Читать книгу The A to Z of Early Years - June O'Sullivan - Страница 10

A is for Apprentice

I love apprentices! I have loved them from the time they ceased to be ‘trainees’ and reclaimed their original title of apprentices. It disappoints me that many people think that becoming an apprentice is a second-rate career choice. In fact, apprenticeships are one of the best ways to ensure our young people are ready to lead the future of industry.

Having good apprentices has given me and many others reason to celebrate, because they bring joy and enthusiasm to an organisation. Some of our best staff have been those who learned on the job. They have accepted and enriched our culture, demonstrating loyalty and championing what we represent, yet have been willing to challenge when they cannot see an alignment between what we say and what we do. I often check what is happening deep in the organisation by having a few chats with apprentices. They won't tell you what you want to hear! Many of our senior staff have come through the apprentice route, and we have just promoted someone who started as an apprentice sixteen years ago to the role of Apprentice Manager.

There is nothing new about apprentices, they started back in the Middle Ages closely related to the mediaeval craft guilds. The first law which set out apprentices’ training and welfare terms and conditions, including accommodation, was the Statute of Artificers in 1563. Back then the master could have a maximum of three male apprentices, serving for two to seven years. Once an apprenticeship was completed, the apprentice went on to become a journeyman, paid by the day, before submitting his masterpiece to the appropriate guild for assessment and approval in order to become a master craftsman and set up his own workshop and train apprentices.

Towards the end of the nineteeth century, approximately 340,000 apprentices were apprenticed to engineering, construction, shipbuilding and woodworking occupations. Participation in apprenticeships reached its zenith in the years following 1945 and reflected a strong relationship between the community, employers and the apprentice. By the mid-1960s around 33% of male school leavers aged 15–17 entered some form of apprenticeship programme. However, after the 1960s, as various industries declined, there was a corresponding drop in numbers from 171,000 apprentices in 1968 to 34,500 in 1990.

Since the early 1990s successive governments have introduced many reforms with a multitude of titles and operating rationales to increase apprentices. Do you remember the introduction of NVQs in 1986 or the Modern Apprenticeships scheme in 1994?

Skip forward to today and we have yet more changes. The most significant one is how apprentices are funded. In 2017 the employer levy was introduced. Employers with a pay bill of over three million pounds a year must put 0.5% of it into a levy pot each month, which is to be used to fund apprenticeships for their business. If an employer doesn't pay a levy, they pay 5% towards the cost of training and assessing the apprentice and the government will pay the rest (95%) up to the funding band maximum. However, that levy is not always being used to fund apprentices. There are concerns that big companies with large payrolls are using it to fund higher and degree-level courses for their staff, rather than entry-level training and apprenticeships.

When a company has spent its levy, it's possible to partner with another organisation with an underspent levy pot. Small companies with big payrolls such as childcare and social care are a good example of businesses which train a lot of apprentices, particularly as they face recruitment and retention challenges on an epic scale. Their levy is soon spent, yet they could train more than they can afford. Accessing some underspent levy would help, although the way it can be used is very restricted. It can't be spent to buy teaching resources, functional skills classes or preparation for work programmes. But actually, finding underspent levy takes the investigative powers of Hercule Poirot, a dose of good luck and an introduction! A central source, listing those with available levy funds, would be a very helpful move.

According to the Ofsted Annual Report (2019a), there is a shift away from apprenticeships at levels 2 and 3 (GCSE/A-level equivalents) towards levels 4 to 7 (degree equivalents) although fewer people do the higher apprentice programmes. The world of apprentices may also be further destabilised with the introduction of the new two-year technical study programme known as T-levels. This classroom-based training was designed by employers to give young people the skills their industry needs and includes a 45-day industry placement. T-levels will become one of three major options for post-16 students to study at Level 3. The other two are apprenticeships, for those who wish to study and train ‘on the job’ for a specific occupation, or A-levels. T-level students will have the option to progress on to university degree courses, but there are reservations from universities, who have the power to accept or reject the qualifications.

