Apprenticeship

A paper from the Learning and Skills Network (LSN)identifies significant differences between the content and delivery of apprenticeships and higher education. Considers how they can best complement each other.

Hogarth et al.(2011) This study was commissioned by the Department for 糖心TV, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and undertaken by IER in order to investigate the options available for a long-term evaluation of Apprenticeships. Such an evaluation would produce robust quantified estimates of the outcomes of Apprenticeships for successful trainees, in terms of progression into further and/or higher learning and improved employment outcomes and establish under what conditions Apprenticeships produce the best results, for whom and the relative added value of an Apprenticeship compared to other forms of learning.

TLRP researchers Lorna Unwin and Alison Fuller (2008) have produced a commentary on . Their earlier work in this area includes their 2003 article on that illustrated the variable learning opportunities that were being created for apprentices under the Modern Apprenticeship. In they illustrated how apprentices teach others as well as learn and in they argued that the pedagogical relationships between apprentices and older workers need to be better understood. (together with Vanessa Beck) examined the impact of gender and 'race' on young people's perceptions of the educational and labour market opportunities available to them after they complete their compulsory schooling in England. Its findings are based on a study of the views of girls and boys about the government-supported 'Apprenticeships' programme, which, because it reflects labour market conditions, is highly gendered and also segregated by ethnicity.

There is also a contemporary policy debate about the future of apprenticeship. The Skills Commission published in March 2009 a major report on , which investigates how the Government can ensure a greater proportion of apprentices progress through to higher levels of learning. The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee published in July 2007. The government produced a formal in October 2007 and the evidence underpinning the report has also been published: . The Nuffield Review of 14 - 19 education and training has also produced some Issues Papers with a view to widening the debate, testing out tentative conclusions and seeking further evidence. asks: 'To what extent will the apprenticeship route contribute to the desired increase in post-16 participation in England?' It examines quantitative aspects of the prospects for growth in apprenticeship in England, while addresses the issue of whether a balance can be struck between making apprenticeships attractive to employers and ensuring that they provide high-quality training for young people.

Paul Ryan and Lorna Unwin (2002) produced a trenchant criticism of the state of British apprenticeship at the time: . Modern Apprenticeship was compared in this paper to both German apprenticeship and its national predecessor, Youth Training. Modern Apprenticeship shares many of the attributes of Youth Training, and shows some improvement in terms of skills produced. British apprenticeship performed poorly, in terms of rates of qualification and completion, as well as in breadth and depth of training, relative to its German counterpart, despite the provision by Modern Apprenticeship of substantial government financial support. The fact that MA resembles YT more than German apprenticeship reflects continuing institutional differences between the two countries, notably the limitations of the training quasi-market in which both YT and MA have operated. The prospects for MA to flourish, let alone perform the educational role that the government envisages for it, were considered bleak in the absence of institutional development along different lines.

Partly as a result of such criticisms, the Apprenticeships Task Force was set up in 2003 in order to increase the opportunities available for young people to participate in high quality Apprenticeships programmes with a range of employers; and to recommend effective and innovative ways of ensuring that Apprenticeships and Entry to Employment programmes responded to the changing needs of employers and young people. The Apprenticeships Task Force produced their in November 2004 and their in July 2005. Employers still believed that that the delivery system was complex and that there was a need for greater collaboration and partnership between the key players. Areas of common purpose related to the structure of frameworks, including key skills, and the further linking of employers’ own training arrangements to the requirements of the Apprenticeship framework. A new ministerial-led steering group had been set up to address these issues and to consider include the balance in numbers between Apprenticeships and Advanced Apprenticeships and ensure adequate funding to support the expansion of Apprenticeships. A report on the was produced by the LSDA in June 2005.

