Hi
.......The young people who are needed in the trade today are not available to us, those we need are training to do other types of work, they may love cars and engineering but they are not so stupid that they join us because the money is too poor and the perception of the job is so low........
Must agree with what you say, Interestingly, my son left school this year and was hoping to be an electrician, to enroll on the course he needs 4 GCSE,s grade A to C,we looked at some other courses most needing at least 3 GCSE,s including plastering which requires 3 GCSE's grade A to C,(no offence to plasterers)but amazingly there is none required for you to enroll on motor vehicle studies, all it says is you need to have a basic understanding of English.
As you say there is a low perception of this job,and unless you start at the grass roots all the motor codes in the world ain't going to fix it in the long run.
Must also add I was talking to our apprentice about this and he admitted he wanted to be an electrician but could not pass the aptitude test ( took it 3 times ) so they put him on the motor vehicles study course instead.
Steve.