As a provider of apprenticeships, I am concerned that the T-levels will detract from occupational apprentices and knock them even further down the hierarchy. There is a bias towards university among parents, press and schools. Apprenticeships are often seen as a less credible career option because university is considered the key to a successful and prosperous future. They believe in the promise of what is often called the ‘graduate premium', a reference to the gap of at least £10,000 between the salary of a graduate and an apprentice. However, there is evidence from the Million Jobs campaign that for over a third of all graduates (39%) lifetime earnings are below those of the average higher apprentice and nearly half (46%) of those from post-1992 universities earn less than higher apprentices. We need more of this kind of evidence that measures apprenticeships against universities, to challenge misconceptions that remain prevalent in the minds of many school leavers, parents and teachers.

Today's apprentices must be on training for twelve months (one day a week), and also be paid at least the minimum wage and have sick pay, holiday pay and any work benefits offered, including access to employer training programmes. All apprentices must now complete an independent end-point assessment at the conclusion of their training to confirm that they have achieved occupational competence. Good organisations will often provide some preparation support to help young apprentices step into learning. These preparation programmes are often seen as a ‘nice to have’ but they are very important to prepare young people, often just out of school, to become work ready.

Many young people can only do an apprenticeship if they live at home, as their wages are too low to cover rent, travel and the rising cost of living. For more vulnerable young people with less family support, this is particularly troubling. For example, there are 800,000 young people classified as Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET), which has a detrimental impact on their physical and mental wellbeing and often leads to a very unhappy life of crime and poverty. Yet we know that by supporting them into apprenticeships, we can give them a head start. It makes no sense to overlook our responsibility for our future generation.

Childcare is a sector that has welcomed apprentices, not least because in a sector struggling with recruiting sufficient good-quality staff, apprenticeships are the most effective pipeline. Taking apprentices, integrating them into the culture of the organisation, and providing the training and work experience can be the perfect solution for both the employer and the apprentice. The risk is that the apprentice is only as good as the organisation which trains and employs them. A programme that does not build in regular, relevant and robust training and mentoring is failing the apprentice. This is not a cheap option. Good apprentices need a great learning experience, if they are to succeed. The majority of apprentices are trained through independent learning providers: in 2019 that was 457,000 out of a total of 735,000. In the Ofsted Annual Report for that year there was a reference to their concern about quality, especially learning and assessment of progress, access to off-the-job training and the competence of the teaching staff. Half of the provision inspected was judged as requiring improvement or inadequate. As a great advocate of apprentices this worries me, as it can damage the already fragile reputation of apprenticeships as a very credible route to employment.

In an underfunded sector, there is always the risk that some organisations will use apprentices as cheap labour. Desperation may drive such behaviour. Getting the funding right is critical to ensuring apprentices are trained by well-qualified and capable staff who are able to deliver the best education to all children.

Apprenticeships are a major part of education and training. Employers must take a lead in developing, implementing and monitoring apprenticeship programmes that will add value to the sector. My small contribution to this was creating a qualification for chefs working in the early years who have much to offer, especially in educating staff and parents about healthy meals for small children. The Level 2 Diploma in Food Production and Cooking in Early Years is the result of my efforts, and is now available through an apprentice route for budding chefs interested in becoming experts in cooking for small children (www.qualhub.co.uk/qualification-search/qualification-detail/level-2-diploma-in-food-production-and-cooking-in-early-years-78).

Call to Action

Celebrate and support great apprentices. Join the voices of employers, politicians, schools, colleges and apprentices together to tell the country about why apprentices are a great investment. Let's campaign to raise the status of apprentices nationally.

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Further Reading

Bradbury, A. and Wynne, V. (2020) The Apprentice's Guide to End Point Assessment. London: Sage.

Meggit, C. (2006) Child Development: An Illustrated Guide, 2nd edn. London: Heinemann.

Tassoni, P. (2012) Practical EYFS Handbook. London: Pearson.