Apprenticeships a ‘huge opportunity’ for education providers
Chartered Management Institute
Growing employer demand for apprenticeships is creating a “huge opportunity” for education and training providers, according to a new further education white paper published by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).
The paper, Skills First: Connecting employers, further education and training providers, lands as more than 700,000 students collect their GCSE results and consider their future education options.
Skills First is based on discussions from CMI’s July Learning Provider conference, setting out how many trailblazing education and training providers are delivering professionally recognised qualifications to engage employers. It also assesses the opportunities arising from the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy and future employer needs for professionally skilled workers in a post-Brexit economy.
The conference, attended by representatives of more than 70 education providers, marked the official launch of new level three and level five management and leadership apprenticeships.
In June, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) gave the go-ahead for the apprenticeships, which cover professional qualifications aimed at new team leader and operations manager roles. These apprenticeships are now live and ready for employers to incorporate as part of their management development programmes. The first tranche of level three and five management apprentices are due to start their courses in September.
The schemes were developed by a group of 30 employers led by Serco and Civil Service Learning, and supported by CMI. They add to the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship, which was launched in November 2015, providing a progression route for employers to invest in managers at all levels.
The paper includes data on the scope of need for management apprentices. According to UKCES, nearly 200,000 new management roles need to be filled every year. However, CMI research finds that seven in 10 employers fail to train first-time managers. BIS data show that poor management and leadership costs the UK economy over £19bn a year through lower productivity.
The paper also reveals that 87% of employers report difficulties in recruiting certain key skills, and that 25% of all job openings in 2015 were left vacant because employers could not find people with the right skills or knowledge. Employers recognise the return on investment in apprenticeships, with 70% saying they improve quality and service.
CMI’s director of strategy and conference speaker Petra Wilton said:
“There are huge opportunities for education and training providers to deliver the programmes employers want to grow their people and boost their performance. Employers will need 1.9m new managers by 2024, which means that top of their shopping list must be management and leadership apprenticeships. The Apprenticeship Levy and Brexit will undoubtedly transform employer spending on skills and education providers need to be ready to jump on that.”
For insight into the opportunities being created for education and training providers by the impact of the new management and leadership apprenticeships, Apprenticeship Levy and post-Brexit economy download the Skills First white paper.
