustrated that no-one was really able to drive the agenda far beyond their own self-interest. I'm not being derogatory there: all parties involved are, in the end, trying to run a business and have to be realistic. And have achieved a lot. But I don't know if anyone else remembers the TV advert of a few years ago with the line (in a broad Scottish accent) "we're doing good, but we're not doing great!"


    Sadly I don't think the PEIs have enough clout to achieve much here either. My feeling is that that any managed apprenticeship scheme involving a range of employers of all sizes either has to be government led - which is highly unlikely in the political climate we've had for the last 40 years - or trade association led. I don't know about the construction industry, but in general in the engineering industry it seems to be very difficult to get engineering companies to see the value in supporting trade associations. So maybe we get what we deserve! That said, and I think as a good example, the rail industry have made huge strides in this area through the Rail Delivery Group https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/uk-rail-industry/working-in-rail.html But again, we do have the advantage in this industry of having many reasonable sized employers. It doesn't help the school leavers in my part of the country. (And yes, Devon and Cornwall are based very heavily on skilled work, manufacturing and construction, and in theory should offer lots of opportunities. Just not with big sites. Hence my strong interest in this.)

    Roy, do you know anything about the "Institute for Apprenticeships"? https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/about/


    Cheers,


    Andy
  • 0
    Hi Andy,


    I have had no direct involvement with The Institute for Apprenticeships and no personal knowledge of anyone at a senior level. If this had come into being 10+ years ago then the situation would have been different. The person who inherited my responsibilities, is industry lead for one of the pathways. The IET has helped in the creation of several pathways through the “trailblazer” process. Some apprenticeships are actually assessed by a UK-SPEC based PEI assessment and I had the opportunity to coach some of in preparation for that recently.


    Obviously I have sought to share my experience of and enthusiasm for the apprenticeship model, but the challenge now is to make the new system work. For example I have seen complaints for employers that “red-tape” has stifled existing initiatives.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/04/07/one-year-infrastructure-levy-working-yet/  There is also the perennial problem continued over the 30+ years that I have observed government industrial training policy of “who gets what share of the financial cake”.  I note here  https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/about/the-institute-6-months-on/  that the Institute has a budget of circa £10 Million.


    At this relatively early stage, there will naturally be some uncomfortable bedfellows and trust will need to be built. For example, as I have alluded to before in these forums, there is a long history of snobbery towards apprenticeships, in which members of the Engineering Council family have been and in some cases continue to be enthusiastic participants. I have seen at first hand over recent years how the attitude of the IET as a body has modernised, but there is still a long way to go before wider social attitudes change, if they ever do.    


  • 0

    Roy Bowdler:
    The main policy response to equipping young people with skills was the expansion of Higher Education and there is a strong case that this has proved to be a success, albeit not an unqualified one.  Higher Education has itself become one of our most important “industries” which now underpins the economies of many Towns and Cities. The generation to benefit are better educated and equipped to compete where such attributes can be productively deployed.  However, the culture of academia generally and the incentives offered have tended to relatively undervalue, those parts of the further and higher education system that were more vocational in nature, such as Technical Colleges and Polytechnics who often worked closely with employers.




    I don't necessarily think that the expansion of higher education has been a sensible strategy. With the possible exception of computer science and related courses, there hasn't been a significant increase in the number of home graduates in hard science and engineering since 1980. Much of the increase in graduates has been in arts, humanities, soft subjects, and subjects that weren't degrees in 1980s such as nursing. Universities are really just in the money game nowadays rather than seats of learning like they were in the past. Qualifications have trounced education. Nobody goes to university to learn any more but instead to get a degree.


    It's a deeply philosophical question whether it's acceptable, or even desirable, to have half of all taxi drivers and waiters with a degree in one subject or another or whether it's a complete waste of everybody's time and money.


    Not many people go to university in Switzerland yet it's a wealthy country with one of the highest standards of living in the world. Have we got anything to learn from the Swiss education system?


