ADS are supporting the Emerging Skills Project (ESP) as part of the Government’s Skills for Jobs plan, specifically focused on the Manufacturing sector. The ESP is a pilot programme looking to transform the further and technical education in England.

The Emerging Skills Project is currently offering free access to technical training units for the employer and employees.

Transforming the future of UK manufacturing

Funded by the Department of Education, the pilot is running through to March 2022. The programme uses the High Value Manufacturing Catapult as a centre point on innovation that understands the future skills needed for UK manufacturing and works with a number of Institutes of Technology (IoTs) to build training mechanisms to meet these needs.  There are currently 12 IoT’s all of whom are engaged in the development process to one level or another.

Available Courses

The process of the fore sighting has been undertaken to identify the future state (i.e. future capabilities and competencies in a particular subject e.g. digital modelling and simulation) which can be compared to the current state. The courses are in various stages from level 3 to level 5 and include:

  • Industrial Digitalisation
    • Manufacturing
    • Data
  • Electrification
    • Batteries
    • Electric Drives/Motors
  • Additive Manufacturing
  • Composites

Aerospace engagement

As technology and requirements for change develop across our sectors there will be an increasing need for skills development across many of the areas that the Emerging Skills Project has identified. Across other manufacturing sectors there is a high level of engagement as they are more advanced in the requirement of these ‘future skills’ but the courses remain available for ADS members to access  as training days or opportunities to train trainers to support businesses more internally.

How to get involved

There are four different ways to engage with the emerging skills project and they all start with visiting the central web site:  https://emergingskillsproject.com:

  1. Register for the Foresighting workshops (or esp@hvmc.catapult.co.uk)
  2. Register to receive project and course updates
  3. Central place for all units being delivery – linked to Eventbrite
  4. Register interest in Train-the-Trainer delivery

In addition to this, as a fifth way, ADS is planning to host a webinar early in 2022 with the Emerging Skills Project to shine a light on the relevant courses for our sectors and provide members the opportunity to engage directly with the team.