Dr HL Haslegrave on the HASLEGRAVE REPORT

REASONS FOR REVIEWING THE EDUCATION OF TECHNICIANS The word Technician has been used for very many years without being given a precise meaning, but the recognition that there are groups of people carrying out types of work that can be given a general connotation — Technician work — has evolved gradually. The earliest recognition came in the electrical engineering industry, but recognition has now spread to other branches of industry, and to other activities in the life of the nation. The White Paper issued by the Ministry of Education in 1961, Better Opportunities in Technical Education, gave a lead to the technical colleges in designing courses of technical education specially for technicians. During the years following the issue of this White Paper, a great deal of attention was paid by teachers, training officers, industrialists and ministry staff to ways of implementing the recommendations contained in the White Paper, and particularly to shaping national certificate, national diploma, and City and Guilds courses better to meet the requirements of technicians. Although most of this attention was given to science‐based occupations, appreciation gradually developed that in commerce, business and service industries there exist also types of work that have responsibilities and requirements, of a similar nature, though differing in kind, to technician work in science based industry.