APPRENTICESHIP
Exercise 1
Please read this text and learn the words in bold
Although the number of school leavers has started to go down, there`s still a lot of unemployment among youngsters in England. At the same time there`s a shortage of skilled workers in a number of trades. Because of this the Government and trade organisations are trying to interest young people in craft apprenticeships. The Government has started Youth Training Schemes and Government Skills Centres, and the employers`organisations in the building industry have set up the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to organise the training of apprentices.
Brian McAllister is an apprentice roofer in Mr Atkinson`s firm. There`s a shortage of skilled roofers, and when Brian was still at school, a local roofing contractor visited his school to show video films and slides and hand out leaflets about the roofing trade. The idea was to make a job in roofing the first choice of the pupils and not just something they turned to because they couldn`t find another job.
Brian became interested enough to get a summer job on a local building site, and he liked it so much that he decided to make it his future occupation. He left school when he was 16 and was taken on as a trainee with Jim Atkinson`s firm. He`s attended off-site courses arranged by the CITB, who`ve also supervised his on-site training in cooperation with the firm.
At the end of his first year he was doing so well that his employer decided to apprentice him.Halfway through his third year he passed his skills test with flying colours. During the last six months he`s attended a management/technicians course set up by the NFRC to train young roofers in such things as promotion of the company, tendering, estimating materials and contracts.
Trainees are paid a weekly wage from the start, the rate increasing with each six month period. The cost of courses and supervision etc. and some of the cost of employing the trainee are subsidised by the CITB and the NRFC.
Brian has just joined the biggest trade union for workers in the building industry, The Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT), and as there`s still a shortage of skilled roofers in the industry, he feels sure that he`ll have a safe job in the future.
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
