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Author Topic: Theresa May plans for "builder's universities"  (Read 7766 times)

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Theresa May plans for "builder's universities"
« on: January 23, 2017, 01:11:56 pm »
Prime Minister plans "builders universities" to train an army of young manual workers.

So says a headline in yesterday's Mail On Sunday. 
Under the proposal Theresa May wants to declare war on "educational snobbery" by setting up a network of "prestigious 'builder universities' to train a post-brexit generation of manual workers."

Yet another scheme to earmark billions of taxpayer pounds for training schemes that fail to deliver.
As anyone in the industry would tell them, youngsters on YTS and apprenticeship schemes or whatever else they may be called, are virtually forced into these schemes. They don't want to be bricklayers etc, most would (and do) rather stay in bed.

These schemes do little to address the oft-quoted 'skills-shortage' in the industry - something that housebuilders in particular, have failed to do anything about since the CITB was set up in July 1964. Yes over 50 years ago!  What these training schemes do generate, is an army of new course tutors, assessors and other social hand holders to "help bridge the gap between education and the workplace."

It would be far better to properly fund old-fashioned style apprenticeship schemes.
Where apprentices learn by doing actual work, supervised on a one-to one basis such as a plumber and plumber's mate, rather than in a classroom with a few days on site as the plumber's gopher.

The Mail On Sunday article states that a University Degree adds £100,000 to a graduate's earnings over their lifetime. Well I can categorically say that it this is not the case in the building industry! It also states that the average plumber earns "is just over £28,000 a year."
It may say that on his tax return, but most plumbers working onsite expect at least £250 a day (£90,000 a year).  In comparison, a graduate site manager can expect between £45,000 to £55,000 a year.

Just to show how out of touch ministers are, Lord Baker comments in the article that "apprentices can earn up to £20,000 a year"
Really, just £8,000 less that the average skilled plumber then? 
In the real world Lord Baker, away from the ermine and expenses, apprentices can legally be paid less than the minimum wage!
No wonder most of these young lads don’t want to get out of bed and work 8 hours on a freezing cold wind-swept, muddy building site!

In any event as beleaguered new homebuyers will attest, housebuilders never learn!
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