  • 0
    Does the IET have any details about the number of unemployed and badly underemployed holders of accredited engineering degrees?
  • 0
    Arran  this CIPD report addresses your first point

    https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/work/skills/graduate-labour-market-report


    If I come across any data around your second one then I'll post. Superficially at least, it seems that Accredited Engineering Degrees are highly valued, although I have certainly encountered MEng graduates working as Technicians and in non-technical roles.  Whatever has happened, I see no benefit in harming Higher Education Institutions but as in all matters of public finance there are many competing priorities for finite resources including debt. I would hope for a rational approach based on Return on Investment (for society) and am a keen supporter of high-quality apprenticeships.
  • 0
    In the U.K. there are lots of unmotivated young people. They are spoiled brats and will never succeed. It all starts in the poor homes and schools which do not motivate young people. Discipline is lacking and disruption rules in many schools. I know of young people that spend all day and night gaming online and they do not work at home or at school at all. The further education colleges in the U.K have hundreds of vacancies for tutors/lecturers/ Why? The wages are low and the work pressure is high. The U.K. is not investing in the future electricians, heating engineers, carpenters, plumbers, brick layers, roofers and other construction and maintenance industry trades sufficiently. The system is broken. Many young people want to get good jobs but can not or do not want to work hard. They want it on a plate. Some young people can not add up, spell or form a complete sentence. What hope for them.
  • 0

    Clive Brittain:

    In the U.K. there are lots of unmotivated young people. They are spoiled brats and will never succeed. It all starts in the poor homes and schools which do not motivate young people. Discipline is lacking and disruption rules in many schools. I know of young people that spend all day and night gaming online and they do not work at home or at school at all. The further education colleges in the U.K have hundreds of vacancies for tutors/lecturers/ Why? The wages are low and the work pressure is high. The U.K. is not investing in the future electricians, heating engineers, carpenters, plumbers, brick layers, roofers and other construction and maintenance industry trades sufficiently. The system is broken. Many young people want to get good jobs but can not or do not want to work hard. They want it on a plate. Some young people can not add up, spell or form a complete sentence. What hope for them. 




    Did you find this in the Daily Mail?



     

  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    Respected Sir,


    Nice meeting you sir ,


    Lots of youngsters with hidden talents their, its an art to bring out the best out of that precious resource sir.


    Regards

    P.Immanuel
  • 0
    Hello,

                    it is so sad that in the U.K. many school teachers are leaving the profession after a short period at the coal face or are retiring early due to stress at work. They have had enough of the poor discipline in schools, the constant monitoring and paperwork and the lack of freedom in teaching. It is so sad that the U.K. is losing good, experienced qualified teachers. This has a knock on effect in the education of our young people.


    C.
  • 0
    Clive


    As a community of engineering and technology professionals how can we affect these issues?  The attitudes and behaviours of teenagers, especially those in disadvantaged circumstances, relative to the mores of the rest of society have always been problematic and your description (without the “gaming”) could probably have come any time since the 1970s.  Readers of this may have some relevant experience, but to have become members of the IET and perhaps even Chartered Engineers, obviously found a successful pathway through their teenage years.  We focus our efforts mainly on various STEM initiatives, I don’t know how we evaluate the impact of these, but my guess would be that they barely affect the most disadvantaged.


    By the time I was about 13-14, I began to yearn for adulthood and some form of self-sufficiency, my father had left school at 14, but the government had just raised the leaving age from 15 to 16. Most of those who were “kept back” caused trouble and gained little during the extra year. Those who had left at 15 readily found employment and when I left at 16, I was lucky to secure a good apprenticeship. I saw myself as  a “working man” and would have been insulted to be considered a child, I still had youthful exuberance, but by the age of 21 had a mortgage and a career.  


    This last weekend was also memorable for our Polish community as their nationhood was restored in 1918. We have been very fortunate to attract some of their skilled people (as we have from many other countries worldwide) to fill the gaps you allude to.  The teenage behaviour problems that you describe are fewer in that country and diaspora (in common with many others), perhaps due to stronger “family values” and a more socially equal society?  In spite of the fact that such cultures often delay the opportunity for a young person to make a productive economic contribution much later than in my personal example.


