Train the industry to understand training
Education, education, education: we are constantly hearing this battle cry. It was (and still is, presumably) one of the mantras of New Labour and, since Tony Blair's party swept to power nearly a year ago, improving the standard of education has been seen as the panacea for all problems, from the failure of the English cricket team to the skills shortage in hospitality.
The populist view is: "Get it right in the classroom, and there won't be a problem beyond it." Certainly, in hospitality there is a belief that if the system is receiving encouragement, there is no excuse for catering colleges to turn out substandard pupils. Moreover, as education has been given a fillip by New Labour, there should now be a contemporary stream of gifted college-leavers queuing up to fill a growing list of vacancies and to settle down for a lifetime in the industry.
Unfortunately, it simply isn't working out like that. There remains a skills shortage and college-leavers don't stick around if better prospects come along.That in itself is not unusual - it happens in other industries - but the sad fact is that, quite often, prospects in hospitality aren't difficult to beat. And there lies the real problem.
According to a report published by the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC), college courses in hospitality are "achieving standards in which strengths clearly outweigh weaknesses".
For too long, end-users of the college product - ie, the employers - have been quick to blame the education system for producing faulty goods. It's an easy escape from the burden of responsibility: "Skills shortage? Not my fault, guv; see, them college kids, they don't know nuffink about the real world."
This would be a fine argument if training were all about theory taught in the classroom. But much of the educational process in hospitality has always been carried out "on the job", and it's in this area that the industry begins to look weak.
For a start, the FEFC says that, while the quality of most teaching and learning in the colleges is good, the vocational skills of students on more practical courses, which rely on placements in the "real world", are "not always sufficiently developed". It says that some sixth form colleges do not offer work experience to students on the grounds that "… it is difficult to find sufficient placements".
The underlying problems of attracting school-leavers and graduates into the industry will not be solved until the industry offers more practical placements, and makes those placements worthwhile and relevant.
Education, education, education is all very well, but the process doesn't begin and end in the colleges. In fact, it doesn't really begin until a student starts work, and that first experience of the industry should be relevant, relevant, relevant.
Forbes Mutch
Editor
Caterer & Hotelkeeper
