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Pan-London Tutors in Construction Project
Tue 7 Mar 2006
Construction Web's Lloyd Heath attended the LDA supported Pan-London Tutors in
Construction Workshop on the 23rd February 2006 in Stratford.
The workshop was an opportunity for tutors, training providers and Construction
Web to look at the problems facing tutors in construction.
Some of the items on the agenda included problems faced by the colleges such as -
Shortage of tutors.
Teacher training.
Skills shortages and gaps
Costs associated with training.
Conditions attached to planning consents.
Common Problem Denominators Were:
*Colleges are full to capacity and small training providers are struggling to cope with demand.
*There have been cuts in funding with mainstream funding for colleges being reduced therefore affecting quality.
*There are not enough good tutors.
*Some training providers do not have coherent lesson plans.
*Section 106 - there are problems around getting relevant practical training for the local labour workforce.
These were issues that have been around the industry for a while now so the challenge
for the workshop attendees was to come up with problem solving suggestions: This
brought everyone into the discussion and as a result some interesting suggestions
were made:
Suggestions:
1) It would be an idea for students to gain the 'ambience' of a worksite by training
next to one and perhaps even lunching in the same canteen as workers.
2) Tutors could arrive on site one day a week to work 'acdemically' with workers and then eventually when the workers became naturalised to that, they could be then brought into the classroom.
3) Teaching students via a non specialist teacher to manage the class assisted with specialist input from a tradesperson.
4) Include within the section 106 agreements, a requirement for education and training of the local labour in partnership with colleges. This would then cascade down from developer to sub contractors forming part of the section 106 contract conditions.
5) Increase tutor salaries- through sponspership (part-salary) eg, CITB / other companies.
6) Have more evening and weekend classes.
7) The possible secondment of a college tutor into constrcution for short periods within the current NVQ syllabus to keep up with the latest techniques.
On hindsight it could only be conceived as a positive step that various individuals
could discuss the problems at hand, but ultimately more help is needed. Maybe
that could come in the form of a proper framework, informal or through legislation,
that would actively promote the synergy of practical experience and theory for
students so that contractors would really want to get involved.
