SKILLS & TRAINING


On the job training


Jason Duncan, Operations Director at the Chameleon School of Construction, looks at the importance of a holistic approach to skills and training when it comes to the future workforce.


The UK construction sector is sleepwalking towards a very large crisis. That may come as a shock, after all, the latest figures


from industry analysts IHS Markit show that the sector has shaken off a sluggish start to the year and is now growing at its fastest rate for 18 months. However, looming large on the horizon is a skills shortage that threatens the continued growth of the construction industry, despite the Government pledging to build a quarter-of-a-million new homes a year to keep up with housing demand. But with an ageing workforce – almost a quarter of UK


construction workers are aged over 50, with 15% of those aged 60-plus – that target is reliant on a continuous flow of skilled young people into the construction industry, an issue which needs to be urgently addressed. The UK construction sector took a bashing during the


2008 recession, where it reported heavy job losses, and the image of it being an insecure career choice may be a lingering after-effect of that. More has to be done to convince young people and


their parents that the construction industry can offer long- term career prospects. It is too easy for construction skills to be dismissed as the choice of the less academic, rather than as the first step on a career path which could progress into roles such as site management or surveying, or the starting point for those ambitious to one day be their own boss. However, even after a young person has chosen to


pursue a career in construction, they are still faced with a frustrating amount of obstacles if they are to become a skilled, work-ready employee. Gaining experience on a real construction site is a vital


part of the learning process. Unfortunately, construction firms are reluctant to allow under-18s on site, with high insurance costs a concern. As a result, by 18, a learner can have completed two years of workshop-based learning, but have very little of the site experience that is so vital to their development. Perhaps a change of thinking is needed, whereby


employers accept the importance of continual site-based learning to follow on from learning in the workshop environment. The latter is something that could be addressed by


apprenticeships, where the majority of the learning process is achieved through working on site for an employer, but even this system is flawed. Apprenticeships are very hard to come by, and more


does need to be done to encourage growth in the number of apprenticeships in the construction industry, but it isn’t just about the number of apprenticeship places, it’s also about the quality of those apprenticeships.


business network July/August 2017 31


FEATURE


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