Case Study: Occupational Segregation - JTL Training

"Breaking the Mould" is a South Yorkshire project jointly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and JTL Training, and administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). Over a 2 year period the aim is to increase the uptake of Electrical and Plumbing Advanced Apprenticeships by young women in the age range 16 -24 or to encourage them to enrol onto courses of Further Education in non-traditional areas.

As well as working with schools, the project also works alongside employers, convincing them of the business case for recruiting females, and encouraging 13 of them to produce Equality and Diversity Action Plans. It is also hoped to produce 13 success stories where changes in employer equality policies, procedures and practices have lead to benefits to the business.

Activities have included presentations, discussion groups and "Master Classes" in schools, and site visits, practical workshops and work experience to enable girls to find out more about the industry. Staff training and mentoring for new female apprentices has also been organised as part of the project.

200 females have participated in the programme so far. Between 2005-06 16 females were recruited onto Advanced Apprenticeships and at least one other has taken up a non-traditional college course. 13 Employer Equality and Diversity Action Plans have been written and 7 Employer Success Stories so far. An Open Day event has been held and another is planned for summer 2007. A networking/mentoring event has been held to improve retention of female apprentices.

In response to the training needs of senior managers and directors, identified when drawing up Equality & Diversity Action Plans, JTL held a training day for employers, many of which are relatively small SMEs who have not had any equality and diversity training in the past.

The schools programme and some of the work with employers is now being planned for West Yorkshire as the ESF funded project draws to a close. Meetings have also been arranged with all JTL Regional Managers where plans to increase the recruitment of females (and Ethnic Minority Groups) based on the South Yorkshire Project will be used as a blueprint for them to follow.

Experience has shown that to achieve the number of ‘outcomes’ required, the number of ‘inputs’ needs to be far greater than the targets originally set. It has also been unrealistic to expect a success story from every employer that has an E&D Action Plan created. Nevertheless, the project has vastly increased the number of females taking up Advanced Apprenticeships in the South Yorkshire area.