News
Inspiring the Construction workforce of the future
CITB NI recognise that skills shortages and an aging workforce are putting the construction industry at risk. CITB NI are working with employers, stakeholders and Government to promote career opportunities, generate awareness and review apprenticeship training standards in order to support the workforce of the local construction industry.
Apprenticeships are the lifeblood of the construction industry and we need employers to recruit and retain apprentices. It is vital that the right training is in place to produce the highly-skilled workforce required and to help encourage more talented young people into construction. CITB NI have boosted the apprenticeship grants available to registered employers for those who take on apprentices and higher level apprentices.
Not everyone is aware of the opportunities that a construction career can bring. Stereotypical and out dated imagery of working in construction can be off putting which results in a lot of young people dismissing it as a career option. Construction is more than bricks and mortar. It covers the design, construction and maintenance of buildings and infrastructure projects such as bridges, roads, tunnels, waterways, etc and boasts a wide variety of careers including skilled trades, IT, marketing, project management, design and much more. With this in mind CITB NI are working with the Federation of Master Builders, Construction Employers Federation and other employer groups to help dispel the myths about construction and to encourage young people to consider it as a career option.
CITB NI is also focusing on the structure, format and standard of apprenticeship training to help identify future construction apprenticeship needs, raise the quality of apprenticeship programmes and work better and more effectively with industry, training providers and awarding bodies. In order to ensure the standards meet the needs of industry CITB NI needs input from employers on the demand for the apprenticeship framework and have designed a short survey on nine occupation areas. It is important to get industry views to help shape the way apprentices will be trained and qualified in the future.
High quality construction apprenticeships are vital to building the homes and infrastructure our economy needs. By getting views of the employer CITB NI can help improve construction apprenticeship training leading to more talented individuals joining the sector. Log on to https://bit.ly/2t82ocD and find the occupational area that you are involved in and help us with the survey.