A retired teacher is behind a government and industry-supported initiative to help young people into the energy industry.
The pilot scheme, Your Future In Energy, was launched this week at Aberdeen’s Northfield Academy in collaboration with the Offshore Contractors’ Association (OCA) and training company Atlas.
About 120 pupils aged 14-15, who will soon be making their higher subject choices, are spending this week in industry-led workshops learning about the reality of the energy workplace. They will then attend a fair where oil-industry companies will set out the type of jobs on offer and the skills required.
The programme aims to highlight the different routes into the industry.
Tom Clark, a former PE teacher and leadership coach at Northfield, spent 18 months setting up the scheme which he now manages. He said: “This is the first time experts spanning the education sector, energy industry and training bodies have come together to map where the skill shortages lie, which competencies are needed to fulfil these roles, and which school subjects will steer pupils towards achieving these.”
Firms involved in the pilot include Stork, Amec, Wood Group, BIS Salamis, and Sparrows Group.
OCA chief executive Bill Murray said: “Given the challenges facing the energy sector in the coming decades, this is exactly the type of cross-sector approach we need to deliver tomorrow’s talent.”
Ali Dow, deputy head teacher of Northfield said, “Your Future In Energy is exposing our pupils to jobs they might never have considered before, and . . . helping them to understand where the knowledge they learn here at school can take them after they leave.”
If the pilot is successful, the aim is to start replicating it in other schools.
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