On Thursday 9th and 16th June, Shrewsbury Colleges Group’s female construction teachers had great success at the ‘Women in Construction’ events, where they encouraged girls in secondary school to follow in their footsteps.
We had a small group of girls from across Shropshire join our experienced female teachers to complete mini tasks in different sectors across the construction industry. Once completed, all the girls received a personalised certificate with their achievements.
The girls’ ages ranged from 13 to 15 and they all had an interest in some form of construction but had not had the experience or the confidence to explore their passions.
One of the attendees said: “It was fantastic to watch a group of shy, nervous girls walk into the briefing, follow their journey around the stations, then watch their confidence blossom throughout the event.”
Women only make up 14% of the construction industry, but educational providers, like ourselves, are helping this figure to rise, with 37% of people who enter the industry through higher education courses now being women.
Our events included small and intimate workshops covering each construction sector, where the girls could get hands on experience, ask our female teachers any questions, and try out their skills in a safe and supported environment.
- Painting and Decorating - Girls got to practice stencilling with paints, picking their colours and then how to create the perfect ombre effect on walls.
- Carpentry and Joinery – Each of them had to look at the different joints, then practiced identifying them to join timber together to create a small structure.
- Electrical – In small groups they practiced wiring up a lighting circuit, establishing the different wires for installation and then testing lightbulbs.
- Plumbing - Girls got to measure copper and plastic pipes, cut them accordingly and join them together through various plumbing methods.
- Construction and the Built Environment – A teambuilding exercise for the girls to build, design and create a bridge out of spaghetti and marshmallows then test their design with various weights.
- Careers in Construction – Led by our female progression specialist, girls could focus on their careers in construction, look at the skills and qualities that they bring and what employers are looking for.
The girls were also very lucky to have the opportunity to speak to Angela Simpson, Head of Assets at Shropshire Towns and Rural Housing Ltd and Charlotte Edwards, Director at Dennis Edwards Homes our guest speakers. They both gave them an insight into their experience of being a working woman in the construction field, and how they found their way to the top in a very heavy male-dominated industry.
Once the girls had all participated and finished the workshops their work was put together at the end of the session to spell out SCG.