‘Crafts are great, but not for me’: Reconnecting to the skilled trades crucial for building a low-carbon implementation workforce in academised societies

Abstract

Developing a sufficiently skilled and large workforce in the skilled trades constitutes a crucial bottleneck for implementing low-carbon transitions globally. However, research on strategies to increase apprentice numbers in vocational education and training (VET) in these Climate Crafts remains limited. Here, we examine the appeal of Climate Crafts among German adolescents. Grounded in the Social Cognitive Career Theory, the ordinal logistic regression results of a survey experiment (N = 1280) reveal that low degrees of practical self-efficacy, perceived approval from parents and peers, and limited knowledge about the skilled trades deter adolescents from apprenticeships in the Climate Crafts. Additionally, the sector remains an unattractive field for women and adolescents with or aspiring to A-levels. The latter regard Climate Crafts as generally attractive but personally ill-fitted occupations indicating that strategies targeting the perceived personal job fit for high-school students could be effective in increasing application numbers from this group. Moreover, highlighting earning opportunities was associated with an increase in attractiveness in this sample. Our results indicate a disconnection from manual labour in academised societies and signpost a priority agenda for practice and policymaking. Increasing practical learning in schools, facilitating social mixing between academics and tradespeople, and raising awareness about the Climate Crafts could foster re-connection. Trusted ‘influencers’ could increase the social prestige of these professions through public communication. Craft actors need to adapt VET to the preferences of the young generations and policymakers need to equip VET with similar resources as academic education.