Students taking the new Construction and Built Environment diploma are missing out on visits to construction sites and career talks from working professionals due to poor curriculum planning, according to an Ofsted report on the implementation of the new courses for 14-19-year-olds.

It recommends greater involvement of employers, suppliers and manufacturers in delivering the courses, to ensure students are motivated and engaged.

The report, based on inspections of five groups of schools and colleges delivering the C&BE diploma, found that teaching of practical construction skills was generally good. However, lessons in the 鈥榝unctional skills鈥� of English, maths and IT were often unengaging and lacked relevance to the rest of the curriculum.

Ofsted also found that the number of girls on the course was 鈥榲ery low鈥�, with none in three of the five teaching centres. There was also poor uptake by students from ethnic minorities and those with a disability.

Roy Cavanagh, head of employer engagement for

the C&BE diploma and training manager at Seddons Group, believes that some students failed to realise that functional skills were a key part of the diploma. 鈥楽ome youngsters have been badly advised in choosing the diploma,鈥� said Cavanagh. 鈥楾hey don鈥檛 realise that maths, English and ICT are a vital part of the course and it鈥檚 not all about practical learning.鈥�

Laura Clarke, education manager at the CIOB, said she was disappointed that just 3% of students on the diploma were girls. 鈥榃e support the recommendations to focus on improving the career guidance for students to avoid gender-stereotypical choices being made,鈥� she said.

Cavanagh added: 鈥業f I had my way we would drop the word 鈥渃onstruction鈥� from the course title and just call it the Built Environment diploma. For most youngsters construction still means bricklaying or joinery, but these courses cover a whole spectrum of jobs.鈥�

But the report also found the majority of the students interviewed were positive about the diploma, and that overall implementation was deemed satisfactory in all five of the teaching centres visited.

鈥業t鈥檚 always easy to take a swipe at the 鈥渘ew kid鈥�,鈥� said Nick Gooderson, head of qualifications and standards at ConstructionSkills. 鈥楤ut with preliminary uptake figures looking more than positive, and the feedback that we鈥檝e had from students who took up diplomas last year, as well as what we鈥檝e gleaned from stakeholders, we鈥檙e happy with the results we鈥檝e seen.鈥�

Source

Construction Manager