The UK is currently in the midst of a wide-ranging and long-standing skills shortage with the economy suffering losses of £1.5bn per year due to shortages in the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects, [according to the Institution of Engineering and Technology][1]. This is due to the shortage of skilled workers in these industries, as well as a lack of qualified teachers in schools, colleges and higher education. These stark losses to the economy are seemingly at odds with fact that statistics [published by UCAS in February 2021][2] showed that more young people are taking STEM subjects at university that at any other point, but are perhaps better understood when set in the wider context that most engineers and technicians who will be practising in 2030 have already left any form of education. The four industries suffering the most from the skills shortage are construction, engineering, digital, and programming. Here, we’ll take a look at what they are facing in terms of issues, as well as what could be done to fix the shortage in these areas. Skills shortages in construction -------------------------------- Put simply, the UK construction workforce is an aging one and the same percentage of young people are not replacing them. Over 20% of tradespeople in the UK are over 50 and 15% are in their sixties yet a YouGov Omnibus research found that just 3% of people aged between 18-24 have searched for a construction industry job. Labour shortages are pronounced for both for skilled labour and ‘white-collar’ roles – [with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK Construction & Infrastructure Monitor finding in Q2 2021][3] that a net balance of +64% declaring that a lack of labour will limit new activity (up from +42% in the first quarter of 2021). In terms of bricklayers, this has jumped from 34% to 58% quarter-on-quarter and from 33% to 55% for carpenters. Further complicating the matter is the government’s 2017 budget pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s. The current UK construction workforce is simply too small to make good on this commitment. Add in the urgent climate issues that will affect future construction works flagged up by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in August 2021][4], released as apocalyptic wild fires raged across Greece, and it is little wonder that Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association, explained it was a “perfect storm for the construction industry”. One other complicating factor is Brexit. It has led to growing labour shortages as EU construction employees left the UK in their droves. A lack of lorry drivers has also hit the industry, which has resulted in increased costs and longer waiting times for certain materials. Future government policy must embrace diversity and nurture the pipeline of future talent. Hew Edgar, then [Head of UK Government Relations and City Strategy at RICS][5], urged built environment employers to sign up to the Inclusive Employer Quality Mark and work with hand in glove with industry leaders to “take action to tackle the gender pay gap, enable career progression, and support access to senior leadership roles to increase the retention of woman mid-career in the built environment”. The appeal of working in the construction industry should be promoted more to students in further (FE) and higher education in order to change perceptions of the industry. Alongside greater engagement with students, a widening of the talent pool for recruitment is one of the many benefits of fostering a diverse workplace. Skills shortages in engineering ------------------------------- Like the construction industry, the engineering industry is facing an ominous time. A total of 186,000 skilled engineers are needed a year until 2024, [according to EngineeringUK][6], if the UK is to address the skills gap. The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board reports that almost 20% of the current workforce is to retire by 2026. So, how do we rectify this deficit? Dr Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive of EngineeringUK, pinpointed under-representation of specific groups, such as female students, as a key reason behind the engineering skills gap. Industry must better understand the causes of under-representation and tackle this at the education stage. She explained that students must be made more aware of engineering as a viable and fulfilling career, and more must be done to support teachers and schools to deliver high quality STEM education and careers guidance. Seventy-four per cent of FE college principals told EngineeringUK that engineering and manufacturing was the most difficult subject to recruit teachers for. The introduction of T levels will place additional demand placed on over-stretched FE teachers and so the £26,000 training bursaries for prospective engineering and manufacturing teachers are one potential way to plug the teaching shortfall. Currently, students looking to get into the engineering industry can opt for a degree or an apprenticeship, and students can pick which option is better suited to them. While degrees may offer some benefits, apprenticeships, such as T levels, offer on-the-job learning, allowing students to get straight into working in the industry, which can only help lessen the shortage of skilled workers. Skills shortage in the digital sector. The digital skills gap is one that is well-known to companies, [with 60% acknowledging that their reliance on advanced digital skills is set to increase over the next five years][7]. More than 130,000 tech jobs become available every year in the UK, but students are currently leaving education with insufficient knowledge and experience to access these jobs. In welcome news for the industry, acceptances into computer science courses have risen by almost 50% between 2011 and 2020, rising from 20,420 to 30,090. Efforts to establish a dedicated STEM and Digital Skills Unit within the Department for Education in England have also been welcomed by industry experts, while there is room for further optimism within