Industry gives a mixed reaction to the government鈥檚 latest technical training initiative

The government鈥檚 plans to roll out a new set of technical courses for young people have been hailed as a step in the right direction, but for some the devil will be in the detail.

The CBI gave the recent announcement concerning the introduction of 鈥淭-levels鈥� a warm welcome 鈥� the employers鈥� organisation said it was 鈥渄elighted鈥� with the proposals.

And trade body Build UK sounded positive. It said in a statement: 鈥淲e would be supportive of the 鈥楾 level鈥� initiative as we know from our members that some students are not being equipped with the experience and knowledge to be 鈥榮ite ready鈥� when they leave college.

鈥淭he details set out in the Post-16 Skills Plan propose 15 technical education routes (including construction), which would consist of a generic first year course for all construction route FE students, with specialisation in the second year.鈥�

This is something that could feed into the training course we deliver, but we need to know more

Chris Jones, Bam Group

Build UK said that in response to contractor member feedback it had recently launched, in collaboration with national colleges group Collab Group, a one-year further education course designed to help address technical qualification shortcomings.

The 鈥淏ridge into Construction鈥� course 鈥� launched last month 鈥� will be piloted by seven colleges across the country and 鈥渨ill provide a consistent level of training and competence and equip students with the introductory skills they need to embark on an apprenticeship in construction鈥�, Build UK said.

Meanwhile Chris Jones, director of learning and development at the Bam Group, said while he had not seen the detail behind the new courses, he hoped it was not yet another scheme that failed to live up to expectations.

鈥淭his is something that could feed into the training course we deliver, but we need to know more. How, for example, will these new courses feed into apprenticeships?鈥�

Jones said what was lacking in education was progression, linking up between schools and FE colleges and 鈥� ultimately 鈥� employers; there needed to be a greater degree of joined-up thinking, he said.

鈥淭his mustn鈥檛 be 鈥榡ust another initiative鈥� that proves to be inappropriate; it must bridge that gap.鈥�

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