CLIMB ABOARD FOR A REWARDING CAREER

In a drive to make young people more aware of apprenticeships and better prepared for work, Poole, Dorset, based Bourne BG Ltd has embarked on a groundbreaking new initiative that has rapidly caught the imagination of schools and young students.

It’s an unfortunate fact that each year significant numbers of apprentices that join employers leave before completing their apprenticeship as the reality of the work is not what they expected. For employers, this is not just a drain on time and money, but also provides a setback that can discourage them from future apprenticeship recruitment. Faced with this issue, Poole, Dorset, based Bourne BG Ltd, a long-standing member of the Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association (HVCA), decided to tackle the problem head-on, in the shape of a converted Leyland Lynx bus, to give potential apprentices an early taster of life as a mechanical and electrical engineer. The bus is effectively a mobile workshop. Each week it visits secondary schools in Dorset, where an experienced college tutor guides Year 10 and 11 pupils through a two-year course. Ultimately at the end of the programme the students can gain a Level 1 or 2 National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in Performing Engineering Operations. Fully kitted out with tools, equipment, materials and an individual workstation for each student, the vehicle provides an environment that gives pupils a good grounding in basic skills, knowledge and understanding of common engineering practices, along with a grasp of safe working practices. To keep this initiative detached from their main business, Bourne BG set up a separate company called Southern Education Training Ltd and it is under this (SET) banner that the mobile classroom scheme operates. Aly Bevis of Bourne BG Ltd, comments, “We genuinely believe that the mobile workshop is a real, effective solution to the problem that we, as local employer, faced with apprentice recruitment. “Previously, if an apprentice left because they realised it was not for them, both sides lost a year and we had to start again from square one; there was a skills and knowledge gap between what students knew about our industry sector and what it actually entailed. “Through the mobile workshop initiative we can give schoolchildren a good awareness of most areas of the mechanical and electrical services sector of the building and construction industry”. To date, 65 students have received tuition and five have been identified as potential apprentices. It is hoped that placements for all of them will be found from the local area. Because it’s a formal NVQ, the students are learning valid industry techniques rather than simply ‘having a go’. The course entails work on hand-fitting skills; marking out; pipefitting; bending and forming a variety of materials used in the construction industry; electrical systems; working safely in an engineering environment; working efficiently and effectively in engineering and communicating technical information. Commenting on this commendable new initiative, Sarah Wicks, head of education and training at the HVCA said, “This initiative provides a great footing for a career in the building and construction industry. “Having taken part in these courses students can make an informed career choice, rather than starting in the sector with no prior knowledge, and this should help to reduce apprentice dropout rates. “Employers, who in the past have been averse to recruiting apprentices because of their inexperience, should now hopefully realise the potential in employing young people via this route; what is being developed here is a pool of recruits primed for entry into the industry – we must take advantage of that”. Based on the initiative’s success to date, the plan now is to expand Southern Electrical Training to respond to the positive demand from local schools. For more information visit: www.set.uk.net. -ends-