    By chance, I was talking to a Pole on Saturday who spent his late teens in Technical College, followed by a period of National Service as a Technician in The Polish Air Force. When he came to the UK he was employed by a well-known long established company where nearly all the senior technical people had developed via apprenticeships. He recognised the advantages of the UK model of  an employed apprenticeship, rather than being college led with work placements. His company’s biggest regret was that they had scaled-down their apprenticeship programme for more than a decade, which they have now restored. Unfortunately, for many young people such opportunities are hard to find. Stable organisations with the wherewithal to train and retain skilled technical employees longer-term are far fewer, or even virtually extinct in some areas of the UK.         


    I haven’t checked out your claim about Technical College vacancies, but I worked in an extremely close partnership with one of the largest from 1996-2008. Over the final 5 years the partnership expanded to include a University. I think that it would be fair to characterise technical colleges as being a “poor relation” relative to universities. However, in absolute terms most are carrying out sterling work, often in modern well-equipped facilities. Sometimes recovering basic education for those teenagers who didn’t engage successfully in the school system, helping to prepare teenagers with vital vocational skills like Engineering and Technology, some to higher level overlapping with universities, including working with employers to support apprenticeships or experienced staff up-skilling and studying part-time.  


    Many of our universities emerged from a Technical College tradition, but societal expectations and government policies, have incentivised them to compete for academic prestige and 18 year old “bums on seats”, rather than prioritise the needs of local industry.  This was rammed home to me as I was driving to work yesterday morning, when someone discussing University Fees on the radio, asserted that “part-time, in-career study at university had been virtually "killed” by the current fees regime. The claim may be exaggerated, but to me this is hugely concerning and potentially harmful for most of those who we seek to represent.


    Returning to the question of what we can do?  Anyone reading this can look up the work of the IET Education & Skills Policy Panel and contribute ideas if they wish to. My attention has also been drawn to some good work by the IMechE recently.  However as a whole, the community of professional institutions and the strategic bodies that serve them, have long been dominated by those with academically advantaged and solid respectable “middle class” social backgrounds. Some modest progress has been made to recognise vocational skills more equally, but there are many within our midst for whom petty divisions in educational, professional and social status are very important. You mentioned Electricians, which is clearly “IET territory”, but also one which would be seen by those I have just described, as a “working class trade” not a “middle class profession”.  The mess system within the armed forces, although more meritocratic in the technical elements rather than mainly social class based, may also have an influence. Interestingly, however far an apprentice electrician progresses (perhaps to be a director of a business, or even the president of a country) they are still likely to encounter forms of snobbery.  Some of the other trades that you mentioned, would fall below the (level 3) threshold of “professional” recognition and therefore not really within our “footprint”.  


    My challenge would be to drop the snobbery and get behind vocational education and training. Alternatively we can position ourselves as the voice of an (academically defined) elite as we have chosen to in the past. Such a position doesn’t disqualify us from commenting on issues around practical skills or advanced craft and technician practice. But it does risk such contributions being seen as patronising, overbearing or even ill-informed. Elitist attitudes risk the potential displeasure of those who control charitable status, or award licenses to register professionals. Our actions to-date have mostly fed the dominant sibling of universities, perhaps at the expense of technical colleges and our system of recognition only the top academic slice of Engineers, albeit a few manage to creep in from more vocational pathways.   


    In using “we” here I am referring to the whole of our professional engineering community of which the IET has arguably been the most progressive member.  We do make considerable efforts to interest young people in Engineering and Technology based careers, through STEM and other initiatives. I’m not sure that we can do a great deal more to address the disadvantage that afflicts some people of school age. However, we certainly could try  harder to support Technical Colleges and to ensure that those who pursue careers from a more vocational pathway, receive equitable treatment on merit rather than on the basis of what school they attended, which determined their academic performance at the age 18.   


    We could of course debate the relative merits of The Daily Mail or Daily Telegraph ("The Professional Engineer’s Newspaper") or even The Daily Express for those over 85wink.

           

    Yours disgusted and concerned, but not of Tunbridge Wellsfrown

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