Having enjoyed a reasonably successful career in construction and having a 16-year-old son with the prospect of 10 good GCSEs and no particular idea what he wants to do, I persuaded him to apply for a BTEC in construction.

We went to the two colleges offering the course to discuss it further. A complete shambles! In one college, construction had been lost somewhere between catering and computing and, despite asking at least eight individuals, nobody knew where the department was.

At least the second college could locate construction but Mr BTEC was so utterly bored with the job of teaching a variety of different facets of construction 鈥� many of which he quoted as probably unavailable or unnecessary 鈥� that we practically fell asleep.

Where is the enthusiasm I have for this industry? It can be exciting and challenging; you get to put your mark on the built environment, meet great people and earn reasonable money. All of that lost in two college open days. My son has now decided to approach Porsche and Mercedes for an apprenticeship instead.

Della Madgwick, via email

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