Here's our chance to build the right sort of education
Hospitality dinner party conversation number one million: Did you know, there's a terrible skills shortage in the industry? No, really! Why's that then? Because students aren't attracted to training schemes, and when they are, they aren't trained properly. Oh, I read an editor's Opinion about that in Caterer a few weeks ago (Caterer, 16 March, page 19). In fact, Caterer's always running stuff about it. In fact, everyone's always talking about it. In fact, isn't it time someone did something about it?
Delegates attending the Chef Conference last month heard a public version of this dialogue. There were impassioned pleas from top chefs for the colleges to meet the requirements of industry (Caterer, 16 March, page 48) and a response from colleges along the lines of "Why doesn't industry get involved in education?"
The answer is usually a combination of "Can't," "Don't know how," and "What good would it do anyway, because no one listens to what we have to say?"
Luckily, there is about to be a sea change in the way education is backed - both spiritually and financially.
At the moment, education is driven by the Training and Enterprise Councils and the Further Education Funding Council. These august bodies control some of the direction and much of the funding for education in England at the moment, but by April 2001 they will have been abolished. In their place will be something called Learning and Skills Councils (LSCs).
There will be a network of local LSCs feeding into a national board and, by bringing together the functions of the two previous councils, the new structure will provide a closer link between workplace training and the colleges. That's something industry has long been calling for. The opportunities go further, however.
The Hospitality Training Foundation, which is the Government-recognised national training organisation for the industry, in conjunction with the HCIMA and other major trade associations, is calling for industry representatives to join the LSCs.
The LSCs will oversee the funding, planning and quality assurance of post-16 education and training for about six million people, from students at further education and sixth-form colleges to community learning candidates and work-based trainees. And hospitality, along with other industries, is being invited to get involved. It's as simple as that. It's a chance to have a say, an opportunity to make a difference. It should not be ignored or allowed to slide past unnoticed.
Hospitality dinner party conversation number one-million-and-one: Did you know, there's a terrible skills shortage in the industry? No, really! Why's that, then? Because employers say that training schemes don't meet their requirements. Oh, the Letters page in Caterer is always full of that stuff. Isn't it time industry took the opportunity to get involved?
Forbes Mutch
Editor Caterer & Hotelkeeper
