Two Thirds of Apprentices are Existing Employees - Sutton Trust report

[BubblesBuddy]

This makes it much more difficult for young people to get on apprenticeships if the scheme is mostly being used for adults who already have a job. This is the assertion of the Sutton Trust following research undertaken by the Institute of Education. There was also little evidence to suggest many apprentices improved their skills either. Why do we always have schemes that are not monitored to ensure they do what they are supposed to do? Not only that, the number of apprenticeships has plummeted from 116,000 last year to 48,000 now so it is failing in so many ways.

Shame.

Is it that apprenticeships are used for adult employees or is it that some companies ask young people to work for a set time before starting the apprenticeship to show they are reliable and committed?

They studied 565,000 16 year olds over 12 years so it tends to lend weight to the young people having to get a job first and be “on trial” so to speak. I am not sure that is what anyone thought was supposed to be happening. Having said that, 12 years is a long time so there could be improved data in the last few years. However with only 48,000 apprenticeships this year it could mean many have gone to existing employees or they are now being used for new recruits. Whatever they case, they are now like gold dust!

I don't think I would have a problem with that. One of DS's friends lost his apprenticeship for unreliability, after a lot of lateness, missed days, lack of work, etc. It was sad for him but sadder for the person who would have committed, worked hard and achieved but just missed out on that sought-after place

My company takes on Lots of apprentices every year. None are adults. We currently have an apprentice who has blossomed since they came to us. Was once painfully shy, had no social skills, couldn't look at you during a conversation. Now deals with difficult phone calls, meets customers face to face, is funny, charming and a valued member of our team. We have redundancies looming so they might not get a job at the end which is very sad. However they now have lots of skills and experience to help get a job.

I think the problem is that most people believed they were for school leavers. I fully support apprenticeships and we need them. The idea of training adults is great but do it for them and don’t take apprenticeships from the young.

You haven't got any proof they are going to adults and said yourself that it may be young people after a trial period

I work for a large organisation who has to pay the Levy. They created lots of Apprenticeship positions but were unable to fill them, so now they have lots of Levy money leftover which cannot be used for anything else. Degree level apprentices are now being offered to staff as development opportunities rather than lose the money. So if you have not got a degree or want a second one you can get 27k worth of education to free, the whole system needs reviewing.

Ivor - the Sutton Trust reported that they were going to adults. The proof is in the research. Please read it.

Can you link to it Bubbles? It's good to put a link on a post like this as people are more likely to read it than if they have to go and search for it.
I was going from your second post where you implied they weren't going to adults by saying "it tends to lend weight to the young people having to get a job first and be “on trial” so to speak"

Some start after a levels so they would be adults by then.

Organisations want to access the Levy money they have had to pay. They will rename existing employees apprentices to do that.

Also, organisations cannot discriminate between apprenticeship candidates based on age. That would be age discrimination.

I think it is all daft. We need more critical thinking on this.