ECITB

Background

The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) is the employer-led skills, standards and qualifications body for the engineering construction workforce of Great Britain.

Engineering Construction Industries (ECI) operates across the oil and gas, nuclear and renewables sectors, as well as major process industries, such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing, water and waste treatment. Around 190,000 jobs are directly supported by engineering construction. The ECITB works with employers and training providers to attract, develop and qualify the engineering construction workforce in a wide range of craft, technical and professional disciplines.

Challenge

ECITB was first established to address a market failure within the industry to provide training to its workforce. The global COVID-19 pandemic became a catalyst for change in how ECITB provides learning across ECI employers including the use of online learning to engage with wider sections of the workforce, support increased digital skills and address falling numbers of new workforce entrants.

2020 became the catalyst for this blended learning project, with a key driver for the change being placed upon us. In 2020 ECITB recognized the need for change driven by:

• Closure of physical training centers (the first since the Second World War) leading to the cessation of all in-person training activities that had previously formed ECITB’s core delivery model.
• ECI’s workforce decreased by 15.25% in 2021, compared to 2019, leading to increases in pre-existing skills gaps.
• ECI sector utilization of the UK government Furlough Scheme leading to increased demand for online training to provide upskilling opportunities for retained workforce.

Solution

ECITB recognized the need for an engaging, experiential digital learning solution that supported ECI’s entire workforce to complete training. This solution needed to be intuitive, accessible, flexible and customizable to meet the requirements of individual organizations across the ECI group. Whilst the platform would largely be used for mandatory training, ECITB also required a solution that would provide self-learning and career development opportunities as well as advanced data analytics to inform future learning offerings.

The ECITB carried out a design thinking exercise and mapped out a central learning experience platform that would:

• Be accessible to all organizations across ECI
• Provide access to mandatory and transferable skills training
• Deliver specific content mapped directly to niche industry needs

With Learning Pool Platform at the center of a larger ecosystem that includes Learning Pool Automation, Learning Pool Analytics and Learning Pool Authoring, ECITB has revolutionized the way it assigns, tracks and reports on training that is being undertaken in the ECI. Part of this implementation saw ECITB redesign and launch its ‘Digital Passport’. Utilizing Learning Pool Authoring, ECITB was able to create new courses from pre-existing material that has been mapped against an ECITB training standard. This revolutionary approach to content creation enabled ECITB to build a specific learning experience in a matter of days rather than weeks.

By maximizing the use of moderated content within its solution, ECITB has been able to certify new entrants into the ECI who participated in the ‘Digital Passport’ with a purpose-built assessment.

The Digital Passport is due for wide release in early 2024 when it is to be deployed to the licensed training providers who are critical to the success of the industry and training.

Outcomes

Increased engagement

Following the launch of Learning Pool Platform in January 2023, ECITB has already identified some significant increases in engagement, retention and training completion rates across all three service offerings.

Within the first year, ECITB Learn had been adopted by 110+ employers, a figure that is predicted to grow to 150 by the end of this second year.

In 2023, the predicted number of unique users was 10,628. This is on track to increase by 50% to over 15,000 users throughout 2024 as ECITB continues to promote the online offering from the likes of iHASCO and iAM Learning to the ECI industries.

Throughout 2023, 10,118 learning experiences were completed. In 2024, this is estimated to double throughout the year. In fact, at the time of writing, the figures show 15,000 learning experience completions since the launch in January 2024; this means, in 2024 alone, ECITB has already achieved a 50% increase compared to the previous year’s completions in just three months.

Based on data from 2021 and modeled against existing uptake from ECI employers, ECITB predicts continued growth in unique user numbers and adoption of employer-owned academies will see year-on-year expansion which is only viable due to the flexibility and responsiveness of Learning Pool Platform. In Q2 of 2023, ECITB witnessed a 482.5% increase in the number of users being onboarded which represented 52% of its Q3 2023 ambition.

Cost savings

Through the implementation of Learning Pool Platform, ECITB has calculated a projected cost saving of £750k against the 2021 figure of £1.3m. This cost-saving is now being directly utilized to fast-track and support other strategic priorities across the ECI including Net Zero initiatives and attracting and training new entrants into the industries.