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Vocational Training in France and Britain: the Building Trades

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

S.J. Prais  and
Hilary Steedman
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Abstract

The emphasis placed in Germany on vocational training and education was explored in previous studies by the Institute. These drew attention to: the greater numbers with vocational qualifications there than in Britain; the generally broader scope of German training, leading to greater adaptability in the face of technological progress; more extensive preparation at school for subsequent training; and the consequences for productivity (see National Institute Economic Review, August 1983 and February and May 1985). This article presents the first of a series of similar comparisons for France and Britain, with particular attention to French full-time vocational secondary schools for 14-17 year olds.

Type
Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 116 , May 1986 , pp. 45 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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References

(note 1 in page 45) The Building Research Station published in 1981 the results of a survey of defects, and their causes, in a sample of 27 large building projects (M. J. C. Bentley, Quality Control on Building Sites, CP7/ 81, Department of Environment, 1981); this will be referred to further below. Expert surveys of this sort need to be extended to cover smaller projects, and repeated at regular intervals. Partially pre-fabricated low-rise houses, using pre-cast concrete, have been subject to large-scale problems (150,000 concrete houses, subject to dampness, deterioration and serious defects, were referred to by the Housing Minister in the House of Commons debate on 8 February 1983, Hansard, col. 893; see also Building Research Establishment Information Paper 16/83; a summary of the recent position appeared in The Economist, 9 March 1985, p.35, which emphasised the need for better workmanship and ‘quality control on and off the site’). Timber-framed houses can be erected without problems in Scandinavia, but poor workmanship in Britain seemed to be responsible for half the faults identified in a sample enquiry by the Building Research Establishment. (An advance report appeared in The Guardian, 31 May 1985.)

(note 2 in page 45) Department of Employment, Employment Gazette, January 1984, p.40.

(note 3 in page 45) Labour turnover is higher in larger firms, and was reported to reach 300 per cent a year for firms with over a thousand employees in the late 1960s; see the Report of the Committee of Inquiry under Professor E. H. Phelps Brown into Certain Matters Concerning Labour in Building and Civil Engineering, Cmnd 3714, HMSO 1968, p.56. That Report provided a detailed account of labour recruitment patterns which seems still to be broadly correct; it pointed to the real advantages of sub-contractors in being able to switch gangs of specialists from site to site as necessary.

(note 1 in page 46) See E. Leopold, ‘Where have all the workers gone?’ (Building, 22 October 1982, pp.29-30); the author noted a decline in the period 1960-80 of directly employed construction operatives from 1.4 million to 1.0 million, which had been largely offset by a rise of 0.3 million in those recorded by the Inland Revenue as self- employed—and the Revenue's coverage is of course likely to be seriously incomplete. See also P.M. Hillebrandt, Analysis of the British Construction Industry (Macmillan, 1984), especially p. 194 and, more generally, P. A. Stone, Building Economy (Pergamon, 3rd edn. 1983); these books cover many aspects of the British construction industry that can only be touched upon here.

(note 2 in page 46) Special ‘714 Certificates’ are available to those self-employed in the construction industry; this permits employers to pay wages to those holding such certificates without deducting tax, as otherwise normally required. The complex special provisions for this industry are explained in a 65-page booklet (Construction Industry—Tax Deduction Scheme, Board of Inland Revenue 1982); anyone capable of understanding it will not be earning his living in the construction trades. A simpler pamphlet (Income Tax—Conditions for Getting a Sub-Contractor's Tax Certificate, Inland Revenue, 1982) might be expected to convince those with their wits about them that it is better to work for cash than to become entangled with these special arrangements. Nevertheless, in April 1985, 450,000 certificates were current; in addition, there were some 300,000 uncertificated sub-contractors (unpublished figures kindly made available by the Inland Revenue).

(note 3 in page 46) Annuaire Statistique, 1984, table C.01-4.

