Design, Engineer, Construct, Inspire
Not many people know that I originally trained to be a Design and Technology teacher, it was a career that wasn’t suited for me but seemed like the right option when I was 17. Actually the two options I was floating between were teaching and architecture. I’d always been interested in our built environment, but despite my aptitude in that space, neither my teachers advising me, or my mother, thought it was a ‘good use of my brain’.
On reflection I wonder where these biases come from, some of the most inspiring, brilliant people I know went into the architecture route. In fact the whole of the construction space is seen by many teachers and parents as a bad career option. In fact I’ve often heard any route into the built environment being seen as one for the ‘thick kids’, which is incredibly insulting to nearly 10% of the UK workforce. In fact 73% of parents in a survey from Kier wouldn’t even want their children to consider a career in construction.
According to the same report from Kier there’s a need for 400,000 workers across construction through till 2021, at the same time there are 140,000 workers leaving the industry each year which will only increase as the generation of baby boomers retire. So there will be jobs for young people in an industry that will have to evolve with technology based on shortages of skills in traditional trades. The 2015 book Rise of the Robots by Martin Ford discusses the fact that many traditional ‘good careers’ like law and medicine are very susceptible to machine learning and automation, and whilst there will inevitably be huge impacts to how the work is done in construction, with population increases and needs to build and renovate much more over the next few decades there will be increased need for good people in the industry.
The myth that these are dull, low skilled and poorly paid jobs is quickly put to rest with a quick online search. High skills jobs like BIM Managers (a relatively new technology based role) averaging over £50k in London, Architects at £47k, and Construction managers at the big Tier 1 contractors commanding over £70k a year (according to reported salaries on Glassdoor), these are wages many parents and teachers and would be more than happy to see their offspring on. At the same time they are solving complex problems on a daily basis providing unique challenges, and helping shape the world around us, literally leaving their mark on the planet.
The recent changes in education towards the Baccalaureate GCSE and the drive towards core academic subjects, has pushed many subjects, where young people are inspired into their future careers, into the sidelines. Ironically many of these subjects provide the reasons for people to concentrate on Maths, Science and English and get the results they need.
I’ve been a big supporter of the Design, Engineer, Construct curriculum in the UK for many years, because it does many of the things that I’ve seen lacking in parts of teaching for a while. A way to inspire young people into amazing careers, a way of pulling together many of the learning’s they have in core subjects into practical uses, and a way of making young people employable, whether they decide to go straight into work at 16 or carry on through university. They work on real world projects, using real world tools, from improving their own school, to HS2 train stations, and housing for the future, doing this with help and advice from mentors working in industry.
In comparison whilst I was in training for teaching, we were learning a ‘kid friendly’ CAD system, simplified for use in schools, this system was drastically different to that used in industry, meaning that those skills weren’t transferable to future courses or employment. Think back to your own experiences, how many of us made vacuum packed moisture sensors, or wooden boxes? Today young people across the country are learning how to use industry tools, whilst learning key principles to all aspects of design and construction like surveying, the benefits highlighted in this report from Heriot Watt University.
I remember a group of students showing off their projects in the keynote of a large construction conference, the mutters from the older generations in the crowd went from ‘what the hell are they doing up on stage’ to ‘wow, even our guys aren’t doing this yet’. One of the most inspiring things about this course is how it is helping those who would typically be left behind academically, and providing relevancy to those core subjects. Young people who would have ignored core subjects, now wanted to get good results to allow them to pursue careers that got them excited.
One teacher I know, Helen Vardy from King Ecgbert School in Sheffield, proudly states that in her class there are 2 students on degree apprenticeships, 2 more on higher apprenticeships, 6 more on built environment degrees and 4 on Level 3 Civil Engineering at college, these doors wouldn’t have been opened without the Design, Engineer Construct (DEC) course.
It’s obvious that construction isn’t historically the most glamorous or diverse industry, however it’s on the verge of big changes as they embrace IT and automation. An industry that today has the image of men in muddy boots, will in the space of the next generation coming through, become about robotics and coding to produce more for a growing population, to better standards with less resources as sustainability comes to the fore. Who is best equipped to help us through this difficult transition with fresh ideas, enthusiasm for how new technology solves problems, and a moral compass that it’s fair to say has been sometimes lacking in the industry…?
Despite all this the hurdles that have been provided to help make DEC a standard qualification in England, which differ massively to the support seen in Scotland, seem to be a political choice based upon the biases from generations gone by, rather than the needs of generations to come. This recent exchange in the House of Lords, indicates that the qualification is not up to the required standard, despite the support of industry, further education and the students who have taken it, that is exactly what is needed, and it having met that same standard for the last few years. I’m certain that the team at DEC will, if supported by the Department for Education, do all they can to meet the provided standards as the industry desperately needs these young people, assuming that they are given a fair chance to do so. If you feel like there’s a need for this curriculum then feel free to reuse this letter that Robert Klaschka has put together to ask your MP to put pressure on the Department for Education.
We have an opportunity for change, it starts with parents and teachers not dismissing a whole set of careers based on a dated stereotype, and encouraging the next generation to really help make the world a better place.
