Northern Ireland’s construction industry needs to change its attitude toward investment in training, according to student James Gleghorne, who graduates today with a BEng (Hons) Environmental Engineering.

James, 47, conducted a survey among construction industry employers part of his degree studies, and found that firms were reluctant to invest in training for their employees.

“Contractors only wanted to engage in training if they really had to do it: it wasn’t something they were particularly enthusiastic about” said the Antrim civil servant, who studied part-time over four years for his degree.

He felt it was going to be very difficult to change what he found was a fairly entrenched resistance to training in the sector

“ Unfortunately, unless employers see some benefit in it for them, it may be necessary to use the ‘big stick’, perhaps making a demonstrable investment in training a precondition for access to public sector contracts and tenders,” he said.

“Short of that, the short-term profit motive will always tend to kick in,” he felt.

He was also concerned about the way training was funded.  In other parts of Europe, employers receive grants to encourage them to commit to quality skills training for their staff

James was at pains to stress that his survey also found excellent firms who were deeply committed to offering top-quality training and training opportunities to their employees – but they were not in the majority.

“Unfortunately, there is a cultural resistance to training in the construction industry which will not easily be overcome,” he said.


Winter Graduation News 2005

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David Young
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