Almost 40yrs ago now, back in 1986 a new wave of Compulsory Education qualifications were rolled out in the UK: this was the beginnings of the General Certificate of Secondary Education qualifications (GCSE's) which amalgamated / replaced ORDINARY 'O' levels and CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION 'CSE' in schools.

 

At the same time a 'new wave' of Further Education qualifications were also rolled out in the UK; this was the beginnings of the 'National Vocational Qualifications" (NVQ's) and the Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ's) (both at Levels 2&3) which replaced the former CITY & GUILDS CRAFT CERTIFICATE and the CITY & GUILDS ADVANCED CRAFT CERTIFICATE in construction.

 

NVQ's are written by awarding bodies; in the UK the Awarding body for construction related qualifications is City & Guilds. (C&G)

 

C&G take their lead from varying sources including industry, so a large part of the NVQ curriculum is influenced somewhat from large modern house building company's; afterall it is called the 'construction industry', not the 'restoration industry'

 

Furthermore the "Volatile Organic Compounds" (VOC) ratings were introdued in the UK through the early 2000's (not such a bad thing) which led to a lot of traditionally used materials not being so readily available (and not taught about) as they were before,

 

This could well be good reasons why it's not always easy to find trades nowadays who know about and understand period buildings and traditional materials.

 

The term "cowboy builder" is a very old saying, and appears to have re-arisen (frankly an awful term often thrown around by people with often very little, to no understanding of the construction industry itself and the UK education systems.

 

in defense of today's trades: they are rarely bad people, but they can only do what they have been taught to do, they have not been taught about period building maintenance or restoration or conservation; the apprenticeship schemes are not the priority they once were for Government;  most colleges in the UK no longer have the facilities they once had ie construction science labs; most schools don't have the facilities they once had ie: woodworking workshops with lathes, or metalworking workshops with milling machines or a forge (unlike, back when we started out)

 

Furthermore, social media 'influencers' (or as we call them: social media comedians) portray everything as easy and can be done at warp speed! This really doesn't add well into the mix, yet the Government pushes for online everything these days, even in education from early years

 

When you've interviewed large numbers of school leavers who's mum's have filled out their application form for them, and Despite mum driving them to their interview they still cannot arrive on time because they 'got lost walking from the carpark' - no apology of course, then they often cannot spell their own surname or even the name of the street they live in, despite having spent 11-12 years in school, or do basic arithmetic without immediately reaching for their phones' calculator, then you'll only just start to see the possible reasons why.

 

Then come the days when you are stood waiting to deliver technology lessons to a group but 9 or 10 are constantly late,  and then you are constantly interrupted throughout with "you got a pen!" "You got some paper!" "You got a calculator!" Or interrupted by mobile phones ringing and pinging despite asking many times for them to be left on silent, but of course you cannot discipline anyone.

 

It seems to us that the word 'builder' in this derogatory term needs updating, but we're not saying what with, in the same way as qualifications were 40 years ago; there's always two sides; we've seen both in great depth.