the digital sector. The [Disconnected?: Exploring the digital skills gap report][8] concludes that gender and geographical inequalities must be addressed to encourage greater participation on FE courses, as well as focusing on digital poverty. To do this, the report calls for a greater focus being placed on showing young people that digital careers are for everyone and not just a select few. Mark Smith, CEO at [Ada National College for Digital Skills][9], wishes to equip students with relevant digital skills to help them pursue their dream job in tech. He stated that “as digital technology is proven to be the most socially mobile sector, it is crucial that otherwise overlooked groups are afforded the opportunity to enter this sector”. WorldSkills UK aims to use its careers advocacy programmes to engage 50,000 young people from all backgrounds to “demonstrate the wealth of digital careers opportunities available to them and the skills and training needed to achieve those aspirations”. WorldSkills UK also seeks to “embed digital skills in our development programmes in all parts of the UK” and “champion the development of excellence in advanced digital skills”. Skills shortage in programming ------------------------------ Much like the digital sector, businesses are struggling to find skilled programmers, particularly with Java skills. Twenty-two per cent of businesses said that their sectors had insufficient data skills in programming, [cited a 2021 UK government report.][10] In 2019, the UK was lacking approximately 40,000 IT specialists, leading to huge losses amounting to £60 billion each year. The FE sector is in a perfect position to help plug the programming skills gap. FE institutions “play in shaping curricula that looks to address these particular skill gaps and to offer a diversity of training options that also cater to those at lower price points”. After-school coding clubs have been set up across the UK, however as this is volunteer-based, it could be worth investing in teaching existing IT teachers coding skills to include this in the curriculum, giving all students more digital savvy. In terms of the impact of AS and A level reforms, there has been a significant overhaul in the computer science curriculum, with greater focus resting on programming, algorithms and problem solving. Encouraging more students into these sectors, and helping to stem what could be serious shortfalls in the medium to longer term, requires more visibility for courses in STEM and digital fields. Sources/further reading: ------------------------ [https://www.theiet.org/impact-society/factfiles/education-factfiles/addressing-the-stem-skills-shortage-challenge][11] [https://www.ukconstructionmedia.co.uk/case-study/skills-shortage-rising-cost-construction/][12] [https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/latest-news/press/press-releases/construction-growth-placing-new-pressure-on-labour-and-supply-chains/][13] [https://www.engineeringuk.com/media/232298/engineering-uk-report-2020.pdf][14] [https://www.worldskillsuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Disconnected-Report.pdf][15] [https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2021/02/09/more-young-people-are-taking-stem-subjects-than-ever-before/][16] [https://www.worldskillsuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Disconnected-Report.pdf][17] [https://codeclub.org/en/][18] [https://www.ft.com/content/296d84a2-b73a-4bd0-b65b-6ef9883e6afc][19] [https://www.openasapp.com/no-code-and-skills-shortage-in-it/][20] [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/quantifying-the-uk-data-skills-gap/quantifying-the-uk-data-skills-gap-full-report#conclusionsobservations][21] [1]: https://www.theiet.org/impact-society/factfiles/education-factfiles/addressing-the-stem-skills-shortage-challenge/ [2]: https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/students-turn-technology-university-choices [3]: https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/research/market-surveys/global-construction-monitor/construction-and-infrastructure-surveys-archive/ [4]: https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/ [5]: https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/latest-news/uk-policy/ [6]: https://www.engineeringuk.com/research/engineering-uk-report/at-a-glance-2019/ [7]: https://www.worldskillsuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Disconnected-Report-final.pdf [8]: https://learningandwork.org.uk/resources/research-and-reports/disconnected-exploring-the-digital-skills-gap/ [9]: https://www.ada.ac.uk/ [10]: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/quantifying-the-uk-data-skills-gap/quantifying-the-uk-data-skills-gap-full-report [11]: https://www.theiet.org/impact-society/factfiles/education-factfiles/addressing-the-stem-skills-shortage-challenge [12]: https://www.theiet.org/impact-society/factfiles/education-factfiles/addressing-the-stem-skills-shortage-challenge [13]: https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/latest-news/press/press-releases/construction-growth-placing-new-pressure-on-labour-and-supply-chains/ [14]: https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/latest-news/press/press-releases/construction-growth-placing-new-pressure-on-labour-and-supply-chains/ [15]: https://www.worldskillsuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Disconnected-Report.pdf [16]: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2021/02/09/more-young-people-are-taking-stem-subjects-than-ever-before/ [17]: https://www.worldskillsuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Disconnected-Report.pdf [18]: https://codeclub.org/en/ [19]: https://www.ft.com/content/296d84a2-b73a-4bd0-b65b-6ef9883e6afc [20]: https://www.openasapp.com/no-code-and-skills-shortage-in-it/ [21]: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/quantifying-the-uk-data-skills-gap/quantifying-the-uk-data-skills-gap-full-report#conclusionsobservations
AoCJobs, part of the Association of Colleges, connects teachers and support staff with schools and colleges for online job opportunities.