Prospect boosts technician training with unique registration advice and information

Careersmart, a website set up by Prospect to support professionals in developing their careers, has for the first time brought together information about all the bodies offering technical registration across the UK.

The initiative is part of Prospect’s RegTech project, funded and supported by the Gatsby Foundation to encourage employers to register their technicians with a relevant professional body.

Prospect’s lifelong learning officer Rachel Bennett said: “Our project aims to address skills shortages in key areas by raising the status of technicians in science, engineering, technology and maths.

“We are also working with employers to convince them of the benefits of technician registration programmes.

“That’s why bringing together information about the wealth of registration schemes out there, and how to access them, is so crucial.”

The RegTech project is unique in its aim of encouraging and helping technicians working across the STEM sector to gain access to accredited status.

One company where the project is yielding results is Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron science facility on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.

Prospect and Diamond have worked together to secure improved terms for technicians, with the company agreeing to pay the membership and accreditation registration fees of the relevant professional bodies and training six members of staff as workplace RegTech advisers (see Profile magazine, p19).

The information on the Careersmart website shows which professional bodies offer technician registration in engineering, science, technology and IT – and how to access this.

It points out that technical apprenticeships can be a route to registered technician status. Rachel Bennett added: “Technician registration is a productive way to support apprentices and other professionals with structured vocational routes to career progression. It can also provide the foundation for individuals to achieve chartered status.

“We hope many more employers will support by this initiative to address skills shortages by raising the profile of technicians and attracting more recruits to the roles.”