Skillset/UK Film Council Feature Film Production Workforce Survey 2008

Go to Skillset website

Text Size A A A

Skillset/UK Film Council Feature Film Production Workforce Survey 2008

7.5 Difficulties experienced in obtaining training

Home > Section seven: Qualifications, training and skills > 7.5 Difficulties experienced in obtaining training

<Previous page

Next page>

Print page Print entire document

7.5 Difficulties experienced in obtaining training

The majority (83%) of respondents reported some difficulty obtaining training, a sharp rise over the figure of 61% reported in the 2005 survey. The most common difficulty was the fear of losing work through committing time to training in advance (36%) and difficulty taking time off work (34%). Concern that fees were too high (27%), and a lack of suitable courses and information about available training (26% each) were also recognised as barriers by around a quarter of respondents.

Table 7.5.1 Have you found it difficult to get training over the past twelve months for any of the following reasons?

	All survey respondents 2005 survey report	All survey respondents 2007 survey report
	%	%
Yes, some difficulty getting training	61	83

Lack of suitable courses / training available	3	26
Possible loss of earnings too high a risk	19	30
Fees are too high	19	27
Difficulty taking time off work	32	34
Difficulty finding time because of domestic / personal arrangements	9	7
Available training is in inconvenient places	8	11
Available training is at inconvenient times	9	18
Fear of losing work through committing time for training in advance	23	36
Lack of information about available training	19	26
Difficult to assess the quality of courses	16	18
Employers not willing to pay for training	11	17
Employers not willing to give time off for training	7	13
Other difficulty	5	2

No difficulty getting training	39	17

Base (n)	903	908

Note: the categories in this table are not mutually exclusive;therefore the percentages may total more than 100%.

Respondents from all occupational groups were more likely than in the first film production workforce survey to experience difficulty in getting training. In the present survey, assistant directors and those in locations, costume, make-up/hairdressing and editing/post production/VFX were more likely than those in other departments to report difficulties in obtaining training. Those working in make-up and hairdressing were most likely to report difficulties getting training because of high fees (as in the 2005 survey report), while those in the art department were the most likely to be concerned about losing work through time spent training.

Table 7.5.2 Difficulty getting training (by occupational group)

	Produc- tion / script develop- ment	Assis- tant direc- tors	Art / set decorating props	Cam- era	Sound / electrical	Cost-ume	Make- up / Hair- dressing	Editing / Post produc- tion / VFX	Construc- tion	Loca- tion	Others
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes, some difficulty getting training	84	91	89	86	86	92	92	90	88	95	77
Lack of suitable courses available	17	23	22	26	28	24	21	13	19	20	19
Possible loss of earnings a high risk	23	23	27	18	31	35	29	18	24	24	21
Fees are too high	30	21	25	23	14	14	46	21	14	17	16
Difficulty taking time off work	26	23	30	17	27	32	35	38	27	29	25
Difficulty finding time for Personal reasons	4	3	9	4	8	5	4	7	4	10	6
Available training in inconvenient places	6	8	11	8	15	12	8	10	11	7	5
Available training is at inconvenient times	12	11	20	11	14	23	23	11	12	15	12
Fear of losing work through time training	23	35	39	27	31	36	35	23	25	27	25
Lack of information available	18	21	25	28	28	21	21	8	24	20	14
Difficult to assess the quality of courses	20	15	15	15	16	17	6	15	8	10	10
Employers not willing to pay for training	14	20	20	12	19	9	2	13	21	10	7
Employers not willing to give time off	13	6	19	5	7	8	4	11	13	7	6
Other difficulty	2	2	-	2	-	-	4	3	1	2	1
No difficulty getting training	16	9	11	14	14	8	8	10	12	5	23
Base (n)	191	66	192	104	74	66	48	61	91	41	204

There were not many significant differences by contract type, although those working on a freelance basis were more likely to report difficulties (87%) compared with permanent employees (79%).

Reported difficulties obtaining training varied by age, with those aged 25-34 and 50+ most likely to report some kind of difficulties. Younger respondents found it more difficult to get training than the older age groups because of the high fees, difficulty taking time off work, the fear of losing work through committing time to training in advance, and lack of information about available training.

As in the 2005 survey report, women were more likely than men to have experienced difficulties in obtaining training. In particular, they were more likely than men to have found the fees too high.

Overall there was no difference between ethnic minority and white workers in experiencing difficulties obtaining training, although ethnic minority respondents were more likely to report difficulties due to high fees or difficulty taking time off work.