(note 4 in page 46) Comparisons of PPPs for a decade earlier (1970) indicated that the French/UK PPP for construction was about 4 per cent lower than for GDP as a whole; in 1975 it was about 20 per cent lower. This suggests that much of the greater relative efficiency of the French industry is of recent origin; but it is not inconceivable that the gap goes back further, and that better measurement techni ques have recently made it more apparent. The sources are: for 1980, Eurostat, Comparisons in Real Values of the Aggregates of ESA 1980, Luxembourg, 1983, pp. 340-1; for 1975, 1. B. Kravis, H. Heston and R. Summers, World Product and Income, Johns Hopkins, 1982, pp. 178,215,258,282; for 1970, the same authors together with Z. Kennessey, A System of International Compari sons of Gross Product and Purchasing Power, 1975, pp. 171-8. The precise values of the PPPs depend only slightly on which countries' weights are used; we have quoted Ideal indexes throughout for the sake of brevity.

(note 5 in page 46) Based on Eurostat, op. cit.

(note 6 in page 46) Some interesting direct comparisons of labour requirements in the US and GB in the 1960s, assembled by the Building Research Establishment, show that in school construction we required nearly three times as many man-hours per square metre as the Americans, in hospital construction about twice, and in public housing about 1.7 times (see J. Lemessany and M. A. Clapp, Labour Inputs to New Construction in the United States and in Great Britain, Building Research Establishment, Watford; dupli cated, 1974). The difference noted in the text above is much below these ratios, mainly because the text relates to building prices relative to all other prices.

(note 7 in page 46) A. D. Roy, Labour productivity in 1980: an international compari son, National Institute Economic Review, No. 101, August 1982, p.29.

(note 1 in page 47) A special household sample survey conducted for the Construction Industry Manpower Board in 1979 showed 11 per cent as not native born, of whom over half were of Irish origin. One must however suspect that non-respondents and non-contacts were higher among immigrants and casual workers; the true proportion was therefore probably higher. See A. Marsh, P. Heady, J. Mathe son, Labour Mobility in the Construction Industry (OPCS, 1980), p.24.

(note 2 in page 47) Annuaire Statistique, 1984, table C. 01-14.

(note 3 in page 47) As appears from the population surveys summarised in an accompanying paper in course of preparation.

(note 4 in page 47) Marsh et al., op. cit., p. 47; 36 per cent of the sample were recorded as having ‘completed an apprenticeship’, but the fraction who passed the related C & G or equivalent examination was not stated.

(note 1 in page 48) O-level and AO level examinations in building studies and prac tice have been introduced for those at 16+ by the Associated Examination Board, which seem admirable in level and scope; the number of candidates passing in 1985 totalled some 1,500. The C & G Foundation course is cast roughly at the same level, with similar numbers passing in recent years.

(note 2 in page 48) The British figures shown in table 1 relate to City and Guilds and six regional examination boards; such is the fragmentation of British vocational training that no national figures have previously been put together (even our attempts were unsuccessful in relation to one board; see footnote (d) to the table). Scotland has been (at least partially) covered here, since C & G examinations are taken there; its different system however deserves a separate study. Following our representations, the City and Guilds statisti cal department plans to provide national data for passes in con struction trades at craft level.

(note 3 in page 48) Based on qualifications for all occupations in 1977 (see Annuaire Statistique, 1984, table F.01-10 note 1; no separate analysis of the overlap has been published for later years, nor for the con struction industry alone).

(note 4 in page 48) Statistics of employment and self-employment in construction in France are subject to similar limitations as in Britain, and one can therefore speak only ‘roughly’ of the size of changes over a decade.

(note 1 in page 49) The view that German houses have been ‘better built’ than those in Britain is advanced as part of a wider recent study of Housing Conditions in Britain and Germany (by C. Crouch, Anglo-German Foundation, London, 1983, p. 57); but this is based only on general impressions, and deserves further investigation.

(note 2 in page 49) Questions on the properties of various mixes of concrete are set in the German intermediate craft examination for Maurer (‘bricklayer’); whereas in Britain such questions are set in that degree of detail only in the (usually subsequent) specialist C & G examination on Concrete Practice.

(note 3 in page 49) See Prais and Wagner, 1983, p. 54, footnote 3.

(note 4 in page 49) For those who do particularly well in the CAP examination there are special ‘bridging’ courses available enabling them to work towards a Technical Baccalaureate. In addition, a new Vocational Baccalaureate with a more practical bias is planned which will also be available to those passing the CAP. Both of these Baccalaure ate examinations give entry rights to higher education leading to full-time Diploma-level courses.

