Petition: make hospitality skilled career choice in schools
A petition has been launched to get hospitality formally recognised as a skilled and respected career pathway in secondary education.
Lorna MacPherson-Johnston, food and beverage director at Cubitt House, a collective of independent pubs in London, UK, filed the petition in April.
The petition is asking the UK government to formally recognise the value of hospitality and to promote it in secondary education, careers guidance and youth unemployment programmes.
The petition stresses that hospitality is the third-largest employer in the UK, “yet significantly under-represented in schools and government-supported career pathways”.
It also comes at a time when the industry is grappling with a shortage of workers, exasperated by Brexit and the pandemic.
MacPherson-Johnston said: “Since Brexit, Covid and visa reforms last year, hospitality has faced a widening gap in its talent pool, and rather than sit back and wait I felt we really needed to do something about it.
“For me, the only solution to approach this positively was to try to find a way to inspire the next generation. Hospitality is considered a skilled and lifelong career in so many countries, yet in the UK it has only ever been considered a stop gap; an unconscious bias hangs over the industry that prevents young people actually considering it as a career path.
“The UK had 99,000 more young people unemployed from November last year to January this year, with hospitality vacancies estimated at 132,000 (and far higher I am sure).
“Hospitality is not discussed openly as a fulfilling and long-term option for young people when considering their careers, and I feel this petition is the best way of ensuring that as the third-biggest employer in the UK we are represented in schools, and in any career and job centres, so we have a chance at inspiring the future talent within our profession, as well as reducing youth unemployment in this country.”
Specific requests to the UK government through the petition also include embedding hospitality careers education into secondary schools, particularly at the GCSE decision stage (the end-of-school exams).
It would also like to see job centres and employment services present hospitality as credible and aspirational career options.
In addition, working with industry leaders to rebuild a domestic talent pipeline in the UK while addressing youth unemployment is high on the agenda.
In the UK, a petition needs 10,000 signatures to get a response from the government, and 100,000 to be considered for debate in parliament.
Further details about the petition are available on change.org.
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