ECA calls for more vocational training

03-09-2010

The president of the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), Diane Johnson, has called for more emphasis to be placed on vocational training courses, as opposed to the current focus on university degree courses.

“For too long now gaining a degree has been pushed as the preferred, or default, educational option,” she asserted. “I believe this blinkered approach devalues the alternatives, such as vocational training and the apprenticeship route; it is incredibly short-sighted.

“While a university degree can certainly be worthwhile, I truly believe it is not the be-all-and-end-all. Our country is at a cross roads and if we don’t act now to shore up the skills deficit in our craft industries, we will have little chance of successfully emerging out of the recession or of meeting the country’s ambitious sustainability targets,” she warned.