Vocational skills have never been more highly valued by employers — regardless of the route young people take after leaving school. Five years ago, the divide between employees with vocational and academic qualifications at the engineering company Pilot Drilling Control (PDC) could not have been more stark. "It was them and us," recalls training and development manager Anne Swietlik.
But after striving hard to challenge entrenched attitudes, the Suffolk firm is expanding fast in response to a rising demand for down-hole drilling tools in the oil and gas industry.
PDC, based in Lowestoft, relies on technicians with vocational qualifications and project engineers with university degrees to develop and sell equipment.
Five years on, staff with higher education backgrounds recognise the work involved in gaining a NVQ. "There is also respect from the vocational side that it takes time and effort to get a degree," adds Swietlik.
Whereas 12 months ago, PDC employed just 13 staff, it now boasts 24. This includes four undergraduates from Brunel University who are spending a year gaining vocational experience as part of four-year degree courses in mechanical engineering. "The vocational route is about applying knowledge. It's a unifying force," says Swietlik. "But changing attitudes takes time. We have to keep chipping away and showing people what we mean."
The company's philosophy was set by managing director George Swietlik, her husband, who saw the value of hands-on experience while studying mechanical engineering via a sandwich degree. Vocational qualifications, she says, recognise the changing nature of work, including the need to upskill quickly and transfer knowledge.
Graduates with conventional degrees can struggle to deal with the sort of machinery produced at firms such as PDC. "You can have a whole arsenal of knowledge through the academic route but, very often, the truth is people don't know how to apply it," she says.
But the company has noticed changing attitudes within higher education. "We would have struggled five years ago to attract young people interested in work-based learning in engineering," says Swietlik. "Now we are attracting them through apprenticeships as well as attracting undergraduates from university on work placements."
Bruce Draper is chair of Warwickshire Education Business Partnership, the business and education link organisation run by Warwickshire council. He says students should recognise that — sooner or later — they will end up in employment. The route taken, and the speed with which they gain their first taste of work, can make a significant difference in the long run.
The time required to gain A-levels and a degree is increasing, says Draper, who is also director of a small scientific distribution company. "By the time they reach the world of work, a lot of what they learned has become obsolete," he adds.
While parents who feel they "missed out" on higher education tend to push their children towards academic courses, teachers and careers staff must stress the benefits of vocational learning. "Academic qualifications should become more vocational," says Draper. "You don't just need theoretical knowledge, but the ability to improve processes when you do a job."
Along with other firms in land-based engineering, Claas UK is switching its apprentices from NVQs to level 3 national diplomas, which require a minimum entry standard of five GCSEs at grades A-C and take four years. The company, which distributes agricultural machinery for its German parent, normally has between 50 and 80 apprentices studying at any time.
John Palmer, training manager at Claas, accepts that people from academic backgrounds sometimes regard vocational courses as "dirty subjects" for those with lower grades. But Claas's service engineers receive the empathy of farmers who buy its equipment, because they too are frequently seen as under-achievers.
Engineers must fully understand the electronics and hydraulics in complex machinery, says Palmer. "Other than the speed, the technology in the machines is not dissimilar to that used in formula one," he adds.
