FAS offer a grant of nearly €2700 if a business hires a female apprentice. I know it is to encourage women into trades and more importantly to encourage businesses to hire them but is it not sexist? Doesn't that equality law that they brought in a few years ago cover this?
FAS grants for female apprentices, sexist?
- Thread starter DavyJones
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Maybe ask the the Equality Authority? Perhaps there is some loophole/exemption for this?
S
S.L.F
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To me it is obliviously sexist and should not be allowed.
The reality is that 95% apprentices are male.
Females haven't been excluded they just haven't been going for trades.
I know 1 girl who was a cabinet maker 1 who was a wood turner I know of several sparks.
The simple fact is they haven't been going for the trades
I believe they can do most of the jobs I can do some of the more physically demanding jobs they would not be able to do.
SLF
The reality is that 95% apprentices are male.
Females haven't been excluded they just haven't been going for trades.
I know 1 girl who was a cabinet maker 1 who was a wood turner I know of several sparks.
The simple fact is they haven't been going for the trades
I believe they can do most of the jobs I can do some of the more physically demanding jobs they would not be able to do.
SLF
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Any idea why?
I think the grant should be availible for all sexes, 1st year apprentices are not cheap labour like some people think. To some companies they are a liability for the first half year anyway. I was on to FAS recently and was told they had difficulty filling places on some block release courses, I found this strange because when I served my time getting on a course was very hard.
I don't see too many women collecting bins or cleaning trains for DynoRod either. There are some jobs that women are less likely to be drawn to.
BTW, since the Dept of Education took over the course structure from FAS engineering trades apprenticeships have collapsed. In my company we go to Eastern Europe, China and India to hire skilled people, not because of lower wages but because we can't get the skilled ones here.
Two reasons I would think are
Not being adviced by school career guidance,
A misperception of working enviroment on site.
I agree; an apprentice in an investment for the employer and will not show a return for 2-3 years. There was competition for places when I served my time as well.
The current apprentice structure is a joke. The time and cost invested has gone up massively and the tradesperson produced at the end is generally of a lower quality than those produced 15 years ago.
S
S.L.F
Guest
I have absolutely no idea why
I suppose in the same way there are very few blokes in
secretarial work, nursing, librarianship or personel
its just the way it is.
S
S.L.F
Guest
The other problem was that there was a time when an apprentice could serve his whole time with 1 company and learn from tradesmen then at the end he would be fired to go and get a job elsewhere. but he would know all aspects of the business and would be high quality tradesman.
If at any stage the company had troubles it was craftsmen who were fired not an apprentice so they got fully trained.
AnCO messed that whole thing up when they said they would take over the training of apprentices.
For the last 2 decades we have had, more or less, a whole generation of half trained tradesmen.
I believe East Europe has the same system we had that is why their tradesmen are better quality, and mores the pity.
We kept apprentices with the same tradesman for the full 4 years but since the new continuous assessment system came in we have stopped taking them on.
The best guys we have now are over 35 or non-nationals.
I find it strange that people will spend 3-4 years in college to get a job as a battery hen in a cubicle of a financial services company rather than 4 years getting paid to be trained for a better paid job which can lead to many career paths.
The best guys we have now are over 35 or non-nationals.
I find it strange that people will spend 3-4 years in college to get a job as a battery hen in a cubicle of a financial services company rather than 4 years getting paid to be trained for a better paid job which can lead to many career paths.
I think we may be a bit too harsh on the modern apprenticship system. I went through the seven phase system and thought it was ok even at it's early stage. I think the industry has changed alot, when I started it was all copper and hard soldiering, dragging around oxy-acetylene bottles was common place. Now it's all plastic pipes and I think skill has suffered as a result.
I have a young apprentice heading on block release soon and looking through his tool list from FAS it included bending springs, only even used them in college but the thought behind it is good.
The building industry in this country in the last decade has changed, it is sterring toward quantity and not so much quality. The amount of new developments I have seen that not only have problems (like leaks) but major system faults is huge.
So if we do have lower skilled trades people I would not be so fast to assign blame to FAS alone but more to the industry as a whole.
I have a young apprentice heading on block release soon and looking through his tool list from FAS it included bending springs, only even used them in college but the thought behind it is good.
The building industry in this country in the last decade has changed, it is sterring toward quantity and not so much quality. The amount of new developments I have seen that not only have problems (like leaks) but major system faults is huge.
So if we do have lower skilled trades people I would not be so fast to assign blame to FAS alone but more to the industry as a whole.
Any chance of a job?
maybe I should retrain, I like the sound of €120'000 PA
That's at the top. People at the top of every trade make good money. There's plumbers and chippies out there earning more (still).