Harland and Wolff - Shipbuilding and Engineering Works

Gate No. 7 holds the key to many a future

During the annual apprentice prize giving ceremony earlier this year Mr. R. S. Punt, the Managing Director, told guests that at the present moment no less than 851 apprentices were in training with the Company. As this total represents nearly 10 per cent of our total workforce ‘H & W News’ decided to have a closer look at apprentice training and apprentices.

Gate No. 7, Queen’s Road, is the entrance to the Apprentice Training School, and it is here that apprentices, or rather would-be apprentices get their first look at Harland and Wolff, Limited. The firm encourages early application for apprenticeships and most applications are made by boys of 15 to 15 1/2 despite the fact that formal training doesn’t begin until they are 16 or 16 1/2. The reason for early application is that the selection procedure takes quite a time as normally there are some 500 applications a year for less than 200 places, and in order to be scrupulously fair in their selection procedures the Training Centre staff interview every eligible applicant. Incidentally, although throughout this article we will be using the masculine—boys, lads, etc.—girls are eligible for apprenticeships just the same as boys, although normally very few girls apply. Nevertheless two did apply last year but unfortunately did not pass selection procedure.

The selection procedure consists of three major elements. The first is the level of education. Applicants are not required to have umpteen ‘O’ levels or ‘A’ levels. In fact neither of these is required, but boys should have had a good general level of education. The second element is the aptitude test. As someone who is completely ham-fisted is never likely to make a good craftsman and someone who is unable to measure an item in millimetres or centimetres or measure angles is not the sort of person most likely to succeed as a shipbuilder it is as well to find this out before the boy commits himself to four years training.

Training Centre with Denis McGaffin (Apprentice) and George Quail (Electrical Instructor)

All the instructors on the Training Centre staff have themselves had considerable experience in the subjects they teach and are therefore fully able to instruct in the basic skills required by the students. Training must, however, keep pace with developments, and as the type of vessel we build changes, so too must the syllabus for our apprentices in order to keep their instruction abreast of the changing demands of the shipping industry and of the classification societies. The improvement of techniques and the introduction of higher standards of operation required to meet such demands is accomplished through a system of modular training. In the case of engineering and electrical apprentices it is usual for each boy to receive two periods of post-modular training during his first year experience. The training module consists of a period of approximately nine weeks, spent off the job, during which apprentices receive a set course designed to bring their skills up to a required standard. For engineering apprentices this would involve tuition in fitting and erecting, or in machining and turning, etc. Electricians, in their modular training periods, are taught how to wind armatures of electric motors and generators and alternator stators. While the modules are aimed basically at improving an apprentice’s skill they also act as a monitor of his development outside the Training Centre and therefore provide a check on his overall development. Apprentices completing the modules return to normal work where they will be expected and required to work to their newly acquired standards of skill. Steelworker apprentices also return to the Training Centre during their first year of “on the job” training to undergo tuition in the more skilled aspects of steelworking, welding and burning. During this time they can also be given instruction in lining-off and other duties associated with steelworking. During training all apprentices, both craft and students, have opportunities for day release classes and the Company actively encourages further education through the provision of time off for tuition, enrolment, examination fees, and also the presentation of money awards for success in external examinations. Apprenticeship normally finishes after a boy has attained the age of 20, except where he has lost time during his period of apprenticeship. Where he remains at full time education to gain academic qualifications beyond the age of 16 a boy may be eligible to be credited with time towards the completion of his apprenticeship.