Paul O’Donnell, head of external affairs at The
Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) explains the
need for schemes to promote engineering and
manufacturing as a career to young people

As representatives of the engineeringbased
manufacturing sector we at the
MTA are sometimes asked: “What do
employers need from technician and higherlevel
skills training?” I’ve been asked that by
lecturers, politicians civil servants and
quangocrats. They usually want to hear the
answer “Precisely what you are offering
them!” but that wouldn’t be true.

The clear message from employers is that
training needs to be relevant to the
workplace and for that to be the case it
should be flexible enough to be more job
specific. In order for this is happen far better
links between businesses and the training
institutions, with a more collaborative
approach between provider and business,
need to be established.

Business led bodies are less likely to fall
victim to the practice of sub-contraction.

With each level the funding passes through
an administration fee is taken out reducing
the funding each time – the whole point of
funding is to enable the young person to
benefit from state help; however, much of
the funding never reaches the end recipient
and is wasted on
‘Management/Administration fees’. This is a
far from trivial point and causes significant
waste. There is a need for a mechanism to be
put in place which allows accredited
independent training providers – providing
the service – to access funding directly.

There is a recognition right across the
piece that Post 19 funding should be based
on a split between the employee, employer
and the state. However there are more (and
less) cost effective means of delivery
available. One such is via Group Training
Associations, which don’t carry the
administrative overheads of mainstream FE
colleges and can drive down cost for
employers.With shared requirements
between companies, locally run courses
suddenly become more cost effective and
business are more likely to take part. MTA
member companies who are involved in
them report that they are much more
responsive and flexible as well as delivering
better value for money.

From a trainee’s perspective the
progression pathways from 14-19 vocational
qualifications to advanced and higher
apprenticeships and then on to foundation
or Bachelor’s degrees can be very difficult to
identify. Information, advice and guidance,
particularly in schools, is universally
reported to be woeful. There is such a lack of
understanding of engineering that advice is
poor. Schools do not always have a positive
approach to the vocational route, especially
in recognising that it can often be the most
appropriate for their more able students.

That lack of clarity about the options that
are out there is one reason why there is a
need for schemes to promote engineering
and manufacturing as a career to young
people. The MTA is involved in two such
programmes: Imagineering was set up by an
MTA stalwart, Bob Shanks, and runs afterschool
clubs designed to encourage primary
school children to enjoy and develop STEM
skills. The success of these clubs has seen
them spread rapidly across the UK and there
are now 150 nationwide. A further 100 are
expected to be created over the next few
years. Imagineering also runs fairs across the
country around four times per year – the
largest being Stoneleigh Park over the August
Bank Holiday weekend. Activities and
support from businesses attract thousands of
visitors. See www.imagineeringweb.co.uk for
more details.

The TDI Challenge is a national
competition for budding engineers. Split into
two age groups (14-16 and 17-19) entries
come from schools and colleges across the
UK. A prestigious finals day is hosted by
Yamazaki Mazak in Worcester with finalists
presenting to a panel of industry judges. The
top three in each age group are awarded
prizes. It is a great opportunity for high
achieving young people to get the inside
track on engineering based manufacturing
and last year we were delighted that one of
the winners subsequently opted to do an
apprenticeship with an MTA member
As regards that next stage of an engineer’s
development, in 2008,MTA launched its
own Apprenticeship scheme to encourage
member companies to invest in Apprentice
training. £100,000 was made available to
support members with a turnover of less
than £5million taking on a new Apprentice.

The success of the scheme prompted the
Committee to commit to further years and
the MTA has now supported over 30 new
apprentices joining the industry.