Grampian Construction Training and Construction Industry Training Board is working in partnership with several key partners, to launch a series of construction, engineering and building services challenges, to highlight the varied and exciting careers within the sector to S2 pupils in the North-east of Scotland.
Key objectives of the challenge are:
- To position the construction industry as a buoyant, exciting and potentially lucrative sector to work in.
- To promote and celebrate success stories within the industry.
- To educate students, teachers and parents about the breadth of careers available within the industry.
- To familiarise pupils with new learning and potential career environments.
This initiative, which is based on a project that has been running very successfully in Edinburgh and the Lothians for almost 20 years, will be the first of its kind in the North-east, and is a unique opportunity for educational institutes, training providers, industry associations and businesses to work together to achieve these objectives.
Teacher participants of the Edinburgh challenges have spoken about how it helps both them and their pupils appreciate the wide range of careers within construction, whilst also being a perfect fit for the STEM initiative and the Curriculum for Excellence.
Pupils attending the event are incredibly motivated by the competitive nature of the event. They can only succeed by ‘contributing effectively’ in their team – each member of the team needs to contribute and work flexibly with one and other.
Each activity is tailor made by the college and university lecturers, or business leaders to ensure participants can prove they are ‘successful learners’ – pupils have to display basic literacy and numeracy skills to use technology and think creatively in order to complete the task.
In addition, pupils display enthusiasm and excitement about the learning experience. Over the course of the activities it can be seen that ‘confident individuals’ begin to emerge – the ambition to compete successfully and the satisfaction on completion of the activities is evident.
Across a six-month period, the competition will enable around 300 pupils (30 teams of 10) and 30 teaches to gain valuable experience and insight into these industries, through a list of group heats that have included:
Joisting, designing and building weight-bearing structures, bridge building, plumbing a radiator, and designing the roads of the future to name only a few.
The heats will take place in October and November 2019 at colleges, universities and businesses throughout Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, giving pupils the opportunity to explore new learning environments, dispel any myths around what a career in construction looks like, and talk to staff and experts.
The challenge ends with a final one-day event in January 2020, where the ten top scoring teams are invited to take part in a series of fun but demanding challenges, with an overall winner being announced at the end.
If you would like to find out more about the Build Your Future schools challenge, and how you can take part, please don’t hesitate to get in touch on isla.stewart@mearn-gill.com or call Isla Stewart on 01224 646311.
