Jade Brasier, 21, from Hitchin in Hertfordshire is a young apprentice proving the point that these days there is no such thing as a “man’s world.” Jade is currently undertaking a two-year Brickwork NVQ Level 2 Apprenticeship course organised jointly by her employer DP Brasier Brickwork Contractors and North Hertfordshire College that started in September 2009.
After leaving school, Jade opted to undertake a two-year make-up and media course, but found no career openings in an occupation that she had already decided was “not for me”. At this stage she started working for her father’s family construction business and later opted to become a specialist construction apprentice studying brickwork, to gain a qualification developed specifically for her industry. This is enabling her to learn advanced skills on the job while being paid a wage by her employer, while also benefiting from an element of class work at NHC involving advanced practical and theoretical aspects of construction.
Jade’s apprenticeship programme is focused on working “hands-on” on-site to help her develop a comprehensive range of key work-based skills, plus essential class work covering all aspects of her profession to support and reinforce her practical ability. The course is, in this case, fully funded by NHC, apart from the employer contribution of her wages.
Jade readily accepts that she has found her vocation in what is essentially a male dominated environment, and is the only female employee of DP Brasier ever to have worked on the building side of the business. However, she has already demonstrated to fellow employees, her father, and to customers, that she is, as colleagues report: “just as capable as any man, takes on whatever is asked of her, and receives and expects no special treatment either for being a woman or the boss’s daughter.”
She states that men rarely make things difficult for her and that customers, women in particular, respond very positively to her working on their houses.
The mix of on-job work plus college based learning is, Jade reports, very satisfying and really enjoyable, with both parts of the programme combining to great effect. She is particularly enthusiastic about her “hands-on” support at college, and hopes that her presence in what essentially are male dominated skills groups will help shape the futures of other girls wishing to work in a man’s environment.
Jade is intent on developing her chosen long-term career in the construction industry, and believes that gaining a nationally recognised qualification will be an important step forward in that process. Clearly, the ambition to control you own business runs in the Brasier family: Jades medium term goal is to continue to work and progress in the family company; her ultimate objective is to take over the business when Dad retires.