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IN ASSOCIATION WITH


Shoulder to shoulder


David Foskett and Peter Jones


Funding is just one reason why hospitality education in the UK is at its lowest ebb, claim two leading professors. In a recent meeting with The Caterer, as part of our Think Again campaign, David Foskett and Peter Jones outlined the problems and their proposed solutions. Rosalind Mullen listened in


Foskett adds: “A radical approach may be forced on employers by Brexit, as possible border controls may make employing from Europe more difficult.” The Caterer met them at the Royal Garden


Hotel in Kensington, where they outlined the issues and what they believe is the only solu- tion to the skills shortage. Here are some of their main points.


Why are hospitality courses failing to attract students? Professor David Foskett (DF) There is no parity of esteem regarding hospitality in the UK. A-levels are seen as a rite of passage and many young people feel that if they don’t get them and go to university, they have failed. This is a massive disservice to young people. Our system of education is narrow. There


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are different types of intelligence, such as emotional intelligence, but you are almost ignored if you are not intellectual. This approach means we are not helping young people to see the opportunities in hospitality. Teachers are often not well informed. The government’s Post-16 Skills Plan makes no mention of hospitality in its section on the skills pressures on selected areas of the econ- omy. But hospitality contributes £143b to GDP and, with 4.6 million jobs, it is the fourth- largest employer. Some head teachers I meet have no idea about this. They don’t realise that a general manager in a five-star hotel can earn a six-figure sum.


Professor Peter Jones (PJ) There is no careers service in schools. Teachers have responsibil- ity for giving careers advice, but the only career


they know is teaching. Another part of the problem is that people love restaurants, but don’t want their kids to work there. It comes back to a ‘below stairs’ image. DF And academic snobbery. I call it ‘the British disease of academic education’. Some college principals don’t even appreciate their own hospitality departments. For instance, they don’t see sugar crafting or chocolate work as an art. If students were creating in concrete or glass, it would be called art. PJ The industry needs to do much more to challenge perceptions. DF In the US, there is a culinary medicine pro- gramme that teaches trainee doctors about nutrition and how to cook, because there is evidence that the right diet can prevent cancer and reduce hypertension and obesity and so on. This could raise the status of what we do


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