Table 7.5.3 Difficulty getting training (by age)

	16-24	25-34	35-49	50 or older
	%	%	%	%
Yes, some difficulty getting training	80	90	83	89

Lack of suitable courses available	17	25	19	16
Possible loss of earnings too high a risk	22	28	25	15
Fees are too high	38	30	15	13
Difficulty taking time off work	23	31	27	21
Difficulty finding time for domestic reasons	3	5	6	6
Available training is in inconvenient places	9	9	8	8
Available training is at inconvenient times	8	17	14	12
Fear of losing work through time training	33	35	26	20
Lack of information available	28	23	19	16
Difficult to assess the quality of courses	19	18	13	7
Employers not willing to pay for training	12	18	12	9
Employers not willing to give time off	10	11	11	7
Other difficulty	3	2	1	1

No difficulty getting training	20	10	17	11

Base (n)	86	387	480	188

Table 7.5.4 Difficulty getting training (by gender)

	Men	Women
	%	%
Yes, some difficulty getting training	84	90

Lack of suitable courses available	20	21
Possible loss of earnings too high a risk	24	25
Fees are too high	18	27
Difficulty taking time off work	27	27
Difficulty finding time for domestic reasons	7	4
Available training is in inconvenient places	8	9
Available training is at inconvenient times	13	16
Fear of losing work through time training	27	31
Lack of information available	20	21
Difficult to assess the quality of courses	13	15
Employers not willing to pay for training	14	13
Employers not willing to give time off	10	11
Other difficulty	1	2

No difficulty getting training	16	10

Base (n)	692	456

Table 7.5.5 Difficulty getting training (by ethnic group)

	White	Ethnic minority
	%	%
Yes, some difficulty getting training	86	90

Lack of suitable courses available	21	17
Possible loss of earnings too high a risk	23	33
Fees are too high	21	34
Difficulty taking time off work	27	36
Difficulty finding time for domestic reasons	6	2
Available training is in inconvenient places	9	10
Available training is at inconvenient times	14	21
Fear of losing work through time training	28	41
Lack of information available	21	22
Difficult to assess the quality of courses	13	28
Employers not willing to pay for training	13	19
Employers not willing to give time off	10	16
Other difficulty	1	-

No difficulty getting training	14	10

Base (n)	1,077	58

A new question introduced in the present survey asked respondents about their likelihood of attending a suitable training course held on set during a production (e.g. at lunchtime). Over one third (35%) said they would be very likely to do so, and another quarter said they would be fairly likely to. However, a sizeable minority (21%) said they were not at all likely to do so.

Table 7.5.6 How likely is it that you would attend a suitable course held on set during production?

	All survey respondents answering this question
	%
Very likely	35
Fairly likely	24
Not very likely	21
Not at all likely	21

Base (n)	1,093

The likelihood of attendance varied by occupational group and age. Those working in make-up/hairdressing and construction were the most likely to attend suitable courses on set during production, while those in production and editing/post-production/VFX were the least likely. Younger respondents were much more likely to attend such training provision than their older counterparts. Just under three quarters (72%) of those aged 16 to 24 said they were fairly or very likely to attend, and this fell to 54% of those aged 35-49 and 49% of those aged 50 and over.

There was no significant difference by contract type, gender or ethnic background.

Table 7.5.7 Likelihood of attending a suitable course held on set during production (by occupational group)

		Likely	Very likely	Fairly likely	Unlikely	Not very likely	Not at all likely
Production / script development	%	47	28	19	53	23	30
Assistant directors	%	52	38	14	48	23	25
Art / set decorating / props	%	62	38	24	38	23	15
Camera	%	64	39	25	37	19	18
Sound / electrical	%	57	34	23	43	28	15
Costume	%	57	31	26	43	24	19
Make-up / Hair-dressing	%	75	47	28	26	9	17
Editing / Post production / VFX	%	51	18	33	48	23	25
Construction	%	74	50	24	26	12	14
Location	%	58	24	34	42	13	29
Others	%	57	33	24	43	21	23

Table 7.5.8 Likelihood of attending a suitable course held on set during production (by age group)

	16-24	25-34	35-49	50 or older
	%	%	%	%
Likely	72	64	54	49
Very likely	48	35	33	31
Fairly likely	24	29	21	18

Unlikely	28	36	47	51
Not very likely	20	20	23	19
Not at all likely	8	16	24	32

Base (n)	86	377	452	168