Marshall Skills Academy is delighted to welcome Matt Sibbons to its ever-growing training team. Matt is coming on board at a very busy and exciting time, ahead of the start of the largest ever apprentice cohort later this year.
Matt has a vast amount of experience within the aviation industry from engineering to training, making him a great contribution to Marshall Skills Academy’s team. Over the course of 22 years as an aircraft engineer in the Royal Air Force, Matt’s passport has picked up a health collection of stamps from deployments in various global locations, both hot and cold!
The aviation industry has always been Matt’s chosen career path. He began as an aircraft electrician on the Jaguar GR3 aircraft, responsible for repairing, testing and maintaining the electrical and avionics systems. Around 12 years into his career, Matt was promoted to Sergeant and was posted into a fast jet training school where he was able to teach other technicians how to maintain the Tornado GR4 aircraft through both theoretical and practical lessons. Matt still thinks of this as one of his best career decisions to date, as it allowed him to discover his joy and natural aptitude for teaching.
After leaving the military, Matt spent a year in a further education college where he taught Public Services. This allowed him to complete his teaching qualifications, but he was always keen to step back into aviation. He reached out over LinkedIn, and was snapped up instantly by training provider Seetec to deliver the Level 4 B-Licence aviation apprenticeship at Bournemouth Airport. After working there for 18 months up until March, the programme was sadly ended due to a company restructure, leaving Matt’s position and all the ongoing apprenticeships in jeopardy.
Luckily Matt knew a few people at Marshall Skills Academy, who offered him a similar training role, as well as working out a way to take in the Bournemouth apprentice cohort. KLM UK Engineering have also continued to show their support by providing training material and exams for the remainder of the programme, which Matt will continue to deliver, in addition to developing Marshall Skills Academy’s own aviation training programmes.
Since the pandemic, the engineering industry has seen a huge loss of workers, turning the looming skills shortage into an existential crisis for aviation in particular. Marshall will continue to support and grow the industry by training young talent with the help of people like Matt. To him, aviation engineering is a fantastic career, and he is excited to be able to train a new generation here at Marshall Skills Academy.
Marshall Skills Academy Head of Aviation Excellence Matt Siggens said: “The last 3 years have been challenging for the whole industry, so I am delighted we have been able to establish continuation of the programme down at Bournemouth to minimise the impact of changing training providers for these learners.
“The stand-out quality I saw in Matt Sibbons was his commitment and passion for passing on his knowledge. I know Matt’s enthusiasm will make him part of the solution to the skills gap and will help him create extraordinary futures at Marshall Skills Academy. I am excited to be bringing this into our team at such an exciting time.”