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With many trades facing a skills shortage, parents would be happier for their children to train for a vocation such as building rather than go to university, according to new research by the Federation of Master Builders.
More than half of those questioned said they would prefer that their school leavers opted for job-related training rather than academic study, which would saddle them with debt. And the vast majority (91%) of those questioned said they would like to see the government focus spending on vocational courses such as building rather than more academic subjects.
"Many dream of working for themselves - vocational training provides school leavers with a marketable skill, which can act as a stepping stone for the more entrepreneurial to set up or run their own business," said Ian Davis, FMB director general.
"In the building industry, we face a shortage of skilled tradespeople - from plumbers to carpenters, bricklayers to plasterers - but by training in these skills it can just be the start: One of our members, James Squirrell, started at the bottom, mixing mortar, loading bricks and sweeping up and seven years later he is running the building firm James Allen Construction, which now turns over £3m a year.
Entering the building industry is definitely a choice favoured by many parents. When asked about their children's' career paths, the research found that parents would rather their children chose the building profession over the police force, farming, retailing, journalism or catering - and would far prefer them entering the building profession rather than becoming estate agents.
Over 55% of parents of boys would be as happy for their sons to go into building as into lucrative computer programming. Both these careers were favoured by a far higher number of parents than farming, teaching or the police force.
And, a quarter of parents of girls would be happy for their daughters to go into a building career - more popular than hairdressing, secretarial work, farming, catering or retailing.
Parents also said they were 50% more likely to encourage their children into a career in building than they would have been five years ago, indicating that the image has improved.
"The reputation of the building profession continues to improve. School leavers who are faced with the choice between debt-saddled academic study or an apprenticeship, where you earn while you learn, can see the sense in pursuing a career in building, where they can work on interesting projects and earn good money," said Ian Davis.
James Squirrell said:
"Building is one of the only professions, where if you have gumption and determination you can start with a broom and end up running the company. And the earning potential of the building industry far exceeds most other professions, given the level of qualifications required. In fact, we have just taken on a £25K-a-year computer programmer who has left his job and salary to start learning to be a builder with us. If all goes well, he'll be running part of the business within a couple of years."
The FMB works with the construction industry's training organisation, CITB- ConstructionSkills, to encourage a high calibre of school leavers into the building profession.
First posted: 6 August 2004. Last modified: 6 August 2004.
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