Jemma Walton visits Peterborough Regional College on the first-ever Vocational Qualification Day.

What could be simpler than building a brick wall? Mix your cement up, get your trowel to the ready, put a little bit of effort in and Bob's your uncle.

As I found out, that couldn't be further from the truth. Because whereas it looks simple to build a wall, actually doing it is something else altogether.

You need plenty of strength, a lot of confidence and a lot of practice to lay a brick well - and you need plenty up top to make a decent brickie full stop.

What do you think about vocational qualifications?
Comment below, email us: features@ peterboroughtoday.co.uk.
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"Builders these days need a good grip on maths and mental arithmetic, and common sense," said the college's communications executive Sarah Cooke. "You need to be able to read a spec, you need to be able to look at a plan and visualise how that is going to look when it's built.

"But you do need to like being outside and getting your hands dirty – it's not a clean job."

The college currently runs several building courses, ranging from Introduction to Construction, which is mainly for 16 to 19-olds through to other qualifications which are equal to a degree.

Girls are as welcome to apply for a place on the course as boys, and one girl has recently done particularly well and moved to another part of the country to take a place on an even more advanced course.

"There might be a downturn in the housebuilding side of things at the moment, but what with the Olympics and all the regeneration that's taking place all over the UK at the moment, there is still plenty of work in the building trade," added Sarah.

Last year The ET spoke to some girls doing construction courses at Peterborough Regional College (PRC) – and proving that they could make it in a man's world.

Anita Bonney (36) told us that when she walked on to a building site at the start of her career in the construction industry, men would almost down their tools and stop and stare at her.

At that time, a woman on a building site was as common as ice cream in a sunbed shop.

She had started in the industry when she was 21 at Hugh James Interiors, where she worked in admin.

After a spell working in accounts, she went back to college, and now works doing a a little bit of everything, from plastering to screeding, for four days a week, and goes to PRC one day a week. She was in the first year of an HNC in construction.

She said: "At first blokes will give you sarcastic comments, and at one time I had to take the site foreman to one side, and tell him I was here to do a serious job and he needed to take me seriously because I knew what I was doing.

"On the whole, if you give as good as you get, and you prove yourself as someone that can do a job, the men don't have a problem with you, and become used to you."

And when a self-employed brickie can earn anything from £20,000 year, many graduates (who might struggle once they hit the job market) might wish they'd sat those vocational qualifications instead of sitting those A Levels.

Sadly, I'm not one of them. While I might admire a brickie's earning potential, I'm glad I plumped for my A-Level English Literature instead – from the look of it I'd struggle to build a gingerbread house...

External link:
Peterborough Regional College: Vocational training courses.