The apprenticeship discussion is an interesting one and something I have thought about frequently. Mainly because I'm rapidly reaching the age of slowing down ( notice I didn't say retirement because of pension issues within the building trade, but that's a different debate.)
I pressed my previous employer hard to employ an apprentice to learn and carry on the skills in workshop joinery, in his words it was pointless because you invest time and money just to have them leave for a higher paid job after 4 years. I could see his point, however the trade bodies and employers are the ones who could put changes in place to prevent the leakage of talent from the industry.
It's also true too much emphasis has been placed on academic qualifications within the industry, we can't all be site managers, there is a long-standing "them and us" mentality that needs to change as well. A recently retired friend who was a technical teacher and I used to debate this often, he agreed with everything I said but told me change would be slow, or maybe never as many kids did not have the work ethic to do a manual job. I'm still hopeful that the education system and proper parenting can change this but worry it won't come in time.
It's also true too much emphasis has been placed on academic qualifications within the industry, we can't all be site managers, there is a long-standing "them and us" mentality that needs to change as well. A recently retired friend who was a technical teacher and I used to debate this often, he agreed with everything I said but told me change would be slow, or maybe never as many kids did not have the work ethic to do a manual job. I'm still hopeful that the education system and proper parenting can change this but worry it won't come in time.
Interesting. We've just had our solar system commissioned, and when chatting to the installation guys they were saying that they were very busy and the business was growing. They had an opportunity for a young person to join the team as an trainee installer. Loads of people applied, whittled down to 19 for interview. Nobody turned up for the interview.
Tim H. 1986 4/4 VVTi Sport, 2002 LR Defender, 1957 R4 CV, 2005 Ferrari Vipar
It's also true too much emphasis has been placed on academic qualifications within the industry, we can't all be site managers, there is a long-standing "them and us" mentality that needs to change as well. A recently retired friend who was a technical teacher and I used to debate this often, he agreed with everything I said but told me change would be slow, or maybe never as many kids did not have the work ethic to do a manual job. I'm still hopeful that the education system and proper parenting can change this but worry it won't come in time.
I can remember around 25-30yrs ago the concept of the brick laying robot on the news, it was dismissed as ridiculous by the bricklayers at the time. It has become a reality and I'm sure will be extremely useful building the large job centres that will be required.
Back to the thread though, it looks like we'll get cut a bit of slack over Christmas. Let's just hope people are sensible.
Just had the message, school shutting for a week due to staffing levels.
That sounds like good news. What will that mean for workload?
All lessons are set remotely via our 'learning platform' (we've uploaded all PPT/textbooks/Wiorksheets etc already for those who are self isolating) and then we're online to answer any questions from students during the lessons. Would much rather be in the classroom, but it's the best we can do in the circumstances.
1972 4/4 4 seater - 3G Morganeer Too many ratty motorbikes
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