Government announces reform of apprenticeship system

In May 2004, the UK government unveiled plans to reform the apprenticeship system, including the removal of the current age limit of 25 and establishing a new 'Young Apprenticeships' programme for 14-16 year olds still at school. The social partners' reactions to the proposals have been generally positive.

On 10 May 2004, the UK’s Labour government announced new reforms to apprenticeships, which include dropping the term 'modern' from existing Modern Apprenticeship programmes (UK0210105F) and extending the scheme to young people aged between 14 and 16 and adults over 25. The changes follow recommendations made by an Apprenticeship Task Force that was chaired by Sir Roy Gardner, chief executive of Centrica plc, and which included representatives of employers, trade unions and agencies involved in the delivery of apprenticeship programmes. Its remit was to consider reforms that would increase the number and range of employers offering apprenticeship places and ensure that apprenticeships reflect the changing needs of employers and young people.

The latest overhaul of the scheme, currently in its 10th year, comes at a time when the number of those aged 16-24 on apprenticeships has grown from 75,800 in 1997 to 255,500 today. However, there are serious problems such as low completion rates, with around two-thirds of apprentices failing to finish the programme, amid concerns that the quality of existing provision remains highly uneven across different sectors (UK0106136F). At the same time, ministers are worried that not enough employers are offering apprenticeship places, which may jeopardise the government’s 'public service agreement' target of 28% of 16-21 year olds starting an apprenticeship by 2004.

The new apprenticeship structure

The latest reforms are aimed at delivering a more flexible, stronger apprenticeship 'ladder of opportunity' beginning at age 14, and will be backed up by an advertising and media campaign designed to encourage more employers to 'get on board'. The key changes are as follows.

• Brand new 'Young Apprenticeships' for 14-16 year olds will be available from September 2004 and are intended to be a 'high quality' opportunity for good ability and well motivated pupils who will be able to spend up to two days a week in the workplace learning a trade. Initial opportunities will be in engineering, automotive industries, business administration, logistics, and creative arts and media. In the first year, this will be a small-scale programme covering around 1,000 students who will be required to meet published minimum achievement criteria in national school tests at 11 and 14. Pupils will also have to study the core curriculum during the rest of their time in school, including English, maths, science and other required subjects such as citizenship and key skills.

• 'Pre-Apprenticeships', based around the current 'Entry to Employment' (E2E) programme, will be available for young people not yet ready or able to enter an apprenticeship or currently disengaged or disenfranchised from learning.

• 'Apprenticeships' (replacing Foundation Modern Apprenticeships) will be at National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) level 2 and will cover the NVQ, key skills and technical certificate.

• 'Advanced Apprenticeships' (replacing Advanced Modern Apprenticeships) will be at NVQ level 3 and will cover the NVQ, key skills and technical certificate.

• 'Apprenticeships for Adults' will be created by abolishing the current age cap of 25 on access to publicly-funded apprenticeships.

• Steps will also be taken to develop better 'portability' arrangements so that trainees can take part-completed apprenticeships with them should they change employer.

Speaking at the apprenticeships launch, education and skills secretary Charles Clarke promised that employers would be in the driving seat in terms of the design and development of apprenticeships which would offer a major boost to business and productivity. He added: 'Apprenticeships are one of the best ways we can fill our skills gaps. They provide young people and adults with 'on the job' training experience which gives them the direct skills needed in the workforce.' Rejecting a 'one size fits all' curriculum, Mr Clarke resisted the suggestion that the new Young Apprenticeships marked a return to selection, insisting that the scheme would attract 'motivated and able' students. Adult skills minister, Ivan Lewis, added: 'It’s a radical step and it’s about energising and motivating young, talented people for whom the current curriculum doesn’t work.'

Speaking alongside Mr Clarke, Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer, commented: 'The government is strongly committed to expanding and improving the apprenticeship programme in this country, which will aid the push towards our objective of full employment ... We must work in partnership - employers, individuals and government - to ensure that even more businesses and even more young people are benefiting by the end of the decade through this new apprenticeships offer, which is testament to the growing and central importance of education, training and skills to the future of the British economy.'

