What would our world look like if there were no brick surfaces and structures? No brick facades and no walls. No steps or pillars. No walls, no pipes. No fireplaces or partitions. What if there was no one who could brick?
Who will be a bricklayer in the future?
The teaching of masonry in Finnish schools has decreased threateningly. Having taught bricklaying and tiling for ten years at Vantaa Vocational College Varia, he has seen it Jari Toivakainen.
The masonry industry and its training are languishing at the bottom of national appreciation, in the midst of dwindling resources.
You don't see a lot of masonry even in the championships of house building (Taitajat), and the tilers don't really hang out there either.
Toivakainen is worried about the declining development. "The need for masonry has not disappeared." The construction industry desperately needs competent and reliable workers. There is a demand for them.
Jari Toivakainen considers it important that construction industry education emphasizes multi-skills, but not at the expense of a single profession. Who here in Finland will be bricklayers in the future? "We must be able to influence this."
Challenges to overcome
Training in traditional construction methods and practical skills is organized in vocational schools across Finland.
Masonry is included in the basic and professional degree programs for house builders, but only as one optional part of the degree.
Fewer and fewer young people choose masonry as their field of specialization. Interest has waned. Maybe that's why in many vocational schools this manual skill, which requires motor skills, may be taught very little. Or the challenge of organizing the training may have been the construction of facilities and training conditions suitable for masonry, or the lack of them, equipment investments, material procurement or scarcity of resources. And finding qualified teachers specializing in masonry doesn't always happen with the snap of fingers either.
Declining development inevitably has its consequences: in the long term, it can lead to a shortage of skilled masons.
Everything is different in Varia
Jari Toivakainen started bricklaying in 1982, first as an assistant to an experienced professional, and after a few years of training as an independent bricklayer. "I got the best lessons from the professionals, how to use that bucket and how that brick fits in place at once."
Jari acquired a bricklayer's qualification, studied theory and applied for more practical training. Until 2010, Jari worked as the foreman of the masonry workshop, after which he studied to become a foreman. In his workplace at YIT, his task was mainly work management of masonry sites.
Soon Jari was attracted to become a teacher. His friend was behind the idea Timo Aaltonen, a former bricklayer who had moved to Varia in Vantaa to become a teacher. In addition to his teaching work, Timo had actively developed the educational institution, its facilities and equipment to be suitable for bricklaying training. And it didn't take long, when Jari was already seen in teaching duties and brainstorming with his friend to improve teaching spaces for bricklaying.
Vantaa vocational college Varia organizes vocational training in four different locations. About 6000 students from various fields visit there annually. There are more than 300 employees. House builders are trained at the Hiekkaharju location. About 20 young people are studying masonry and tiling under the leadership of Jari Toivakainen.
"Before, in our school's masonry class, mortar was made with a level mixer, where sand and lime were shoveled into the water. And it made quite a bit of dust", Jari repeats the starting points. "Now we have a 5000 kg silo."
Toivakainen thanks Fescon for the cooperation in finding a way to make mortar production almost dust-free and the educational institution for the successful investment. Jari says that dust management has improved significantly due to the silo and portable dust removal equipment purchased for the school.
"Fescon developed a suitable sand/lime mortar for us, which does not contain any cement at all, which in terms of workability is almost the same as real masonry mortar, but makes dismantling easier."
In Varia, a high hall of approximately 400 square meters has been reserved for masonry, where 20 students who have chosen masonry and tiling start the masonry and tiling course every August. The episode starts with basic masonry exercises. In it, the students have to measure their work and install the masonry guides. Each student has a space of about six square meters to build their practice and display work.
After the foundation masonry, thin joint masonry, screeding, leveling and tiling are practiced. As a general rule, between November and December, each student completes a display project, which includes the work steps mentioned above.
Milli game
Varia's masonry courses are so popular and interesting that not everyone can join.
In the first year of studies, everyone gets to try masonry. The student builds a wall of about two square meters, levels and tiles it. Along with masonry, the teacher goes through the theory. "First you have to learn basic masonry. When you know how, after a little practice, you can also learn thin joint masonry more easily."
Jari considers it important that the student gets enough practice. "Finding a place to learn bricklaying and tiling on the job is really challenging, so it's really important that we at vocational schools can offer this opportunity."
Jari Toivakainen is a liked, but strict teacher. He demands care, self-initiative and appreciation of tools from the students. "Masoning is precise work. The brick is laid half a millimeter away from the wire. Once you learn that, you'll be strong."
"In reality, you have to practice bricklaying for a few years. The speed will come with time."
Jari's lesson is getting there. The quality of many students' works already surpasses the tiling of sanitary facilities in many public spaces.
"We have students who are completely ready for construction sites to directly make small-scale walls and tiling."
A top professional or a reliable operator?
Jari Toivakainen is known as a demanding teacher. He has one principle above all others: punctuality. Conscientious adherence to working hours is commonplace on construction sites. The same is required of students.
Jari remembers the time when he, as the foreman of a construction shop, had to choose workers for the next morning's casting. "One of them was a top professional, but it was always a bit uncertain whether he would arrive as agreed. The other one, on the other hand, wasn't quite so good, but I knew I could trust him." Jari asks: "Which one would you choose?"
Authors are needed
"How can we get young people excited about masonry and get vocational colleges involved in teaching masonry?" asks Jari Toivakainen.
"We need new young workers." He says that he has had discussions about the situation with representatives of many educational institutions. At the same time, he has shared advice on how to develop the facilities of educational institutions to be suitable for masonry education.
Toivakainen calls for corporate social responsibility and also hopes that working life will participate in joint talks. "We need more professional workplace counselors." Jari says that he himself worked as a workplace instructor and then he was happy to take young vocational school students to masonry gigs. "Although at the beginning the student only laid twenty bricks a day, as long as he laid them properly, that was enough for me. In the beginning, teaching bricklaying did take time, but in the end game the guy started to produce results for the common pot, when a few hundred bricks were already going a day."
"Everybody wins here."
Jari hopes that we think of the best for our young people and their future. "We should have a continuum."
"In my opinion, vocational school graduates should be given as much attention in the media as high school graduates. This, in turn, would raise interest and appreciation for vocational training," sums up Jari Toivakainen.
Text by Heikki Luukkonen
