The View

Bureaucratic New Initiatives

"Lack of Skills - Skills Shortages in UK"

These are the headlines constantly appearing daily in the media, and constantly being quoted by Government. Every newly appointed Government Minister thinks it’s his duty to dream up a new initiative or scheme to address the current skills shortages. Surveys are done repeatedly. Each new initiative is more bureaucratic, needing an army of consultants to administer, each is more costly to the taxpayer than the previous one – and is then quietly dropped.

New Deals

What has happened to the New Deal? Now we have Train to Gain, which employs an army of consultants and comes with lots of expensive tv and radio advertising. There are Learning and Skills Councils which are constantly being reorganised, lots of colleges delivering numerous courses for various NVQ qualifications, often finding it difficult to recruit college staff with sufficient skills themselves in order to train the youngsters in the skills that the country needs: plumbers, carpenters, joiners, bricklayers, electricians - and boat builders, which is the skill our company requires.

Poor Delivery

In the past few years we have seen several changes in the delivery of the courses required to train boat builders in our region. Training is currently being delivered by Great Yarmouth College, having previously been delivered unsuccessfully by Norwich and Lowestoft Colleges. A private organisation gave up the training because they could not make a profit.

No Employer Funding

The Principal of Great Yarmouth College who took on the boat building training and the staff of the college have been very supportive of the local Norfolk and Suffolk Boatbuilding Industry, and the Industry has in turn been supportive of the college, sending numbers of apprentices to the college during the past few years. This training has worked quite well. The training is on a day release basis for NVQ qualifications. The apprentice is paid by the employer on the day he/she goes to college. The employer gets no funding at all. The funding for training goes directly to colleges and learning and skills councils.

NVQ Benefits

However, the boat building NVQ required today for apprentices is an evidence based qualification and most of the evidence is based on things learned in the workplace, with written and photographic information collected in the workplace. The college delivers key skills, health and safety, collates the work the student does in various modules, and after two years the student should gain an NVQ level 2. Locally, our Industry and Anglia Boatbuilders Association have joined forces with the college for an Annual Apprentice of the Year Award, which is good for the apprentices and the Boatbuilding Companies alike.

Workplace Learning

I think, however, as the student learns most of his skills in the workplace rather than at college, better and more job specific training could be delivered in the work place, if business was given the same sort of Government funding that is spread so thinly through complex delivery organisations such as colleges, Learning and Skills Councils and assessors.

Why Companies Don't Train

Many companies do not train youngsters today, because they simply cannot afford it. Business costs have soared recently. It is very costly to send youngsters to college and also employ staff in the workplace to train them on the other days. Some companies find the training systems just too bureaucratic and constantly changing, and simply will not take on young people. Unfortunately, as a country, we are letting down a whole generation of young people because of the way Government chooses to organise training.

Sensible Funding

Apprenticeships should be looked at in the same way as further education, and funding streams should follow the apprentices, whether to the work place or the college. This would stop the current situation where schools are funded to send young people to college at sixteen, but not funded if they go out to work for training in an apprenticeship.

Students are therefore encouraged at school to go to college because the school’s funds are dependent on young people going into further education. Not all students know what they really want to do, but after two years of college - sometimes two wasted years - they emerge too old for an Apprenticeship, and are left in limbo with no real job training. Employers would prefer to have the young people at 16.

On the Job Training

In my view it would be much better to go back to the best form of training, which is training in the workplace," On the Job Training." Being taught by a person who has the exact skills. Perhaps a few days block release to College for health and safety and key skills if required. If the Government used the millions of pounds spent on the myriad of delivery organisations and consultants, and put that money directly into the businesses, either as tax relief for training, or as a weekly payment to the company, the companies could afford to employ someone, or pay staff extra money to deliver training in the workplace. The trainees would receive better job specific training. Assessors could visit the company to check that training is being carried out - there could still be evidence collected by the assessors for a certificate of apprenticeship. There is far too much emphasis on pieces of paper today than actual skills for the job.

Getting the Work

It is often quoted in our industry if you had two trainees apply for a job, one with an NVQ from College and one with a good reference from another boatbuilder but no NVQ, the one without the NVQ would probably get the job!

Getting the Skills

Haines Marine currently has two apprentices, and will be taking on two more in June. Our local organisation, Anglia Boatbuilders Association, is currently working with local schools to inform students of the rewards of a career in boatbuilding, so some progress is being made with skills. It is wonderful to have enthusiastic young people coming into our industry - the only way the industry will survive in the global market - but I am sure more would be trained if employers had the right financial incentives from Government.

As for keeping children at school until they are 18, I do hope this idea will also be quietly dropped. This is a discussion for another day!

Mary Haines is a Partner of Haines Marine, the award winning boatbuilders and is Vice Chairman of Anglia Boatbuilders Association

What's your view?

Are new skills initiatives increasingly bureaucratic and costly?

Is work-based learning most effective?

Are we letting down an entire generation of young people through inadequate training?

Have your say.

Links

www.hainesmarine.co.uk

www.traintogain.gov.uk

www.lsc.gov.uk

www.gyc.ac.uk