Reaction from employers and trade unions

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) welcomed the changes but expressed concern that measures to improve the 'portability' of qualifications could make small firms reluctant to invest in trainees. Digby Jones, director-general of the CBI, said: 'I don’t think big employers will be risking their investment. For other small businesses, I do think there will be a lot of challenges.' Other employer representatives stressed the need for adequate financial assistance to cover employment costs. Martin Temple, director-general of the Engineering Employers’ Federation commented: 'For these reforms to succeed, it is essential that employers and employees receive adequate increases in funding.'

The reforms also drew a positive, if somewhat qualified, response from trade unions. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: 'The changes announced today should make a real difference to the lives of the thousands of young people who leave school every year.' However, he added: 'Although the existing Modern Apprenticeships programme has notched up some considerable successes, it has been limited by variations in quality ... Blame for the UK’s lack of highly skilled builders, plumbers and IT specialists is in part a failure of past apprenticeship schemes to be sufficiently appealing to young people leaving school and college. Employers also need to take their share of the blame for not taking their commitment to train apprentices seriously enough and that includes the government as the country’s largest employer.'

Teachers’ unions were similarly reserved in welcoming the government’s intention to establish 'high quality' apprenticeships from the age of 14 as an alternative to the academic route. David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, cautioned: 'Care must be taken to ensure that it is not a dumping ground for the disaffected, that employers provide high quality programmes that genuinely motivate and that the young people involved receive full support from their schools and their families.'

Commentary

The new look apprenticeships - the latest in a long succession of re-vamps and re-labelling measures aimed a developing a high-quality, work-based route into the labour market in the UK - have been launched with the traditional fanfare and optimism. Ministerial hopes run high, but past experience would suggest that delivering on these expectations will not be easy. From the Youth Training Scheme in the early 1980s right the way through to its successor, Modern Apprenticeships, governments have struggled to convince employers of the need for the mass of young entrants to the labour force to receive systematic and certified training. Many of the problems which currently beset the work-based route can be attributed to the government’s tendency to use it for social inclusion purposes, its extension to sectors that have no tradition of training apprentices and where there is often limited demand for intermediate-level skills, coupled with the government’s reluctance to regulate employer training.

This may explain why ministers are keen to insist that the new Young Apprenticeships will be a 'high quality' opportunity for pupils in the middle-ability range and not a low status dumping ground for the disaffected. Whether they succeed in this respect remains to be seen, but the signs are not all that encouraging. It is interesting to observe, for example, what has happened to the government’s 'Increased Flexibility Programme', introduced in September 2002, and aimed at allowing 14 and 15 year olds to spend one or two days a week either at a college or work-based provider or with an employer. A recent report by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) criticised a culture of low expectations as well as lack of planning and coordination among key partners, and found attainment to be 'unsatisfactory' in one-quarter of lessons in schools and colleges and one-third of work-based providers.

Another problem concerns the government’s tendency to see a 'mass' further and higher education system as the primary vehicle for 'upskilling' new entrants to the workforce. Currently 9% of 16-year-olds enter the work-based route, many of whom have low levels attainment at GCSE level. A recent pilot evaluation of means-tested Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs), designed to encourage participation in full-time further education, suggests that they may result in fewer 16-year-olds entering work-based learning and that they are increasingly likely to be drawn from those with low GCSE grades or no GCSEs at all. Similarly, it is not clear whether the government has fully considered the implications of its target of 50% of the 18-30 age cohort entering higher education (HE) by 2010. If, as some commentators have suggested, HE sucks more middle ability pupils into academic and general vocational studies in search of a place at university and access to a finite number of good jobs, will apprenticeships, outside a few sectors such as engineering and construction, survive mainly as a low status and low quality alternative for those who cannot cope with school or college? (Jonathan Payne, SKOPE)