Are Gladstone apprentices uneducated?

GLADSTONE is struggling to provide industry apprentices due to the lack of numeracy and literacy skills.

From the mining industry to the new liquefied natural gas industry, apprentices with appropriate school based skills are becoming scarce in the Gladstone region, according to industry sources.

The Gladstone Area Group Apprentices Limited (GAGAL) have placed over 2500 apprentices into trades in the Gladstone region with tradesman now working all over the country.

GAGAL general manager Kerry Whitaker said sometimes GAGAL has to go back to the very basics before they can start training apprentices.

“Overall the standard of literacy and numeracy is not good,” Ms Whitaker said.

“If we were to reject apprentices just on their numeracy and literacy we wouldn’t have any.”

Ms Whitaker said to take up an apprenticeship in any of the engineering trades or dual trade electrical/instrumentation, apprentices’ need a good grasp of maths both metric and imperial and learning in centimetres doesn’t help.

“There is no industry apart from education that uses centimetres as a measure so why do we insist on our students learning that way,” Ms Whitaker told The Observer.

“I have spoken to the educationalists and they have explained the rationale, but I have also spoken to young men who are struggling with converting from centimetres to millimetres.

“Because of this, there are currently not enough electrical apprentices to meet the needs of industry. “

Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ) chief executive Brett Schimming told The Observer that the lack of numeracy and literacy skills is not just a problem with school leavers wanting apprenticeships, but exists across the whole industry.

“CSQ has identified an issue across our industry with language, literacy and numeracy skills for people of all ages,” Mr Schimming said.

“CSQ has established an integrated strategy to provide literacy and numeracy support across the industry with dedicated resources available to assist trainers in providing literacy and numeracy support.”

The Department of Education and Training told The Observer they have not received any concerns from industry or training organisations in the Gladstone region regarding the standard of apprentices.

But both GAGAL and CSQ have set up programs to counteract the numeracy and literacy problems including school based electrical and dual trade apprentice programs including the highly successful “What’s My Trade” program.

“Kids are disengaging from education earlier and earlier, in fact they start in about Grade 4” Ms Whitaker said.

“A lot of this is to do with the fact that they are struggling with maths and English.

“GAGAL’s theory is that if we can keep them engaged at school there are more opportunities to teach them and if we can stop them disengaging in primary school and keep them enthused and excited their maths and English will be better.”

A Department of Education and Training spokesperson said Central Queensland Institute of Tafe (CQIT) trains both apprentices from industry as well as school-based apprentices in the Gladstone area.

“From next year CQIT will also introduce a number of new programs aligned to all industries in the Gladstone region (including the Coal Seam Gas/Liquefied Natural Gas industry), which will allow apprentices to access literacy and numeracy tutorials if required,” the spokesperson said.