Inspiring the next generation to fulfil an electrified future

Building on a history of ECA’s technical team visiting schools and colleges, I recently went to inspire the next generation to consider a future in the electrotechnical industry.

Engaging with young people in schools and further education colleges is a vital step in addressing future skills needs and ensuring the industry continues to attract talented, motivated individuals. Activities like these reinforce the importance of apprenticeships and structured training in building a safe, skilled, and sustainable workforce.

I visited the largest comprehensive school in my local area, delivering presentations to over 300 students on the breadth of opportunities available across the electrotechnical sector. The sessions explored what the industry looks like today, how it is evolving, and the many pathways into rewarding and long term careers.
Presentations were delivered to Year 7 and Year 9 students, helping to raise awareness at an early stage of the wide range of roles available – from technical and installation pathways to engineering design, and emerging technologies.

Both year groups were engaged with my sessions. Questions ranged from about general employment and salary expectations with Year 7, while Year 9’s questions were more focused on GCSE expectations and grades, and what GCSE qualifications and grades electrical contractors and engineers would need.

During National Apprenticeship Week , I was also privileged to visit Gloucestershire College with eFixx.

The focus of the visit was on delivering engaging, relevant, and practical presentations that connected classroom learning with site reality for NVQ Level 3 apprentices. The sessions sparked discussion, challenged assumptions, and encouraged critical thinking — skills every electrician needs as they progress through their career. The quality of the engagement from these apprentices demonstrated a real appetite to learn and to do things properly.

These sessions also tie in nicely with ECA’s 125th anniversary theme this quarter of ‘skills and apprenticeships’. I showed the school students our 125th Anniversary video, highlighting ECA’s long history of supporting excellence, standards, and professional development across the industry. The video generated strong engagement and provided a powerful way to connect the past, present, and future of the electrotechnical profession.

Students resonated with the video, particularly the parts showing net zero technology and apprentices. Many of them have renewables on their homes and their parents drive electric or hybrid vehicles. They are very conscious of the need to save our plant and the video inspired this younger generation, who are a huge enabler in this.

Sessions like this are a powerful reminder of why engagement between industry and education is so important — not just to support learners, but to raise standards across the sector as a whole.

This article appears on the ECA news and blogsite as "Inspiring the next generation to fulfil an electrified future" dated 23 February and was written by Darren Crannis, Technical Manager, ECA.

--ECA

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