The which supported the work of the Apprenticeships Task Force during its consultation phase 2003 - 05, and is now part of the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network, has produced a number of documents on apprenticeship, including:

an article in the CBI Human Resources Report, December 2004. by Richard Wainer, CBI policy adviser, on ;
the Joint DfES/LSC , January 2004;
a paper by John West on , 2005
a background paper produced by John West and Hilary Steedman in April 2003. The paper analyzes the weaknesses of vocational education in this country and suggests how to remedy them. It argues that vocational education should be about progression, both to skilled employment and to further levels of education. Despite some strengths in the current system, the authors argue that vocational education has suffered a chequered history with numerous intiatives that has resulted in: "a confusing plethora of qualifications, with no image in the minds of young people, parents and employers about what vocational education involves;
high degrees of non-completion with switching between the many different courses and a dropping off of participation at 17; poor linkages both between the various types of vocational courses on offer, and between them and vocational offerings in higher education. A third of vocational students are on courses which could not lead to higher education, either directly or through further related course, even if someone excelled on it; poor linkages to the labour market, not helped by the fact that the industry bodies who are meant to set standards have been reorganized five times in the last thirty years, and twice in the last five years alone" (West and Steedman, 2003, pp i- ii).

West and Steedman (2003) went on to argue from the experience of other countries that the lessons for the UK are:

"trying, as we seem to be, to offer vocational courses both as pathways in their own right and as options which can be mixed with academic subjects is unlikely to succeed;
linkages with both higher education and apprenticeship is both possible and desirable;
vocational education can be a respectable option, and certainly is not seen abroad – as it sometimes is here – as an alternative to academic subjects for those who are struggling at school;
the quest for ‘parity of esteem’ between academic and vocational subjects is a wild goose chase. Far from raising the reputation of vocational courses it is likely to distort them and make them pale imitations of academic studies, with little purpose of their own.
The right way forward is to develop substantial national vocational programmes, perhaps 15 to 30 in all, each culminating in an award at level 3, the first point at which vocational education has a demonstrable pay-off in the labour market" (West and Steedman, 2003, p. ii).

The (2005), (the Leitch review, 2006), , and the (2007) and the House of Commons Education and Skills Committee report (2007) on show it is also important to see how apprentieship policy fits within a broader debate about national skill formation policy.

Other material on apprenticeship that may be of interest includes:

an article from Paul Ryan, Howard Gospel, Paul Lewis (2007) on
an article from Paul Lewis, Paul Ryan, Howard Gospel (2008) on
Steve McIntosh (2007) has carried out a
Hilary Steedman (2005) has produced a paper on The German-speaking dual system countries are characterised as having high employer commitment countries with minimal integration of apprenticeship into full-time 16-19 provision and weak links with tertiary education. While the UK, the Netherlands and France are characterised as having relatively low levels of employer commitment but greater integration of apprenticeship into full-time provision and stronger links between apprenticeship and tertiary level provision.
a brief written from an American perspective;
a review of and links to some English historical records on apprenticeship from the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries: ;
There is also an interesting article from Sarah Vickerstaff (2003) where she challenges the taken-for-granted orthodoxy of contemporary youth studies and policy assumptions that young people's transitions from school to work have become extended and fragmented in comparison to the assumed 'untroubled' pathways of young people who left school in the period 1945-75. It is also possible to listen to some former apprentices of that time recounting their experiences in the BBC raido programme ;
(INAP) website gives you access to the Proceedings and papers from two recent international conferences on Apprenticeship, in Vienna February 2008 and Bremen April 2006. is an international network of apprenticeship researchers who aim to improve apprenticeship systems and practices through research into, and dissemination of, instances of good practice.
Conservative Party Policy Green Paper No. 7 (2008) Building Skills Transforming Lives: A Training and Apprenticeships Revolution;
The Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University produced a (August 2008) for the Learning and Skills Council. The review draws together the findings from a range of research reports and evaluation and policy papers from government and quasi-public sector agencies;
The Learning and Skills Council commissioned a report from Ipsos MORI and Cambridge Policy Consultants on ' (August 2008) in order to provide an understanding of employers' and learners' attitudes toward the Apprenticeship programme.