(note 5 in page 49) The following two examples illustrate the comparability of the CAP and C & G Advanced Craft tests. A question set in 1984 in the French CAP Building Technology test was: ‘In relation to a base ment room, shown in cross-section on a sketch, what are the steps to be taken to avoid dampness penetrating the walls below ground?’ In a C & G Craft-level paper the following simpler multiple-choice question appeared: ‘The application of asphalt to basements in order to prevent the penetration of water is described as—(a) flaunching, (b) benching, (c) tanking, (d) haunching. [Mark the appropriate term]’. In the C & G Advanced Craft examination there appeared a question very close to that in the French examination (from the paper on Site Procedures, Technology and Practice set in 1984): ‘An existing basement room is constructed with 1 brick thick solid walls and a 150mm thick concrete floor. This basement room is to be made completely waterproof by asphalt tanking. Using sketches where necessary, list in sequence the operations involved in carrying out this work.’ Another question in the same French paper asks for the causes of peeling of external rendering; a comparable C & G Advanced Craft question asked for the causes of diagonal cracking of mortar joints on an external wall.

(note 1 in page 50) The Construction Industry Training Board has taken a leading part in these developments, which are closely linked to YTS and associated subsidies. See CITB Bulletin No. 2, Skills Testing for the Building Industry, January 1984. A list of practical tasks to be mastered by bricklayers who are to be certified as craftsmen has been prepared by CITB, and is to form the basis of future practical tests (NTI: Training Specification: Bricklayer: Validation Edition, CITB, 1983).

(note 2 in page 50) A survey of building craft students in Inner London in 1982 showed that over half thought their practical training at work was unplanned; and that in over a third of the skill-areas associated with their particular crafts they obtained no experience within their first three years of employment (M. Hatchett, ILEA Building Craft Student Survey 1978, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College, London; duplicated, 1982; pp. 20, 23).

(note 3 in page 50) For related details and comments, see the evidence of two members of the French Central Committee for Building Appren tices, B. Pasquier and M. Noel, to the House of Lords Select Committee reporting on Youth Training in the EEC (HL 282, 1984), p. 291.

(note 4 in page 50) That small building firms take on proportionately more trainees than large firms was already apparent twenty years ago; see the Phelps Brown Report (op.cit.), p.102.

(note 1 in page 51) For Britain, see Young Workers' Pay, Incomes Data Service, June 1985; for France, the wages of a second-year trainee in this trade are 40 per cent of the legal minimum rate (SMIC), which corresponds to about a quarter of average adult earnings in con struction (Pasquier and Noel, op.cit., p. 294).

(note 2 in page 51) On the continuing problems for training posed by the growth of self-employment, see the CITB's Strategic Review 1985.

(note 3 in page 51) The general French apprenticeship tax, similar to the previous levy and grant system administered by training boards in Britain, is in the nature of a general payroll tax and does not require special consideration in relation to this industry.

(note 4 in page 51) We had the opportunity in Paris of visiting both a class of 14-year-olds at a general comprehensive school, many of whom—we were told—would next year move to a vocational school, and classes of 15- to 16-year-olds at such a vocational school. There was a remarkable contrast in the orderliness, attention and standards of work at the latter which—to our eyes—well illustrated the good side of the present French system. It may take ‘a year and sometimes a year and a half’ for this rise in attainment in general studies to manifest itself (Pasquier and Noel, p. 202), and much obviously depends on the calibre of teachers (discussed below).

(note 5 in page 51) Lack of manual dexterity was less important, as was lack of knowledge of the particular operation (‘trade’); the possibility that what was labelled in that report as ‘lack of care’ was in reality the result of a lack of broad training was unfortunately not investi gated—perhaps because of the degree of specialisation that is accepted as normal on British building sites. The sample related to 27 sites, at which there were 501 defects, 98 of them ‘serious’, such as rain leaks; over a third of the defects were attributed to poor workmanship (see Bentley, op. cit, p. 8).

(note 1 in page 52) As the National Federation of Building Trades Employers noted in 1981: ‘There have been criticisms of the rigid separation between the different crafts, and it has been argued that oppor tunities should be provided to enable some apprentices to receive a wider training than is available at present in any single craft. The supporters of this approach have argued that many craftsmen make little or no use of some of the advanced skills which they acquire during their training and that it would be far more useful both to themselves and to their employers for them to be trained to a lower level in a wider range of cross-craft skills.’ (Apprenticeship and Training Arrangements for the Building Industry, p. 14.)

