BEAR Scotland has teamed up with industry training provider Sibbald Training to develop a tailored year-long Road Building and Maintenance Modern Apprenticeship.
Throughout the year-long programme, participants will attend six separate week-long training blocks at Sibbald Training's dedicated training centre at Sibbald Park, Blackridge, West Lothian.
Training will cover a range of activities, including flexible pavement works, laying and working with road materials, setting out, kerbing, drainage and the installation of street ironwork.
It will also feature a five-day training and assessment programme for street works, which is designed to provide ‘industry-recognised training relevant to BEAR'.
Local colleges in South East Scotland no longer offer training in this area, and the number of ‘appropriately skilled candidates' has reduced.
There is also a 'bespoke programme' of further training around the skills required by BEAR's road maintenance workforce, designed to provide a ‘structured route' into the sector for new entrants.
The debut cohort is made up of eight BEAR employees from four of its different South East Scotland depots, with half of the spots filled by newcomers to the sector and the other half occupied by existing BEAR employees looking to ‘further develop their skills and competence'.
Jamie Finlayson, BEAR Scotland South East contract director, said: 'To ensure that we keep key roads and bridges in as safe and reliable a condition as possible for the people of Scotland, we need a skilled and dedicated workforce.'
John Sibbald, managing director of Sibbald Training, said: ‘Rather than taking an off-the-shelf approach, we've been able to work closely with the BEAR team to understand the skills their roadworkers need and build a training programme around their actual working environment.
‘The combination of the Modern Apprenticeship, dedicated practical training at Sibbald Park and assessment within the candidates' own workplaces gives them the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills and then put these into practice in a real working environment.
‘We see this first cohort as the beginning of what could become a really valuable training pathway for developing skilled roadworkers.'
Between training blocks, candidates will continue on-the-job development within their normal working environment, with Sibbald Training assessors undertaking up to four workplace visits throughout the year to ‘assess candidates carrying out activities in real working conditions and gather evidence of occupational competence towards their SVQ qualification'.
