It began with a conversation betweenHRH The Prince of Wales and Jon Bolton,former Director Long Products Europe.Now in its fifth year, Industrial Cadets hasbuilt a credible reputation as a nationalaccreditation for industry workplace experiences.
Working with a catalog of like-mindedcompanies sharing the same visionof improving the science, technology,engineering and maths (STEM) industry’stalent pool, the emphasis of Industrial Cadets is on skillsdevelopment and knowledge of careeropportunities for young people.
Last month, HRH The Prince of Walesattended an event at the Redcar CommunityHeart to see how the community and formerSSI workers, apprentices and businessesaffected by the SSI closure have beensupported in the wake of the steel crisis.During the event, some of the latestIndustrial Cadets representing schools such asSt Mary’s Catholic School, Kenton School, StPeter’s School and Redcar Academy had thechance to meet HRH The Prince of Wales as heshook hands and spoke to them.
Led under the management of educationcharity EDT (the Engineering DevelopmentTrust), the strict quality control of IndustrialCadets accreditation has been influential forthe young people involved.Rebecca McMahon, Talent, Development& Resourcing Manager, said: “More than 95% of cadets see an improvement in their work-relevant skills such as team work, criticalthinking, communication and organisationand planning. Importantly for the vision ofIndustrial Cadets, 70% of the cadets taking partfeel they are more likely to go into industry asa result of being an industrial cadet.”
A study commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering found that British industry will need 100,000 new graduates in STEM subjects every year until 2020 just to maintain current employment numbers. However, thanks to Industrial Cadets’ efforts, there are now more than 3,500 Industrial Cadets drawn from more than 1,000 schools. More than 200 companies, including ourselves in Scunthorpe and Teeside, have held Industrial Cadet accredited programmes and more than 400 employees have been trained as mentors.