Stories about a widening skills gap in the industrial sector pour in, alerting us to the shortage of expertise in a field that is crucial to economic growth. This month, the inaugural Industrial Cadets Awards celebrated those who are striving to actively change this predicament.
The event involved the Prince of Wales and leading industrialists. The awards were held to bring further recognition to the Industrial Cadets programme, an initiative that was inspired by Prince Charles himself and was launched by Tata Steel in 2011. The programme encourages employers to engage with the education of school students in a concerted attempt to help close the skills gaps.
Jon Bolton, chief executive of Liberty Steel UK’s Plate Division and chair of the leadership team Ambassadors for Industrial Cadets, recalls how the idea was born out of a visit to Teesside in May 2010. “There was concern about industry, and the Prince of Wales came to visit. We were talking about inspiring the next generation to get involved in industry. He challenged me to look at something in that area. So we came up with concept of Industrial Cadets.”
The name of the programme was suggested by Prince Charles, and, six months after the discussion, Bolton had rolled out a pilot programme within Tata Steel to engage with local schools on the issue. The pilot involved 25 students, aged 13-14 years, from five schools. The programme lasted eight weeks, and included visits to plants, interacting with professionals, and running Stem-related exercises. At the end, the students “graduated” as Industrial Cadets.
Prince Charles came to observe the pilot programme in action, and, after being impressed with what he saw, continued to promote the initiative. Bolton says: “The Prince of Wales has been a passionate supporter. He’s very positive about it.”
The programme has now evolved into three levels: gold, silver and bronze. The different levels are based on hours of engagement and intensity of the programme. Bolton says the programme offers a versatile approach.
“It will vary from company to company,” he says. “It’s a framework of accredited programmes to introduce young people to industry.”
Industrial Cadets believes that young people need to be shown a glimpse into the world of engineering while they are still in school, and the earlier the better. Bolton says: “How do people make the decision at a young age to go on an apprenticeship? How do they make an informed decision? Career advice is patchy and general in nature. How do you give them a picture of what industry is like? The picture that they have of industry from the media can be negative. This programme is designed to give them an overview of what industry is like.”
The automotive sector has been an active participant in Industrial Cadets, and one of the biggest companies involved happens to be Nissan. Ian Green, section manager at Nissan UK, is heavily involved in engaging with schools in his region to inspire children to consider careers in automotive manufacturing. Green runs Industrial Cadets accredited programmes through the Nissan Skills Foundation and was nominated in the Changemaker of the Year category at the awards.
He says: “Within the North East I tell businesses what Industrial Cadets do, to come and see the programmes that we are running. A lot of companies want to do things but they don’t have the infrastructure. We contact the schools and get the kids. First, they spend a day with us and then we send them to those companies and have talks and tours to see what careers are within those businesses. We’ve done this for 40 businesses. We’re hoping this will help small companies do this themselves eventually.
“You have this framework and career guidance. Within that you can do what you like. I have three pilot programmes I want to run this year. We have done 450 students, 155 are girls. I’m targeting 50% girls but I’m at 37%.
“We’ve got two big programmes in primary schools. It’s about saying Stem is really interesting, manufacturing is really interesting, because you need to start early and go back to primary school. We’re putting 7,500 kids every year through formal programmes.”
Green is passionate about increasing the number of girls on the programmes. He says that very few apply. But Nissan is developing a programme specifically for girls that will roll out in April.
Green believes that Industrial Cadets could play a vital part in narrowing the skills gap as the programme grows and will help to diversify the skill sets of the students and open more doors for them in the search for a career.
He says: “There are careers in these businesses, and an apprenticeship could lead to a degree funded through the business. We want to show there are different career paths to take. The underpinning knowledge of engineering is always there.”
One individual who took part in Industrial Cadets to explore career options was Chloe Pascoe, who was nominated for Cadet of the Year. She landed a work placement with Jacobs, a provider of technical and construction services, that was supported by Industrial Cadets. Now she’s an apprentice at the company.
“Industrial Cadets was recommended by a local training provider,” she says. “It was about getting my foot in the door for the career path I wanted to take. I wanted to do project control and management. The week consisted of different days dedicated to each discipline. It gave me an insight into other things that I may not have been keen on. It settled my career choice for me. I’m starting my degree in September and going down the right path.” Pascoe remains involved with the Industrial Cadets. She coordinates the scheme’s activity for Jacobs and is even developing a work experience programme at the company as part of that role. She is also running Stem events to promote women in engineering.
“I think it’s really important from a school age to know what you want to do,” says Pascoe. “Having been through the process, you can pass on your experience to those who are younger.”
Dr Gordon Mizner is the chief executive of the Engineering Development Trust, the charity that manages Industrial Cadets nationally, and believes that the awards will help raise the profile of the movement so that more traction can be gained with employers and young people.
“The purpose of the awards is to celebrate the fifth anniversary since the Prince of Wales coined the term Industrial Cadets,” says Mizner. “He’s been supportive right the way through. He’s passionate about the youth agenda and British manufacturing.”
The awards are a first step towards a larger push planned for Industrial Cadets this year. Mizner and Bolton want to extend the programme nationally to primary schools. Bolton says: “We need to create more regional networks and partnerships to offer more workplace experiences. We want to get more small firms. Another initiative is with the aerospace sector. We want to see more sector participations, apart from individual companies. This creates a framework in which we can provide more engagement opportunities.”
Bolton would also like to see Industrial Cadets become part of the government’s industrial strategy and apprenticeship levy. And Green describes the programme as “the industrial version of the Duke of Edinburgh’s awards”.
Industrial Cadets promises to make a significant contribution towards motivating school students to explore the world of manufacturing industry and recruiting future engineers to help to fill the skills gap.