ON THE ROAD
Speaking of practical experience, Eastleigh College had the ECH designed BicyCool, with two static bicycles which curious visitors could pedal to directly drive refrigeration compressors linked to refrigeration circuits that provided cooling for cool boxes in which drinks had been stored.
Sean Creech of Eastleigh College explained: “This year we have our apprenticeship team helping out here, talking about apprenticeships in the industry and how people can get on to them - not just at Eastleigh, but within the industry as a whole.
“On a personal level, I’m here as a SkillFRIDGE judge. Eastleigh didn’t manage to get any students into the fi nals this time, but we’ve been involved for the last fi ve or six years quite heavily. The college backs it 100%, and we’ll supply as much information, or do whatever we can to help as it goes forward.” Chris Baillie of BL Refrigeration has taken on the role of judge for SkillFRIDGE after ‘graduating’ as a WorldSkills silver medallist “It’s nice being on the other side of the fence judging as opposed to being in there sweating with everyone watching,” he said. “I have to pay more attention in this role though! “Winning the silver medal has helped me a lot. I’ve
been off ered several jobs, but because I work for BL, which my dad owns and runs, I wouldn’t leave. Within work itself, it’s progressed me on to bigger jobs quickly because I’m trusted more that I might otherwise have been.
“SkillFRIDGE has come on a lot further since I did it,” he added. “There’s a lot more industry support now and a lot more funding, particularly in terms of providing equipment so that the competitors are working on much more up to date equipment – and that all means that we can set more advanced tasks.” “As SkillFRIDGE goes on it’s getting better and better,” agreed Mr Creech. “There are only a few colleges actively involved though, and Datateam, with Karena Cooper, are trying to pull more colleges in, get them into the system and get everyone working together. The end goal is to standardise what we do across the industry.
“This year there are some older competitors here – quite a lot older than we’ve had in previous years – and you’d think the older guys would be fl ying away with it but surprisingly, the younger guys are holding their own.”
Commenting on the challenges of getting young people into the industry, Mr Baillie commented: “The biggest obstacle is the employers. They don’t want to pay for people who don’t already know what they’re doing. But everyone doesn’t know what they’re doing at some stage, and need to be trained and given a chance. And that’s what a lot don’t want to do – they don’t want to employ a new guy, they want to employ someone who’s got experience, or has at least done the apprenticeship already with someone else. “That makes it hard for the colleges to take on
22 December 2016
www.acr-news.com
Competitor Steven Monk.
Competitor Luke Courtney.
Competitor Chris Hoy.
Competitor John Thompson.
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
