The Rail,Engineering,Construction,Power&Renewable Energy Recruitment Blog

The new diploma, introduced in September and aimed to help promote an improvement in skill sets and competence and attract more young people into the Construction and Built Environment sector, will be catastrophic for the education system and will not prepare students for the working world in the slightest.

The C&BE Diploma is one of five diplomas that has been developed by employers, schools, colleges and universities, to help young people aged 14 to 19 realise their potential and gain knowledge and skills in a ‘real world’ environment. It can be taken instead of, or alongside, GCSEs, A-levels and vocational subjects and it aims to equip students with skills they can apply to the next stage of their development; be that university, college or the world of work.

The diploma’s guidelines, however do not take into account situations that occur in a real-time environment. All the practical activities are designed to take place in a controlled workshop environment.

‘It is completely ludicrous that students can pass the construction diploma without even stepping onto a building site! It is essential for students to have experienced the practical side of the industry so what is the point in having these diplomas when they don’t even take students into the field. By allowing pupils to pass their diploma with work experience in a shop for example and not even remotely relevant will be totally detrimental for the industry.”

Not only will they have little practical experience, but students who want to pursue a career in construction may not even be accepted into their chosen university as many universities have said that that they would not automatically accept diplomas as they would A’ levels.

The government must rethink the curriculum of the diploma course and enlist the help of local construction companies to give students hands on experience in real life working situations.

“We need to take a stand as there is already an enormous skills shortage in the construction and engineering industry and with pupils not even having the right qualifications to carry out the roles; we are going to face great problems in the future.”

What is the answer? How can we lay a solid foundation on which the youth of today can develop a career in the construction industry? We’d love to hear your solutions…

The new equalities bill announced earlier this year by equalities minister Harriet Harman is a step in the right direction, but does it go far enough to encourage more women to take up a career in the construction and engineering industry?

To attract more females to pursue further educational courses in the industry, we have to enlist the help of teachers in our high schools. At present fewer school age girls are studying the core subjects of Maths and Physics which are pre-requisites for the majority of construction and engineering degree courses.

Only about 15% of university engineering students are female and girls make up fewer than 3% of apprentices in engineering and construction. According to the University of Cambridge “the difficultly in attracting women to engineering appears to be one of image and the misconception that engineering is synonymous with car mechanics and greasy overalls.”

This is not to say that women cannot and do not reach the highest of levels in the industry. There are however very few examples of notable achievement at CEO level. After several phases of analysis, including claims that the industry as a whole is sexist and unwilling to change, there is now considerable investment occurring to encourage women into the engineering sector.

WISE, women into science, engineering and construction, is one UK organisation that aims to remove this image. The WISE campaign collaborates with a range of partners in encouraging UK girls of school age to value engineering or construction related courses in school or college, and move on into related careers.

Careers in construction and engineering are extremely rewarding and in the ever changing world of technology there will always be a need for well qualified personnel. So come on girls, what are you waiting for? We’ll be happy to answer any of your questions or concerns.

We’d love to hear from women who are already working in the industry. Tell us your stories and help motivate other women to secure a lucrative career.

Has anyone seen any or get any to share?

Anyone out there involved in this project in any way?