Developing a programme of testing for trainee craftsmen in the shipbuilding industry

Abstract

The Shipbuilding Industry Training Board and the Skills Testing Service of the City and Guilds of London Institute, in cooperation with a number of leading shipyards, have developed phased test programmes for eight of the principal craft trades in the shipbuilding and shiprepairing industry. These tests are intended for trainee craftsmen who have completed their first year's training off‐the‐job in a training centre and are undergoing planned experience training in their yards to the standard recommended by the Shipbuilding Industry Training Board. The tests cover the trades of electrician, fitter, joiner, pipeworker, sheet‐metal worker, caulker/burner/driller/riveter, plater/shipwright and welder. A test programme covers all the main tasks or key skills normally performed by skilled men in the trade. Each job test is assessed according to success or failure in covering its essential features. Tests are taken by trainees in the course of production in the yard and are assessed by production staff. The preparation of each set of tests began with a study in a shipyard to find out what work a trainee would be expected to cover during his planned experience training. The test jobs drawn up as a result of this study were carefully scrutinised by production supervisors from other shipbuilding and shiprepair yards. A number of firms were invited to conduct a pilot project using the tests for a number of trainees in their second, third and fourth years of training. The tests were amended in the light of reports received on these projects and grouped to cover the key skills involved. An assessment was then made of either the number of jobs or the particular jobs, the satisfactory completion of which was considered to be essential to qualify for the Board's Certificate of Craftsmanship. This project, which was begun in November 1969 and completed in March 1972, and involved some eighteen firms in the industry, is described in the following account provided by some of the people involved.

Citation

LONGBOTTOM, B., CLEGG, C., CLARKE, P., TURNER, M., FLETCHER, D. and HUNTER, R. (1973), "Developing a programme of testing for trainee craftsmen in the shipbuilding industry", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 16-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb003278