To ask what you really think of apprenticeship s

[Soannoyingititchessobad]

My year 13 DS is looking at apprenticeships for his next step. We’ve seen some great ones and this route seems ideal for him. His girlfriend has already secured a great degree apprenticeship with an international company and will earn a good salary whilst getting this degree and experience.

DS’s girlfriend is very bright and is doing very academic A levels and is likely to do very well in them. She is really happy with the apprenticeship route and we are so proud of her.

This is my AIBU. Lots of my friends have said ‘I can’t believe she’s doing an apprenticeship. What a waste. She should be going to Uni because she’s so bright’. I’m really shocked. My family (siblings, husband, his family) have all been to Uni but see apprenticeships as an equally great career path. I just wanted to know what others think - is the general feeling really that apprenticeships are inferior to a degree and only for people who aren’t really academic?

I know people will say ‘do what’s right for your kid and ignore others’ thoughts’ but it just sparked an interest in me and wanted to understand what others think

@treeaspenthe training is yes, but we have to pay them and lose them for the time they are at college. A 2 year apprenticeship for a mechanic would cost us £43,000, they are only with us 4 days a week. A trained mechanic costs us about £45,000 a year but they are bringing money in, hopefully more money than we are paying them. That's the whole point of our business. An apprentice isn't bringing money in, they aren't productive. As much as we would love to give people a great opportunity if we aren't making money the business will close eventually anyway.

Spareroom, Openrent, Airbnb are all options. There are lots of places with monthly rent all bills included which makes things very easy, we helped DS find somewhere and he's been there 18 months now.

It's really no worse than moving into halls and then having to quite quickly start thinking about who you're going to share a flat with for your second year - and having to share all rent and bills with them. I think it's easier actually. I haven't had to be guarantor for a start!

There wasn't really any support with finding housing though and some of the other apprentices just live at home and commute. DS loves living out though.

The thing I don’t understand about degree apprenticeships is when do you actually get the time to complete the required study for essays / projects etc?

You have an allocated amount of time per week to study, usually a full working day. So for an average full time worker you’d work 4 days and have 1 study day, where you’re expected to spend 7.5 hours doing this work. Depending on the apprenticeship role and degree etc there are government mandated “off the job hours” which is the minimum amount of time the employer has to give to study (the apprentice is still paid for these hours).

In reality you also need to do extra work during evenings/weekends (but I suppose this is similar to normal uni students too).

DS's uni work has been fairly minimal so far, not huge demands and a lot of it he can do at weekends or they are given some time during the uni day. If they do need more time they can ask their boss if they can use some work time and that's generally fine.

Their final project is the one really big uni thing they do - but it's a work based project. It's something that genuinely needs to be done at work so they do it there but write it up for uni. A previous apprentice made a software control for a metal furnace for example.

My friends husband is a construction company owner(only small), he did a bricklayer apprenticeship and so did most of his other trades. His site labourers are mainly uni graduates as can't find employment 🤷

Also with DS degree is over 5 years instead of 3 for the normal degree.
He is doing Dissertation atm

I think they are the best options. Unless someone needs a specific degree for a specific job - like possibly a doctor.

Id strongly encourage my children to do them. Work and earn and eventually get a degree anyway without paying - no brainer.

You can not beat the practical experience of apprenticeship, you are in the workplace gaining valuable skills and making contacts , this is great for when you seek future employment.

We have a lot of apprentices, from level 3 to degree apprenticeships, seems to work well.

In my previous job, I did a level 5 management apprenticeship, which was challenging mostly because my actual managers were not totally on board. I already have degrees in different disciplines.

Dd Got excellent a level grades and an offer to go to a good university. However she just didn’t want to go. She tried and failed to get a degree apprenticeship and failed so is doing a lower level one. She is earning very well and has already secured a promotion 6 months in. Unless you are rich or have to have a degree for your chosen job I just wouldn’t bother with university.