Electrical Contracting News (ECN) May 2016 | Page 30

APPRENTICESHIPS

TRAINER & TRAINEE

TRAIN TIMES
With National Apprenticeship Week still fresh in the memory, ECN talks to Michelle Moylan at
training provider DCET and Jack England at Ford Electrical – a former apprentice who made
it all the way to the top – in order to find out what life is like on both sides of the training fence.
Michelle Moylan – DCET
For the last 20 years DCET Training
has been the specialist in electrical
training across Devon and Cornwall.
Its programme includes continued
professional development courses
for skilled and experienced workers,
electrical apprenticeship training and
more recently traineeships.
DCET, which is now part of The Focus
Training Group, is a one stop shop for all
electrical training needs. Its provision has
been developed in response to feedback
from employers that young people are
leaving college and other providers without
having gained or developed the skills and

knowledge needed for a career in this
sector. In 2015 DCET Training opened a
new training centre in Bristol, in response
to employers’ feedback about the lack of
specialist skills amongst young people
in this area and indeed about the lack of
good quality professional development
courses on offer locally.
Michelle commented, ‘Bristol has
a wide range of electrical companies,
from large contractors to SMEs and sole
traders. Many of these organisations are
contacted with speculative applications
from young people who are keen to work
in the electrical sector, and some asked for
support to implement an apprenticeship
recruitment process.

‘DCET Training work with many
employers and offer a recruitment process
solution for them. This includes developing
a traineeship programme, if appropriate,
to the employer and applicant needs. The
traineeship programme we developed and
delivered last summer has been nationally
identified and recognised by NIACE as
a beacon of good practice for delivering
sector specific traineeships and upheld by
BIS as a model of good practice.
‘Our Traineeship was entirely tailored
to the electrical sector. Trainees took
part in an eight week programme, made
up of classroom and working on site
experience. Tutors used real life examples
to contextualise their teaching and give

trainees a good understanding of the types
of work they would be undertaking. On
site, trainees were given a flavour of the
working environment that electricians are
required to work in. This included a new
build housing site, a commercial building
which was being refurbished, and an old
brewery which was being converted into
luxury flats. This gave trainees a taste
of the varied and complex nature of the
electrical trade.’
At the end of the scheme, 12 trainees
were offered electrical apprenticeships
with local companies. They progressed
onto the Level 3 Electrical Trailblazer
Apprenticeship programme, a new
government streamlined structure to

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