As education and learning become more inclusive in their approach, it’s interesting to see some people swimming against the tide.  It’s especially intriguing when one of those people is a well known captain of industry.

 Feathers have been ruffled in engineering circles by an article in the Financial Times, which seeks to reduce the number of job types that can be called ‘engineering’ (BAE chief throws spanner in gas fitters’ work by Peter Marsh  Published: February 28 2010 22:56  Last updated: February 28 2010 22:56).

 BAE Systems Chairman Dick Olver suggests that the word ‘engineer’ is too widely applied and this is having a detrimental effect on the reputation of ‘real engineers’, making it more difficult to entice young people into the industry.   He advocates that professional engineers ‘need to take ownership of the brand and keep it for themselves.’

 Apart from the obvious fact that this is an attempt to denigrate the skills and contribution of the many thousands of people in UK who share this job description, it also goes against the grain of the new approaches to learning and life skills.

 Evidence suggests that one of the reasons engineering and manufacturing in the UK are at a low ebb is because of “closed” attitudes.  A startling example of this ‘closed’ approach came when Mr Olver announced that he would start trying to change people’s perceptions of the term “engineer” by talking to Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, which employs 8,500 gas fitters at its British Gas subsidiary.

 Strangely enough Centrica was unimpressed!  In a company statement they said: “We plan to continue to use ‘engineer’ to describe our employees who fit and maintain central heating systems. The word underlines the fact that these people receive a lot of training and are well qualified.”

 It may have escaped Mr Olver, but the name of the game in education, learning and skills is now based on inclusivity, equality and diversity.  The old model of the Sieve – where those who didn’t fit the education mould were winnowed out of the system – has been replaced by the Ladder model (Petty G (2009):530-1).

 This inclusive and life-long approach to education gives everyone the chance to make the best use of their skills and talents by finding the courses, teachers and support that meets their particular needs.

 The Ladder allows you to ‘climb’ at your own pace and to take the stairways that work best for your individual goals and needs.  This should then create a better skilled and more enthusiastic workforce.

 The old paradigm of One Size Fits All is no longer good enough, nor is trying to raise your profile by dismissing the contributions of others.  I’m aware that I could be accused of Utopianism, but surely an education and skills environment where everyone is helped to achieve their highest potential is a far more beneficial approach.

 How much better we would surely be, if we recognised each other’s talents and skills and promoted team and collaborative working, instead of introducing barriers?

 Source material:

Financial Times link to original article: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/047d4d8a-24ba-11df-8be0-00144feab49a.html

Petty G (2009) Teaching Today: A Practical Guide Fourth Edition: Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes
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