SSWS opens its doors to a new generation
As the second day of Sustainable Skies World Summit opened its doors to delegates, a new element for this year saw over 350 students from ten local schools invited to participate in a careers fair held adjacent to the main event.
Targeting a variety of ages from school year nine and above, the mezzanine floor was a bustle of activity as the ‘pioneers of tomorrow’ got the chance to get up close with a variety of supporters. These included British Airways, Euroavia, Get with the Programme, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce, the Royal Aeronautical Society, The Air League and Safran.
One of the most popular ‘hands-on’ interactive activities on offer was the stamp-your-own dog-tags available courtesy of The Air League; an initiative highlighting the mechanical hand skills in dire demand across the industry. Identifying a current and projected upcoming shortage of maintenance technicians as among the “most critical skills gap”, Air League CEO Janine Hornsby highlighted that amidst emerging and expanding digital skills, many young people simply aren’t gaining the exposure to fine motor skills. In particular, with many schools no longer offering woodwork or practically-rooted Design Technology lessons, the maintenance technicians and engineers of tomorrow may well struggle to pass practical skills tests.
Concerned that the sector has “created so many barriers,” the Air League charity has been looking to augment exposure and provide opportunity within the industry through its some 113 years of existence. These endeavours include funding a wide range of scholarships, offering engineering internships and participating in industry outreach events. Additionally, its lessons plans (sitting within the national curriculum) help school-age science students understand “why they’re learning what they’re learning”.
From the end of the year, the Air League’s free online learning platform (currently under development) will also serve to further break down barriers for young people to enter the aviation industry in a variety of positions. Summer schools at airfield hubs around the country are a further key area of consideration in the pipeline. However, the work doesn’t stop there – with the Air League also keenly campaigning to increase the number of apprenticeships available to school leavers.
With a large percentage of the government’s apprenticeship budget unspent every year, The Air League is also lobbying to channel some of this toward the larger primes who could potentially take on more apprenticeships; offsetting the additional cost to the company. This extended capacity (offering volumes of essential opportunities SMEs alone cannot physically provide) would then benefit the industry as a whole, concluded Hornsby.