(note 2 in page 52) See the debate on plumbing in Hansard, 10 April 1981, eds. 1281-8, with an excellent exposition of the case for registration by Mr. Robin Squire. In our present study of building crafts it has not proved possible (within the limits of our resources) to give adequate attention to the training of plumbers; but the general impression, confirmed by teachers in building colleges in the two countries, is that British standards of workmanship are higher. This is perhaps because of stricter regulations based on public safety: the trade undoubtedly deserves fuller study.

(note 3 in page 52) Corroborative details have emerged in the course of disputes that have reached the Courts on who is to bear the ultimate liability. Serious legal problems have arisen from the Court's changing views on the applicability of the six-year period of limitation in the bringing of actions at law, since such defects do not generally become apparent until a little later. For a case involving an eight- year delay, see London Borough of Bromley v. Rush and Tompkins and others (reported in the Financial Times, 17 May 1985) which relates to a large office block where ‘the depth of steel cover [by the concrete] was inadequate, the cement content was low… [leading to] the subsequent onset of corrosion’.

While the Pantheon in Rome, with its concrete pillars and impressive concrete domed roof, has successfully withstood the passage of two thousand years, this is because—in contrast to the requirements of tall modern buildings—it did not have steel re-inforcements. With the latter, great attention is required to the concrete mix. To improve hardening properties, limited quantities of calcium chloride were added till about two decades ago; it was then realised that this ultimately led to corrosion of the steel, its expansion, and to the eventual fracture of the concrete. These fundamental aspects of building materials are still the subject of basic research (cf. the articles on the effects on concrete of calcium chloride, agressiveness of various natural waters, and steel fibre reinforcements, in the conference volume by V. M. Bhatnager (ed.), Building Materials: Proceedings of the 1980 European Conference, The Construction Press, London, 1981). While many of the current problems of concrete buildings are the result of using mixes that would not be accepted today, we were repeatedly assured by experts of the need for care and under standing in all aspects of concrete work in order to avoid sub sequent defects, and hence of the great value of proper training of operatives and supervisors in achieving those ends.

(note 4 in page 52) Going back to the time when many of those tower blocks were erected, the Phelps Brown Report of 1968 noted (p. 67) the lack of clear qualifications in this industry. They quote the example of a site where ‘five steel fixers, who spent two days looking at drawings of grid foundations, did some simple bar bending and then admitted to the agent that they could not understand the drawings’. At the time of writing, the Construction Industry Training Board is introducing a new course for Civil Engineering Operatives (with a new C & G Certificate no. 583) which will cover this and other aspects of concrete work as part of the first six months full-time off- the-job training of a longer course. It will be offered at its four national training centres, and seems likely to involve a period of residence. The likely annual number of enrolments for this course is not yet known.

(note 1 in page 53) See, for example, Building, 22 October 1982, which describes a residential block erected in Britain using ‘French methods’.

(note 2 in page 53) The apparatus consisted simply of transparent shuttering into which concrete of various mixes could be poured, and vibrated (using poker-vibrators) for varying amounts of time; the limits on the vibrating time are critical. The Cement and Concrete Associ ation has a training centre at Slough which provides short courses, of 1-2 weeks, on most aspects of concrete work; but that time is too limited to provide the theoretical instruction, experimental work and practical application available to French full-time pupils.

(note 3 in page 53) The French appear to have been in advance of England in concrete work for over a century, a gardener at Versailles having made an important start by using reinforced concrete for his plant- tubs in 1867; he then applied the same system to bridges and buildings. The Germans, Danes, Swiss and Americans followed; after that, interest developed in this country. Pre-stressed con crete is due to an invention by another Frenchman, Freyssinnet in 1925. By the end of the Second World War, experience with pre- stressed concrete in this country was still very limited, and an official committee called for recognised training in reinforced con crete work. The story is told by Marian Sowley, The British Building Industry (Cambridge University Press, 1966), especially pp. 16-18, 28, 59, 60,98-9.

(note 1 in page 54) On developments in Britain, see the Report by the National Federation of Building Trades Employers, Apprenticeships and Training Arrangements for the Building Industry (1981), and Apprenticeships and Training: The Next Stage (1983); and the Annual Reports of the CITB.