Daniel Leech is the group CEO of Technical Design Services Group, a business group formed by the trio of firms TDS, Design4Structures and CADCOE, which seeks to modernise the construction sector through collaboration, innovation and education.
Appearing on The Leaders Council Podcast, Leech [pictured] revealed how the CADCOE [The Construction and Design Centre of Excellence] arm of the company is working with the education sector to help reform technical training and apprenticeships and tackle the longstanding skills gap in the digital, construction and engineering sectors.
The government’s recent Skills and Post-16 Education Act has acknowledged the need to resolve a longstanding discord between education and industry. Ministers feel that for too long, the types of courses and standards of training provided by schools, colleges and universities have not been conductive to the needs of industry. Government has, therefore, designed a concept known as Local Skills Improvement Plans, which hope to put employers back at the heart of designing curriculums and courses to ensure that the newest cohorts of graduates are entering workplaces ready for the demands of industry.
The disconnect between education and industry is something that Daniel Leech is acutely aware of. However, rather than pin the blame squarely on education providers, Leech suggested that much of the problem arises from the fact that industry develops at such an intense pace that it is difficult for educational institutions to keep up with the changes and constantly reevaluate their standards and course content.
Leech said: “I've got a lot of sympathy for education providers. If you take our sector as an example in the digital, engineering and construction field, the industry is evolving at such a fast pace with regards to technology and regulations and there are different things that develop every year.
“It’s very difficult for us to keep pace with those changes and we’re in the industry every day, so it’s nigh impossible for schools, colleges and universities to be in tune with what the industry actually wants and needs.”
Leech went on to explain that the Construction and Design Centre of Excellence [CADCOE] was formed to address this problem. Day to day, CADCOE recruits talent through apprenticeships and upskills people through a range of digital design courses, and has become renowned as a leading provider in digital engineering for construction training to help deliver the workforce of the future.
Leech said: “If you look at what we've done with CADCOE, we’re the industry experts and we’ve partnered with technology colleges so they can use our knowledge and experience of the sector to develop curriculums and learning materials. I think that that's what's critical.
“If we're going to make changes to the education sector moving forward, it's absolutely pivotal that industry comes forward to work with schools, colleges and universities to develop the curriculums that those specific industries need.”
Despite the progress that CADCOE has made, Leech conceded that the funding model around apprenticeships does not compliment businesses in teaching practical skills, and ought to be reconsidered by government if young people are to finish their qualifications and emerge work-ready.
“I think it epitomises one of our frustrations when you look at the traditional way that apprenticeships are delivered. The funding associated with apprenticeships is for the assessment of skills, rather than the actual delivery of the apprenticeship or upskilling of people. So, it's left very much in the hands of the employer to do the vocational training and that didn't work quite right for us as a business.
“This is because when we brought young people into our business, we had to spend so much time developing their skill sets and teaching them how to do the job, that it made it very difficult and very impractical to recruit young people at a large scale.”
In a bid to remedy this scenario, CADCOE has adjusted the way that its apprenticeships are delivered in order to provide learners with practical, hands-on experience in the workplace.
“What we've done that's very unique to CADCOE is that, at the start of the apprenticeship, the students come to us for an initial 10-week period, where they spend intensive time with people that do the job every day, learning all of those skills.
“The idea is that at the end of the 10-week programme, when they get reintroduced to the employer, they can actually go into those businesses and have an impact on day one and work on live projects and be a real part of design teams.”
The full interview with Daniel Leech can be listened to below.
