The construction industry is failing our young people today. Now one could say, there are so many apprenticeships and the uptake is good in construction, but how many of you have checked the retention?
Today, I’ve decided I’m not going to focus on the big bosses of industry, the major contractors and those in positions that could support our young people into construction or any other industry, no, today I’m appealing to young people themselves, because if there’s anything I need you, as a young person to understand, is that You Are The Change!
Apart from growing two strong independent young men of my own ( I’m truly bias), I have had the pleasure of working with young people ranging from the ages 11-25, during the past 15 years, and the one thing I have observed, is that when a young person sets their mind on doing something, they can accomplish much!
If you are a young person reading this, I am not writing this blog to boost your ego, neither am I expecting you to agree with every word I say, what I do hope is that you appreciate you are in control of your own destiny.
If you are the parent, guardian, or carer of a young person, be good enough to share what you read today.
It is time for young people to recognize the power that they do have and use it. Generation Z, holds no prisoners, however, so many fail when it comes to completing or returning to complete their education, as they allow themselves to be placed and stay in the stereotypical boxes that have been carved out for them; unfortunately, not enough adults are encouraging them to get out of these boxes and be different to the expected. Indeed, many adults, even those that are parents, are also buying into the stereotypes tagged to their own children!
To increase failure, success is dumbed down; they’ve done this with the construction industry by repeatedly stating in schools and other educational establishments that construction is ‘practical not academic’. I challenge you to test my academic skills as a Plumbing and Heating Engineer, who has profited from the education I acquired in what is featured as only practical!
It truly does not matter what background you come from, it doesn’t matter if you’ve made errors and even managed to get yourself a criminal record; as a black woman I say never let your race hold you back.
What matters is where you are today, where you want to be tomorrow and what you are prepared to do [legally] to accomplish this.
I have had the pleasure of teaching young men and women who initially came to me with the idea that all they could do was work with their hands, there’s no problem with that, but these ideas were based on what others told them, rather than on what they believed they could do.
As an educator, it has always been my duty to help young people understand they are able to do whatever it is they set their sights on. I have had the pleasure of witnessing past students become Quantity Surveyors, Project Mangers, Main Contractors, Site Supervisors and Mangers; I can promise you that none of these positions require only practical abilities.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with being practical, there is something however wrong with people judging you, and limiting your skills to only being practical, based on their own biases.
‘You are the change’, I cannot take credit for this saying. It was the words from the mouth of a young (younger than me) energetic Community Relations Officer, who works for Lewisham Homes, she described her own educational background and the opportunities she grasp, to get her where she is today. During that meeting, she spoke with me and my colleague of ways in which we could support young people into apprenticeships and long term employment.
CEO, for all who works here, is much more than a Construction and Engineering Training Company. It is focused on empowering the young, the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. It is focused on making change possible, for those who temporarily have lacked vision, but by no means are loss to new beginnings, setting goals and achieving them.
Today I encourage you to press restart. Train, Retrain, Up-Skill…
Just do something today, that is different from yesterday and will change your tomorrow.
You Are The Change!
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