[QUOTE=Hairyplane;I don’t know what the answer is. for we live in a world where Joe Soap will think nothing of paying nearly a hundred quid an hour to have his car serviced but will balk at less than half that for skills the well paid mechanic ( sorry-Technician!) in the nice, modern, warm(!) car workshop couldn’t shake a stick at.
How many youngsters are learning the artisan skills of aircraft woodworking? Where do they learn it? How can they afford to learn it? I see a major skill shortage looming.
H[/QUOTE]
Its not just aircraft woodworking!
The skill shortage isn’t looming its already here, the schools and education system in the UK are gradually killing manufacturing industries, I have recently put two young lads through college as apprentice Joiners, when they came to me straight from school they totally lacked any hands on practical experience, the design and technology classes they received appeared to be woefully inadequate, too much time was spent on the theory of a project and too little on actually constructing it.
As they progressed through college it became evident to me that a very large section of the course was spent on Health and Safety instruction to the detriment of practical ‘hands on training’. They both went onto achieve passes of distinction but there depth of knowledge and abilities are far inferior to those that would have been accepted twenty years ago.
How do we we change the trend, reintroduce woodwork, metalwork and some basic engineering to the national curriculum, (Everyone can’t be in IT or leisure and tourism!) Encourage those that shine in practical subject areas, there should be no stigma attached to following this career path.
Encourage organisations that have the facilities to run vocational training courses that raise the bar far higher than the current NVQ’s. These courses could be available to school leavers as well as those looking for a change of career direction. (Perhaps the Shuttleworth Collection could itself be involved with this type of project offering both Aircraft and Vehicle restoration courses!)
And lastly take a step back from this risk assessment and blame culture that we live in today, allow people of whatever age to have a go and get there hands dirty.
Septic.
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