With education providers, employers and the government all taking strides to champion apprenticeships, Simon Reichwald, Strategic Lead for Talent at MyKindaFuture, the leading underrepresented talent specialist, outlines his thoughts on the apprenticeship landscape in Britain.
The Apprenticeship Levy was introduced by the government in 2017 to increase the quantity and quality of apprenticeships. Now, almost three years later, it seems a good time to take stock and explore how the new scheme has improved Britain’s apprenticeship landscape, and where there remains work to be done.
Schools and Colleges
Education providers are increasingly embracing apprenticeships and there is clearly a growing appetite to communicate their potential to students. More than ever before, apprenticeships are being positioned by schools and colleges as credible alternatives to the more traditional educational paths.
This is not to say that more work doesn’t need to be done. For many years in Britain, students have been pushed down the same route – they study for their GCSEs, before moving onto A Levels and then university. This has been ingrained into our culture and a concerted focus is required in schools and colleges to bring about real sea change in the way students think about apprenticeships.
The apprenticeship brand is also recovering following several hits over the years. Apprenticeships are often seen as being inferior to A Levels and degrees, and only relevant for blue-collar trades and low paid sectors. This simply isn’t the case. In fact, the sector with the largest number of apprenticeships in the UK last year was business administration and law, with almost a third of all new apprentices working across these industries. 1 Despite this, this misconceptions around apprenticeships are deep-rooted and, as a result, some teachers remain nervous to introduce the subject of apprenticeships into their classrooms.
In order for this progress to continue and for apprenticeships to be truly seen as the force for good that they are, schools and colleges must continue to make efforts to better communicate the benefits.
Employers
The more proactive employers are also increasingly recognising that apprentices can help them to achieve strategic goals. This is reflected in the fact that more companies than ever, across all sectors, now run apprenticeship schemes. Last year alone, 742,000 people in England participated in an apprenticeship.2
Workforce planning involves employers exploring the pinch points of their business and analysing the skills that they are going to need five to ten years down the line. It is heartening that more and more employers are now recognising that apprentices can provide these skills.
The last three years have also seen an increase in the number of organisations choosing to enrol their existing staff onto apprenticeship schemes. In fact, 44% of apprenticeships started in 2018/19 were at advanced level.3 This is a great way for employers to invest in their people and retain their services, and demonstrates the valuable role apprenticeships can play in developing staff at all stages of their career, as well as those entering the world of work for the first time.
The Government
Government initiatives, such as the Apprenticeship Levy and National Apprenticeship Week – which raises awareness for the value of apprenticeships – signals that there has been a positive change in the way the government thinks about education.
In addition to apprenticeships, the governments’ investment in T Levels also demonstrates an acknowledgment that vocational education options are vital to enable all young people to thrive. Encompassing 80 percent studying and 20 percent work placements, T Levels provide another option for students to pursue in an educational system that has been historically linear. These are important steps and the more the government invests in alternative education paths, the more people whose skills aren’t naturally academic, or exam based will have the opportunity to thrive.
Looking Ahead
Despite the huge progress made in the last three years, organisations still receive half the number of apprenticeship applications when compared to graduate applications. This suggests that more work is required to improve the apprenticeship brand.
At MyKindaFuture, we’re passionate about raising the profile of apprenticeships, celebrating the fact that they’re for all people, working at different levels, and in a wide array of industries. We strongly believe that as long as we continue to work together to address challenges in perception and celebrate the benefits they provide to businesses and to the employability of individuals, we will continue to see the number of apprenticeship opportunities and the number of people attracted to them increasing.
For more information about MyKindaFuture, visit https://www.mykindafuture.com