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Government may miss apprenticeship target

Gary Hart August 23, 2015

Government plans to increase apprentice numbers by 2020 will fail, according to training providers and businesses with training academies in England.

WEB.600.2As 16 year olds receive their GSCE results last week, research just published has revealed some scepticism as to whether the government’s new plans to increase apprentice numbers will succeed as planned.

The research showed that FE colleges and businesses believe that they will struggle to recruit the numbers and quality of apprentices that are needed to sustain economic growth over the next five years with education cuts, poor careers advice, and schools keeping pupils on longer to maintain funding are all identified as contributing factors.

The survey, which was conducted by the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) found that the majority of training providers welcomed the Government’s ambition to increase apprenticeships to 3 million, but feared that other policies will make it impossible to achieve. The IMI represents the £152 billion a year retail motor industry, which needs 12,000 apprentices a year to stand still.

78% of respondents said that careers advice, which has been provided in schools on an ad hoc basis since 2012, is unhelpful at best. Only 10% think that advice offered by the National Careers Service has any impact on apprentice recruitment.

Anecdotal evidence collected as part of the survey points to a lack of understanding in schools of the technical and academic requirements of an apprenticeship.

For example, 84% said that most applicants do not have the required academic grades. Most businesses reported that the employability of prospective trainees sent to them by schools was poor, with many saying that they would rather employ migrant workers than take on an apprentice.

All respondents agreed that the current situation is set to get much worse now that the education participation age has been raised to 18 in England. It is not widely understood by parents or young people that this is not restricted to school, and apprentice trainers report that schools are hoarding students and withholding information about vocational training at 16.

Steve Nash
Steve Nash

IMI CEO Steve Nash, said; “With funding for education set to be squeezed, employers and training providers in the motor industry are voicing fears that they will lose out in the race for the best learners. Schools will seek to keep as many ‘paying’ students in 6th form as possible. They need only to ration information about alternatives and the already small talent pool available to fill apprenticeship vacancies will be drained.

“The Government has pledged to increase the number of apprenticeships to 3 million by 2020, but with skills shortages starting to appear in every sector of the economy this looks like a conservative ambition. The leaving age problem raises serious questions over its ability to hit even this target without investing in a serious careers advice programme, which it is currently refusing to do.”

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