Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 167
A student placing a
dip-laid voussoir whilst
turning a gauged
arch on an 'Advanced
Gauged Brickwork'
course at the Weald and
Downland Open-Air
Museum (Sussex), 2005.
the combined group there will be a 40% drop out rate, equal to (3,360 trainees),
leaving a total of 5,039 trainees who go on to complete their courses.
These figures relate to the provision of tradesmen and women with basic
craft skills for modern site demands. They ignore the more acute shortage of
high-level skills, such as gauged work, within the craft, necessary for executing
the more complex works and especially of those caring for our huge stock of
historic, traditionally-constructed buildings.
The introduction of a Construction Skills Certification Scheme Limited (CSCS),
supported by the CITB, provides a construction registration system, the aim of
which is to create a fully qualified workforce on UK sites by 2010. At the time of
writing (2007) it is not compulsory, but is gaining full support from the Major
Contractors Group (MCG) who are denying access to major sites around the
country unless the operative can provide an appropriate CSCS card. For a craft
operative in bricklaying the card scheme has the following grades, each of which
has a Health and safety test; the complexity of which increases with the grade:
●
Trainee red (R)
●
Experienced worker (EW)
●
Skilled blue (B)
●
Skilled gold (G)
●
Skilled green (Gr)
Teaching Cut and Rubbed and Gauged Brickwork
within NVQ at College
The problem of finding craft teachers possessing any real on-site experience,
pragmatic depth or technical knowledge of cut and rubbed and gauged work
has inevitably grown as the years have passed. This, in many respects, is due to
