Apprenticeships - confused about how they work?

[MrsRossPoldark]

My ES17 has an interview tomorrow morning with an ITEC institution, which runs 'apprenticeship courses', which run for 6 weeks, next one available starting in September 2015.

He is currently doing his first year of a L3 BTEC [having completed the L2 BTEC last year]. He is really struggling with college and may fail tis year which means he won't get into college next year. We are happy to withdraw him from college as he is obviously very unhappy, and feel that an apprenticeship would suit him better. However, I am confused abouthow apprenticeships are supposed to operate.

Do you

1. apply directly for one, and if so, where do you look?
2. go via a government website such as www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship , which gave me nothing that even remotely matched his aspirations
3. go via one of these ITEC institutions, which supposedly give you some 'help' on a 6-week course and then find you a placement [with no guarantee of either a placement nor a job at the end of said placement] but leaves him with a gap between leaving college and September
4. find a job [which is just as impossible] to either go f-t into work, or to tide him over to September

Any clarification would be appreciated and any experiences you've had, as I just find the whole thing very confusing. I'm also having trouble finding DS16 any work experience, so will start another thread on that, as it's just as confusing and I can't help feeling very stupid for not 'getting it'!

When I investigated doing an apprenticeship at his current college [as apparently they do them too], they state that you need a job and they then support the apprenticeship by running one day a week at college, so you need to find a job [NB not an apprenticeship position?] first? Even more confusing!

..to quote the college's website:

"Please note: You must have an employer and work in the relevant industry sector to the Apprenticeship you are wishing to undertake. "

WTF?!

On top of that, I have just found a possible apprenticeship he could apply for now, but it says it's actually being run by the ITEC he's going to see tomorrow, but the ITEC told me he had to do a 6-week 'thing' with them, starting in September, before they would look for a placement for him, so could he apply for the one I've just found, without having to wait until September, given that he's already nearly finished two years at college, or what?

I'll print it out for him to take to the interview anyway and see what they say, but you get why I'm confused!

Apprenticeships are an in work training scheme, so your DS has to find an employer willing to take him on as an apprentice and then does the college course on day release.

...and... another apprenticeship I found is 'being processed by ' - guess who? His current college! So why can't he just move on to that one? When I asked his lecturer how we did that, he claimed he'd need to finish his college course first, so back to square one! I am going round in circles!

There is no one answer that is true for all apprenticeships. Some applications are through colleges, some direct through employers.
There are standard apprenticeships usually level 2-3, some 3-4, advanced apprenticeships to BSc level and higher apprenticeships masters and beyond.