Back in the Seventies, Dave Livings was a teenage engineering student at Prospects College, then known as Sentra.

Now, 36 years later, the wheel has turned full circle. At the age of 51, Dave, is back at Prospects, this time as an engineering instructor.

Thoughts of teaching were far from Dave’s mind when he left Beauchamps High School, in his home town of Wickford, at 16.

Even engineering was far from his thoughts at the time.

Dave says: “Like a lot of school leavers, my dream was to become a fireman.”

However, Dave’s father had other ideas. He persuaded his son to complete an apprenticeship.

“That way, he argued, there would be something to fall back on should things not work out with the fire service,” Dave says.

Following this advice, Dave applied for an apprenticeship at Sentra, in Vanguard Way, Shoebury.

Sentra then matched his skillset to an employer, Wragg Bros.

Dave says: “Conveniently, it was in my home town, Wickford. I didn’t have far to travel to work.”

Dave served his apprenticeship in fabrication engineering. Like most people, he can still remember the size of his first weekly pay packet. “It was £23,” he says.

Dave’s engineering apprenticeship with Wragg lasted four years. After that, he went on to enjoy a successful career working for British Rail, Marconi and Blue Star Engineering. But with the arrival of recession, he suddenly found himself made redundant.

He says: “I was lucky enough to bump into an old work colleague who told me about vacancies for engineering instructors at my old college. I sent off my CV and was really pleased to receive an invitation to attend an interview.”

By then, the situation in the engineering industry was improving, and Dave had been offered a better paid job elsewhere. However, he turned this down in favour of the job at Prospects.

“Long-term working at the college offered an exciting new challenge, as well as being more secure,” he says. “I warmed to the idea of passing on my knowledge and experience to a new generation of aspiring young engineers”.

Since joining Prospects, Dave has moved onwards and upwards fast. He is now training for an Internal Verifier qualification.

He says:“It will enable me to inspect the assessors’ work to make sure the quality and standard of work meets requirements.”

Dave recently revisited Wragg Bros Ltd, the company where his own career began. While there, he observed the work of a current Prospects College student, who is apprenticed to the firm.

Dave’s own experience, both as trainee and instructor, has left him in no doubt about the value of the apprenticeship system.

He says: “Apprenticeships are a great way of progressing into engineering. The skills I learnt while studying have proved invaluable to my work.”