What are the views of further education teachers on apprenticeships and the associated benefits?
All the contact I have had with further education teachers and trainers who are involved in apprenticeships suggests that they are proud of what they do and are very committed to their learners.
They are really passionate about getting the best for their apprentices. I think teachers and trainers are the biggest advocates for apprenticeships on the ground, where it matters the most.
While data and statistics are important, there is a lot more to apprenticeships than just numbers and how many people start and finish.
What we do not talk about is how expert, teachers and trainers are working with young people and adults, passing on their experiences and knowledge.
These trainers need the right support so they stay up to date with developments in industry and the vocational subjects they teach. Training apprentices isn't as easy as most people probably think. You've got to be up to date with industrial practice and policy, up to date on the technological and economics of your area all alongside being able to adapt your training styles to learners with diverse needs and abilities. .
Do you feel more could be done to encourage businesses to take on apprentices?
Yes, definitely. In 2010, only 5 per cent of employers had an apprentice, and there are significant regional variations: in the north-east, it is something like 9 per cent, whereas in London it is less than 5 per cent.
More could be done to promote the benefits of apprenticeships to the business community. Some businesses argue that the bureaucracy is stifling and that they are put off by the administrative burden. We are seeing the number of apprentices rise, but it's still not high enough. This week the government announced payments of £1,500 for small and medium-sized businesses to help cover their costs, such as the apprentices' wages. In our response to the BIS select committee inquiry into apprenticeships, we've said that the government should look instead at employer incentives through the tax system.
The whole discussion around apprenticeships is invariably very positive. We just need to get better at getting the message through to employers about young apprentices.
Last year, a record number of apprentices started, most of them adults. We do face a challenge with employers when it comes to taking on young people, so more needs to be done to promote the financial incentives available to businesses and reinforce the messages about how apprenticeships benefit businesses and the economy.
What key skills do you think young people can gain from apprenticeships?
Apart from the practical element, in terms of learning practical and vocational skills, young people also gain a great number of skills by spending time in a working environment and a training environment. These skills, help make them more employable too, which is arguably just as important as the qualification attained..
We often hear business leaders complaining about young people being ill-equipped for the world of employment. Well, apprenticeships can prepare young people for full-time work, and it's right that businesses should make a significant contribution to that.
How much time do young people undertaking apprenticeships typically spend in further education institutes?
Typically, an apprentice works in their specific occupation for four days and then is at college for one day a week.
Apprentices can, however, receive all their training in-house, without the need to go to a college or training centre, and we are seeing this more and more.Increasingly, apprenticeships are being delivered entirely in the workplace.
Do you think you will see a rise in the number of young people undertaking apprenticeships given the rising cost of further education?
I really hope that young people choose to do an apprenticeship for the opportunity that it provides, not as a second option. Increasing the participation age, up to 17 next year and 18 in 2015, should help with this.
We need to be much better at informing young people about what they can do after they are 16, and about the full range of options available to them. According to recent research by the Association of Colleges, only 7 per cent of year 10 school pupils were able to name apprenticeships as a post-GCSE qualification
It is important to ensure that young people do not inherit outdated prejudices about vocational training and learning. We also need to move beyond the perception that learning at university is the gold standard.. Analysis from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills published last year showed that with a level 3 apprenticeship, your earnings were just the same as a graduate who had attained a degree at university.
Information and guidance is absolutely crucial. Apprenticeships should be seen as an informed first choice, not an inferior option.
Do parliamentarians promote the benefits of apprenticeships sufficiently? What more can be done?
In general, the promotion of apprenticeships has been a success story, and shows what can happen when the political establishment gets behind a policy. There has been a record rise in new starts to apprenticeships.
What concerns me is that it is seen as a kind of 'golden bullet', so when any government minister is asked a question about growth, or about the economy, all they need to do is say the word 'apprenticeship' and people go all 'warm and fuzzy' and assume that everything is fine.
Apprenticeships have not yet been subjected to any degree of scrutiny, which is why the BIS select committee recently conducted an investigation into this.
This previous lack of scrutiny does bother me, because there are some issues with quality, but this gets hidden behind talk about figures: the number of people, the costs and the budgets.
No one is talking about the learning experience or the dropout rates. With all these record numbers of apprentices, do we even know whether or not they are enjoying the experience? Is it worthwhile to progress to higher-level apprenticeships? Are apprentices able to get jobs once they've graduated?
Parliamentarians have done a good job, but the wider political community still has much more to do.