BESA states why it’s more important than ever to nurture the workforce of tomorrow, why vocational training is crucial to tackling the UK’s poor productivity, and that the introduction of T Levels – which ‘fit neatly with the government’s ongoing support for Trailblazer’ – can help support the development of a more prosperous and inclusive society.
BESA writes:
There are many uncertainties around Brexit, but one thing we can say with some confidence is that the movement of people to the UK from Europe will be impaired in some way and this will have a direct impact on the availability of skilled labour in our industry. Many construction projects have already been paused because developers are concerned about how this could hit costs and schedules.
Whatever happens and even if a compromise is reached in the negotiations with the EU, it will be more important than ever that we nurture and develop more of our own skilled people to hedge our industry’s future. The UK’s poor productivity compared with other developed nations is another issue concerning politicians and business leaders. This has a lot to do with how well we train people; how we support them and how we motivate them to do their work. We need to get people into our industry who are motivated to make a difference and who see building engineering services as a worthwhile profession that delivers value to its customers; makes a difference to society and also offers good career prospects.
Before the General Election bombshell, the Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered a welcome £500m boost to vocational training in the UK with the launch of a plan to develop new ‘T Levels’ in 15 vocational categories including engineering and construction. Promising to take an ‘agile and bold’ approach, he said backing vocational training was crucial to tackling the UK’s poor productivity, which in turn would support the development of a more prosperous and inclusive society.
BESA welcomed this development as it underpins work we were already doing to help building engineering employers address skills shortages by developing a range of new Trailblazer apprenticeships in England; while also driving forward training standards in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
T Levels, which will be developed between now and 2022, are designed to give technical subjects equal status alongside A levels so that students pursuing a vocational route are not disadvantaged in the eyes of potential employers or dissuaded from taking a non-academic path by their parents.
The Chancellor also announced £300m to support 1,000 new PhD places and fellowships in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. He added that the number of hours of training for technical students aged 16 to 19 would be increased by more than 50%, including a high-quality, three-month work placement.
T Levels fit neatly with the government’s ongoing support for Trailblazer apprenticeships, and will provide further help in developing the stream of new talent coming into STEM professions. Apprenticeships are a natural progression from T Levels and the new apprenticeship levy promises to deliver a whole new generation of much needed engineers with modern skills, who are motivated and excited about careers in our industry.
However, it is crucial that the new government continues to honour its predecessor’s commitment to support training, particularly for SMEs, who must have full access to the funds created by the apprenticeship levy.
Apprenticeships deliver proven business benefits to employers. As the UK-wide industry body for skills and training, BESA is reflecting this growing momentum behind vocational training by working with employers to bring together and represent the needs of our industry, enabling quality apprenticeships, skills and training to support their businesses.
We are developing Trailblazers across a wide range of technical sectors and at a variety of levels including: installation; service & maintenance; ductwork; ventilation hygiene; refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps; and has also started work on developing apprenticeships at higher and degree level.
For more information please email: training@thebesa.com or visit www.thebesa.com/training
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