COVER STORY OCTOBER 2019
Apprenticeships the route to top jobs
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More than 1,000 Leeds students from 40 schools joined online with an audience
of young people at specialist engineering and manufacturing college UTC Leeds
to receive fi rst-hand advice on working in the city’s diverse manufacturing sector.
Taking place as part of the Leeds Manufacturing Festival, the event saw a
nine-strong panel of employers and apprentices from some of the city’s
manufacturing fi rms give candid answers to students’ questions on careers in
the industry. It was chaired by Craig Burton, managing director of manufacturing
recruitment business The Works.
Students heard how apprenticeships could be a shrewd route into a sector,
enabling many young people progress to management and directorship roles.
“The great thing about manufacturing as a career is the huge range of opportunities
it opens up once you are in it,” said Graeme Hall, executive chairman of Brandon
Medical, which manufactures operating theatre lighting and control systems.
“I’ve always worked in manufacturing and have had many di erent roles during
my career, from design, to sales, to travelling the world as part of my job. Its huge
scope guarantees that lots of opportunities will come up for you if you work in the
manufacturing sector.”
David Noble, production manager at ESG, which manufactures lights and sirens
for emergency vehicles, said: “Like most manufacturers we see people as our biggest
asset, so when someone joins us, as an apprentice or at any level, they are important
to us and are immediately part of the team.
“We want to see young people fl ourish and develop, and you really can go
right to the top. Career progression is rewarding and it’s all down to commitment
and hard work.”
Brandon Medical, ESG, jukebox fi rm Sound Leisure, fi breglass composites
manufacturer MPM, and high-tech printing products manufacturer Agfa Graphics
were all represented on the panel, answering a range of questions put by the
audience at UTC and via Twitter.
Festival organiser, and Agfa Graphics director Graham Cooper said: “The Leeds
Manufacturing Festival is all about raising the awareness among young people, and
their parents, that there are loads of brilliant opportunities out there in the city’s
vibrant manufacturing sector.
“As we’ve heard so convincingly today from the people at the coal face,
manufacturing isn’t just about working on the shopfl oor but involves a really
diverse range of di erent jobs and apprenticeships are a great way to enter the
industry. There are 26,000 people working in manufacturing in Leeds alone so that
gives you some idea of the scale of the career opportunities on o er.”
Alex Burnham, principal of UTC Leeds, said: “Enabling our students to engage
with employers and fi nd out more about industry opportunities is fundamental
to our approach. Leeds Manufacturing Festival Live was a great showcase for the
diversity of career opportunities available in the city’s manufacturing sector.”
Susan Scurlock
of Primary
Engineer
warns that
T-Levels need
commitment
from
government
manufacturers overwhelmingly
want to see real change, not
tinkering at the edges of a skills
system that is just too slow, too
complex and increasingly too
late to deliver the skills needed
by tomorrow’s technologies,”
says Thomas.
T-Levels: the next big
thing, or a fl ash in the pan?
Instead of fi xing the Levy,
government attention has
turned to its next saviour for
the industry: T-Levels. The
government set out its plan
for a “world-class technical
education system” in a Post-
16 Skills Plan, published in
July 2016. Part of this was
a recognition for formal
practical training on a par
with traditional A-Levels. In
October 2017, it announced
a formal action plan for the
implementation of T-Levels.
When the fi rst qualifi cations
are rolled out in September
2020, they will form one half of
the technical education off er,
alongside apprenticeships.
They are intended to support
entry into skilled employment
and potentially replace the
majority of, if not all, Level 3
vocational qualifi cations.
The hope is that this
approach will simplify the
plethora of training options
that currently exist for
16-year-olds. Ofqual estimates
that there are currently 248
technical certifi cates, 433 Tech
Levels and a staggering 14,083
‘Other vocational and technical
qualifi cations’ currently
available, compared to just 503
possible A-Levels.
In a report (T-Levels: make
or break for UK manufacturers? –
https://bit.ly/2ASt8SB) published
in June this year, Make UK has
praised the thinking behind
T-Levels, saying that “they
can be part of the solution
to help fi ll the skills gap our
industry faces and address the
fact that more than 70% of
manufacturers are concerned
about fi nding the skills they
need for their business.”
However, the Make UK
report also found a worrying
lack of understanding around
T-Levels within the industry.
/www.manufacturingmanage-
/2ASt8SB)