ePolitix.com - Forum Brief: Apprenticeships

More young people will get the opportunity to learn skills under radical reforms to Apprenticeships announced by education secretary Charles Clarke and the chancellor Gordon Brown.

Education secretary Charles Clarke said: "Apprenticeships are one of the best ways we can fill our skills gaps. They provide young people and adults with an 'on the job' training experience which gives them the direct skills needed in the workforce.

"I am delighted that many leading businesses are today committing themselves to apprenticeships. But we need more employers to get involved which is why the Learning and Skills Council is today launching a specific marketing and advertising campaign to get more employers on board.

"The new 'Young Apprenticeships' represents one of the most exciting developments for young people since the introduction of GCSEs in 1986 and fits in with Mike Tomlinson's work on 14-19 reform. It will mean that motivated and able pupils could spend up to two days a week learning 'on the job' skills in a workplace. This will be an exciting prospect for any pupil wanting to pursue industry specific vocational
programmes on top of the core national curriculum.

"We now have a record 255,500 studying Modern Apprenticeships up from 75,800 trainees in 1997. Although we have around a third of school leavers going on to university people forget that around a quarter of all 16 year olds have at least started a Modern Apprenticeship by 21.

"Employers need to know that they will now be in the driving seat. Working through Sector Skills Councils, they will now have more input
into the design and development of Apprenticeships. They will help develop greater 'portability' so that an Apprentice can take a part completed Apprenticeship with them if they move employer. This is
exactly the sort of flexibility that employers have been crying out for - and we have responded."

Phil Willis MP, Liberal Democrat education spokesman said: "It is welcome that the government is finally beginning to regard apprenticeships as a real alternative to classroom education.

"But much greater emphasis has to be put on completion of training schemes. With two out of three trainees failing to finish their apprenticeships, drop-out rates remain far too high.

"Employers and trainees need real incentives to ensure that more apprenticeships are seen through to a successful end."

Bryan Sanderson, chairman of the Learning and Skills Council said: "A recent survey by the Learning and Skills Council showed that 44 per cent of organisations who reported skills shortages, said they lost business as a result. There is no excuse for a poorly trained workforce. Apprenticeships provide businesses with the solution they need to thrive in the 21st century. I hope many employers respond to this 'call to arms' and join the Apprenticeships revolution. We now have a real chance to remove the skills deficit and improve productivity."

Dr John Dunford, SHA general secretary, said: "Young apprenticeships open up a better structured vocational route for 14 to 16 year olds.

"Vocational qualifications have for too long been regarded as inferior to academic grades and so it is important to recognise that young apprenticeships are not for the lower end of the academic ability range.

"Students on young apprenticeships will still be based in schools, studying other courses, and it is vital that they should not specialise too early in a single vocational field."

Christopher Duff, chief executive of Skills for Business, said: “Today’s announcements are a high-level endorsement by the government of the importance of work-related education and the need for a much greater emphasis on skills. We are pleased with this major new drive to provide all employers with the highly skilled young people they need. But it remains absolutely vital that employers are in the driving seat when it comes to designing and implementing these reforms, as only they can really know what skills their workforce needs, both now and in the future.

“Employers have been saying for many years that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to education and training just does not work – the needs of a small retailer, for example, are quite different to those of a multinational engineering company. The reforms announced today stress the need for flexibility in the shaping of apprenticeships to meet the difference workforce development needs of different sectors. We now need to work with the government and other agencies to ensure that the good intentions voiced today are translated into practical action and that the skills employers are crying out for to boost their bottom line and improve services are the ones which the public education and training system delivers.”

Blossom Young, British Youth Council chairperson, said: "BYC supports the introduction of an initiative that academically rewards young people, aged 14-16, on their initial experience of the workplace through apprenticeships. The move to ensure accreditation through the new apprenticeship system is particularly welcomed, recognising the learning young people develop through the workplace and giving a better grounding for future employment prospects, often for those young people most disengaged from more formal learning environments.