Kent College Principal Cites ‘Perfect Storm’ in Shortage of Bricklaying Instructors

The head of a college in Kent is urging the government to allocate funds for additional bricklaying instructors, aiming to support the training of future housebuilders. The government has committed to constructing 1.5 million residences in England before the upcoming election, yet concerns persist regarding a potential deficit of skilled labor within the construction sector. Simon Cook stated that programs offered by institutions such as Mid Kent College contribute to addressing these deficiencies, but he reported difficulty in recruiting sufficient instructors to broaden training provisions, attributing this partly to an inability to provide competitive salaries. The Department for Education indicated its commitment to investing in educational initiatives and restructuring skills provision, including a retention incentive payment for individuals in the early stages of their construction careers. Mid Kent College provides vocational programs, including bricklaying, plumbing, and carpentry, for students aged 16-18, alongside adult education and apprenticeship schemes. Approximately 800 teenagers are presently enrolled in construction skills courses at the college; however, personnel indicated that demand is high enough to readily accommodate 2,000 students. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) projected that the government’s residential construction initiatives would necessitate an additional 159,000 workers, supplementing the 250,000 already required for other anticipated building projects extending to 2028. Mr. Cook explained that the difficulty lies in securing instructors for courses such as bricklaying, given that budgetary constraints result in staff earning “around £20,000 less” in an educational setting compared to potential earnings on a construction site. “There is no way with the funding we receive we could ever compete with those salaries,” the principal stated. “There is this perfect storm where we now have lots of organisations that need skilled and qualified staff in their workforce, but we don’t have enough young people coming through those routes yet to be able to go into those [industries]. The cork in the bottle is organisations like ours.” He indicated that the college would be able to provide additional courses should the government augment its investment in teacher salaries. “[We] can do that, are willing to step up and do that, are already doing that at scale for many of our local employers, but can do even more with the right investment.” Mr. Cook further mentioned that the government granted a salary increase to academic teachers soon after the general election. “A teacher in further education [FE] earns on average about £10,000 less than their equivalent teacher teaching in [an academic] school,” he stated. Naushabah Khan, the Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham, visited the college and indicated her intention to bring the matter to the government’s attention. “The government has got ambitious plans to build 1.5 million new homes by the next Parliament, as well as huge infrastructure development. The core to that is going to be ensuring that we’ve got the homegrown skills to feed the next generation of workers in this country.” “I’m a big believer in investing in vocational skills, and I know the government is as well.” A spokesperson for the Department for Education commented: “We are driving forward our plan for change by investing in education and reforming skills provision to foster growth and equip people with the tools they need to succeed in the future.” “To boost recruitment and retention of teachers, the targeted retention incentive now gives eligible early career construction teachers working in FE colleges up to £6,000 after tax annually. “Additionally, the Taking Teaching Further programme supports those with relevant knowledge and/or industry experience to retrain as FE teachers, including those from construction.” The CITB stated its collaboration with the government to address the demand. A spokesperson remarked: “Most recently, in partnership with the government and National House Building Council (NHBC), we launched homebuilding skills hubs to deliver fast-track apprenticeships and high-quality training. “Once fully rolled out, the hubs are estimated to deliver up to 5,000 new homebuilding apprenticeship starts and job opportunities each year. Up to 32 hubs will be launched by 2027.” Readers can connect with BBC Kent on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Story ideas may be submitted via email to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or through WhatsApp at 08081 002250. This material is copyrighted by BBC in 2024, with all rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding its approach to external linking is available.