LEADER
It’s getting easier being green Leader
I
t has been a while since we last had a ‘green’ cover. Was it as long ago as September 2009? That seems like a very long time. I suppose priorities
have shifted somewhat in those two intervening years and perhaps ‘green’ has taken a back seat. But it’s still important to be green with new legislation coming down the track and, as I keep on saying, doing things in a greener fashion often also brings fi nancial benefi ts. Our cover story this month bears this out. ex ski champion Ronald Duncan
explains why he has been working on viable ways of accurately measuring carbon footprint. Not only is it to comply with the latest CRC directives, but it’s also about having a healthier bottom line. So no apologies here for a green-themed cover! Last issue’s Leader column was all about the Government’s re-vamp of IT
(or ICT as they would have it) in schools. This time the Government, e-skills and a bunch of IT and telecommunications companies (many of them the same ones being consulted for the IT re-vamp in the schools’ curriculum) are launching the UK Higher Apprenticeship Programme (see news story on page 6) which the Government says will offer young people new routes into the IT industry, creating employer-defi ned programmes of study which lead to highly skilled IT occupations. Once again this looks highly encouraging, but there has been talk of the overall
apprenticeships budget being slashed in the cuts, so it would be interesting to compare the previous spend fi gures for IT apprenticeships with what the new ones are costing – taking into account an assumed deeper involvement from the private sector I would hope. The new apprenticeships combine the academic rigour of university and
college education with practical, employer-defi ned training, according to e-skills, developing the technical and business skills needed by employers. Again this sounds like it is being pitched at the right sort of level. In Germany, mechanical engineers – the sort of skilled technicians and
artisans that operate, make and maintain complicated machinery – are treated with a degree of respect that is unknown in the UK. Let us hope that the graduates of the new apprenticeships scheme in the UK are shown something like the same professional respect. I suspect this will depend on the level of credibility the qualifi cation has out in the jobs market. Until next time...
Matt Bailey, Editor
If you have any thoughts, feedback, or suggestions on how we can improve VitAL Magazine, please feel free to email me
matthew.bailey@
31media.co.uk
www.vital-mag.net March / April 2012 : VitAL 1
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