The downturn in the number of school leavers who show an interest in engineering is of concern to local government, and many businesses, as the Tees Valley region is heavily reliant on a continuing stream of bright and ambitious young people looking to develop a career in engineering. Aker Kvaerner's courses aim to make the engineering industry more transparent to school leavers so that they are better informed about the exciting opportunities available to them. Teachers in many of the Tees Valley's local schools have already signed up to training courses organised by Aker Kvaerner.

Ian Muscroft, Training & Development manager with Aker Kvaerner, recently arranged for Specialist Engineering teachers from Ormesby School to visit the Wilton International site in order to gain an appreciation of valve, pump and rotating equipment engineering. Phil Tilson, Head of Technology at the school, commented, "Our teachers really appreciated the visit to the Aker Kvaerner workshops. It gave those teachers with little practical knowledge of hands-on engineering real time association with the practices they are teaching. It has also helped the teachers to give more of a vision to school children about an engineering career."

Malcolm Potter, Manager of the Tees Valley Engineering Partnership (TVEP), added, "TVEP is an employer consortium, which has been resourced to examine new and better ways that schools and industry can work together more closely and coherently. The Partnership will continue to back Aker Kvaerner's initiatives and will work with them and other forward-thinking companies to ensure that youngsters are well informed, motivated and excited by potential careers in the buoyant engineering sector."

The success of the courses provided by Aker Kvaerner's engineering services business has already been acknowledged by Aker Kvaerner globally. The 'Developing a Sense of HSE' scheme won the European HSE Excellence Award for 2005. Peter Fulford, Director of HSEQ at Aker Kvaerner's engineering services business commented, "At Aker Kvaerner, we have a strong HSE mindset in everything we do.  By allocating the time to develop and deliver the courses in support of this initiative, we believe we are developing that mindset in our employees of the future.  This will aid the improvement and maintenance of a good HSE performance not just for our company but the whole engineering community."

Sylvia Callaghan, Senior Safety & Occupational Health Advisor for Aker Kvaerner, added, "The average age of engineers throughout the region is rising year-on-year. It is vital that we continue to encourage and inspire our school leavers to take up careers in engineering so that the region can continue to produce engineering services of a high standard. The local government sponsored training authorities have asked us to continue to work with over 20 schools who are involved in the scheme."

Schools in the region have now introduced the GCSE double award in Engineering and in excess of 500 learners experience the programme. Schools and learners are supported and trained by NETA and the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA), as well as an integrated and innovative Tees Valley Engineering Network of collaborative providers and employers [Aker Kvaerner, Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB), Learn2work, the Local Education Authority (LEA), colleges and other work-based learning (WBA) providers].

As part of the GCSE in Engineering and following five years of development work with schools, Aker Kvaerner is also supporting the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH) in the development of a Foundation Safety Passport. Building on these successes, more schools are in the process of applying for engineering status with the aim of offering more students the GCSE in Engineering. The partnership with IOSH has been key to this.

With continued support from IOSH, this initiative has the potential to grow nationally in the UK and could feature on the national schools curriculum. Aker Kvaerner is extremely proud of its involvement in the development of this initiative.

- To create enhanced vocational and work-related learning opportunities for 14-16 year olds.

- To achieve a co-ordinated, dynamic approach to raise the profile and awareness of the WBL engineering routes within schools.

- To deliver technical & vocational skills required by an advanced economy.

- To create a successful alternative to the formal academic route that schools traditionally promote.

- To promote and improve the prospects and broaden skills & employability of young people in WBL Engineering.

- To raise the aspirations and achievements of young people.

Jan Marciniak, Chair of LSDA Tees Valley Engineering Network and Vocational Development Manager at the NETA training centre also added, "We aim to achieve a co-ordinated, dynamic approach to raise the profile and awareness of the engineering possibilities within schools. Our efforts are now starting to see the benefits of the collaborative innovative working between schools, colleges, training providers and employers such as Aker Kvaerner.

"School leavers are now acquiring the technical and vocational skills required by the local economy. However, we still need more schools to join the GCSE scheme as well as our introductory sessions at the NETA training centre, and I would urge any of our local schools that may be interested in the scheme to contact me."

For more information about opportunities at Aker Kvaerner please contact Human Resources on Tel: 01642 602221. To find out more about the Engineering GCSE opportunities available please contact Jan Marciniak, Chair of Tees Valley Engineering Network, on Tel: 01642 379440.

ENDS

 

 

Media:
Mark Corry, Aker Kvaerner, Stockton-on-Tees, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1642 331400

Vanessa Mourant, Communications Manager - E&C Europe, Aker Kvaerner, London, UK. Mob: +44 (0)7771 806566

 

AKER KVÆRNER ASA, through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Aker Kvaerner"), is a leading global provider of engineering and construction services, technology products and integrated solutions. The business within Aker Kvaerner comprises several industries, including Oil & Gas, Refining & Chemicals, Mining & Metals, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Power Generation and Pulp & Paper. The Aker Kvaerner group is organised into two principal business streams, namely Oil & Gas and E&C, each consisting of a number of separate legal entities. Aker Kvaerner is used as the common brand/trademark for most of these entities.

The parent company in the group is Aker Kværner ASA. Aker Kvaerner has aggregated annual revenues of approximately NOK 35.6 billion and employs approximately 22,000 people in more than 30 countries.

Aker Kvaerner is part of the Aker Group (www.akerasa.com), a leading multi-industry powerhouse with more than 40 000 employees and NOK 60 billion revenues. Aker owns 50.01 per cent of Aker Kvaerner, and the group is also a major European shipbuilder and a significant participant in the fisheries industry.

 

AK Engineering Services is the trading name of Aker Kvaerner Engineering Services Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of AKER KVAERNER ASA and the legal entity responsible for the execution of the contract. AK Engineering Services provides total asset life cycle solutions including conceptual design, engineering, procurement, project management, construction and commissioning, through to operation and maintenance services, modifications and process improvements.  Also offered are consultancy services in reliability, business modelling and environmental, health, safety and risk management.

This press release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to our disclaimer, see our web-pages www.akerkvaerner.com