NEWS
TRAINING Training A
more ‘blended’ approach to the delivery of apprentice training must emerge
in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).
The Association welcomed the “ambitious plans” announced by Chancellor Rushi Sunak in his Summer Statement that included generous subsidies for employers willing to take on apprentices, but said delivering the required quality of training presented a series of challenges as a result of the crisis.
BESA praised the government’s
new £2bn worth of measures aimed at improving employment prospects for the younger generation. These include £2,000 for every employer who takes on an apprentice and £1,000 for any willing to take on new trainees. Firms will also receive £1,500 if they take on an apprentice aged over 25. Before the Chancellor’s
announcement, Shadow Business Minister Lucy Powell told a webinar hosted by the Association that a whole generation of young people was in danger of being adversely affected by the coronavirus crisis and called for greater support to
encourage employers to take on apprentices.
“There has been a big drop in
numbers taken on [during the pandemic],” she said. “If we are really going to build out way out of this crisis…that will need to be underpinned by skills.”
Ms Powell said there had been serious “teething problems” with the Apprenticeship Levy. “We will have to make it a lot easier for businesses to take on apprentices. We will need to provide more funding and more flexibility.” BESA chief executive David Frise added that 33% of member companies had told the Association they would not be able to spend their allocation of funds from the Apprenticeship Levy before December, which meant it would be lost.
“That is a criminal loss, but it is simply because they are not able to spend it – not because they don’t want to,” he explained. Mr Frise added that 50% of
apprentices in the sector were still furloughed, which “is a big concern” as many may not return to work at all.
One way of making it easier to deliver technical apprenticeship courses, such as those in building
engineering, was to develop a “more blended model”, he said. This would involve a mixture of remote working using digital delivery systems alongside the traditional classroom and on site experience. This will be a feature of the new BESA Academy, which launches next month and will be providing a wide range of online courses.
“A lot of colleges are reluctant to provide engineering apprenticeships because they are more expensive and complex than other types of training,” he said. “Delivering more of the course content remotely will make it more attractive to them and easier to access for prospective students.”
However, BESA said it would be
essential to make sure all apprentices had access to adequate equipment and IT support.
“The lockdown period was an excellent testing ground for the new remote teaching model,” said director of BESA Training Helen Yeulet. “In theory, it should have been the perfect time for apprentices to catch up on course work and planning, but in practice it was not quite so easy.” She said a survey carried out
by the Association had revealed worrying levels of ‘IT poverty’, which could contribute to growing regional inequality. Some apprentices were in danger of falling behind their peers during the lockdown and of missing out on valuable exercises and materials because of limited access to the right kind of computer hardware and IT support. The variable quality of rural broadband was also highlighted.
The survey found considerable
differences between regions: Almost 20% of apprentices in Wales and 10% in Scotland did not have the use of their own laptop or iPad compared with a much smaller proportion in England. Almost half of all Scottish
apprentices and more than a third of their Welsh counterparts also had to share a laptop with other household members, while this was only true of around 20% of those based in England. Access to printing facilities was similarly restricted.
BESA said it was working with its members and industry partners to address the IT poverty issue and ensure all apprentices have access to the software and hardware they need to support remote learning.
8 August 2020
www.acr-news.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
