IT’s the new middle-class dinner party boast. Where the competition used to be centred around how little Josh compared to Charlotte at school, now it’s the length of time it takes to find a good plumber.
The great tradesman drought has been a talking point for a number of years, with many businesses suffering under the stress of finding qualified tradesmen to maintain the fabric of the premises.
On the domestic front, Feng Shui consultants and li
fe coaches can be called out at the drop of a hat, but trying to get a decent joiner to build bookshelves into an empty alcove is like looking for the Holy Grail.
At the end of 2002, the Construction Industry Training Board said that the fact that 4000 recruits had been taken on that year was good news, but it would not cover the shortfall. It estimated that by 2006, the industry could be short of 2400 plumbers, electricians, roofers, carpenters, painters and other trades.
This is catastrophic news considering recent reports that new house building isn’t keeping up with demand. It’s difficult to get houses built if no-one wants to strap on a tool belt and do it. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of apprenticeships. For a generation, boys would leave school and walk straight into a trade. Experience from the journeyman and perhaps a City & Guilds certificate were all that was required to make a living. But apprenticeships have fallen by the wayside as more young people are taking on degree courses, rather then trades.
What many do not seem to realise is that an apprenticeship can often give more prospects than a degree. In the days before student grants were abolished and fees introduced, the life of the student was simple.
Nowadays things are not so easy. Fees are an increasingly important issue for debt-ridden students. Last month 31,000 people were on the streets of London, protesting at the prospect of top-up fees to existing education charges.
On the day, the National Union of Students’ president, Mandy Telford, explained the fear at the heart of the protest: "Top-up fees will lead to a two-tier education system where the rich can pick and choose and poor students will have to take cheaper courses."
According to the NUS, the average cost of a degree is now nearly £20,000. Top-up fees, combined with increases in the cost of living, could raise student debt at graduation to as much as £33,708 by 2010.
Paying off those debts can be made all the harder for graduates pouring out of what are sometimes know as "soft" degrees. The popular, sexy courses in media, arts and social sciences are a joy to study but overcrowd the jobs market. It’s arguable that many students who take these courses would be better off focusing on more vocational degrees.
Gerard Eadie, the chairman of CR Smith Glaziers, says that there’s little point in turning out well-qualified but unskilled graduates when Scotland is suffering from a dearth of trades workers.
"Skilled tradesmen are more valuable to the Scottish economy than untrained graduates emerging from university with similar, general degrees. Today’s career culture sees many school leavers forced down the route of studying for a degree when they are actually more vocationally than academically suited. This has to change.
"The snob factor has to go and our young people must be aware that it’s OK to choose a trade - especially today, when they can command such high salaries and carve out a career with excellent prospects."
CR Smith is involved in the Modern Apprenticeship Programme (MAP), which has been running for almost 10 years, providing training opportunities to people over 16. Supported by the Confederation of Business and Industry, the Trade Union Congress and a wide range of employers, each MAP has a common core structure, which is adapted to fit the specific requirements of the industry or sector involved.
The MAP is an indication of how things have changed. In the old system, apprentices were generally young boys starting out their careers and they were restricted to the heavy labour trades. The new system takes the changing economic and cultural times into consideration and also provides training in what can be regarded as 21st century trades, such as business, customer service and retail.
It also takes career changes into consideration. With less prospect of a job for life these days, more mature people are taking up modern apprenticeships.
David Cooney is on CR Smith’s programme. At 31, he thought he was too old to re-train and had already worked as a chef and a gardener.
A conversation with Gerard Eadie led to a re-think. "I bumped into Gerard a few years back and he gave me some really sound advice. He said I should find a career that I would enjoy, that played to my strengths, had prospects and was financially rewarding," says Cooney. "Having tried my hand at several careers, none of them very rewarding, I recalled my conversation with Gerard and thought I had nothing to lose by contacting the company with a view to re-training as a joiner."
Cooney is one of five modern apprentices at CR Smith. The Dunfermline-based firm has also recently recruited four new modern apprentices; Thomas Hall, a mature student, 34; Neil Harvey, 18; Andrew Smith, 16 and Gary Scott, 17, who are being put through their paces with both on the job training and classes at Lauder College in Dunfermline.
Cooney was attracted by the prospect of earning enough money to support his family while gaining a skill for life. "It was a big step for me as I had a family to support but I realised I had to get my career back on track. I’m now heading towards becoming a skilled joiner, with the qualifications to back it up and a trade to be proud of. I love what I’m doing and have never looked back. It taught me that it’s never too late."
The full article contains 1038 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
