In June the National Federation for Educational Research released its report examining the opportunities available for Level 2 and Level 3 apprenticeships and the barriers faced by young people in accessing them.
The National Federation of Educational Research is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that conducts research and provides insight to support positive change for young people across education systems.
The research conducted by the NFER for this report draws on apprenticeship data from the Department for Education’s Find an apprenticeship programme (FAA) and a number of virtual interviews with 20 small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The findings of the report are intended to highlight some of the potential issues facing young people accessing apprenticeships, rather than providing generalisable statistical inferences.
read the full report hereApprenticeships Today
The report recognises apprenticeships are an important training pathway for young people into the labour market and the important role that apprenticeships play in enabling upward social mobility.
However, the report notes that recent reforms to apprenticeship schemes has resulted in a substantial decline in the number of young people taking up apprenticeships. This decline has disproportionately affected young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened this trend. The reason for the decline in young people starting apprenticeships is still not fully understood.
Key Findings
The report found that the national “Find an apprenticeship” scheme is an important service helping young people into apprenticeships.
- 7 out of 10 apprenticeship starts in 2020-2021 were posted on the FAA service.
- However, most SMEs interviewed did not directly use the FAA service.
- Colleges and training providers are engaging with the FAA service on behalf of employers.
Barriers to accessing apprenticeships
The report also found that qualifications were still a barrier for some young people accessing apprenticeships.
- Most apprenticeship opportunities have some formal qualification requirements; notably a pass (Grade 4) in English and Maths in order to apply.
- Qualification requirements for apprenticeships differ substantially across sectors.
Beyond formal qualifications, the report found that communication skills were the most common skills required by employers. Work experience was also seen as important, however the SMEs interviewed did not feel that work experience had to be sector specific to be valuable. The report also found that the employers it interviewed felt that the lack of experience in both work and life meant it was difficult for young people to demonstrate their transferable skills.
Struggling to recruit
Whilst many of the SMEs interviewed in the report were positive about the current design of the apprenticeship system many of them were still struggling to fill apprenticeship roles with suitable young people. The report identified the following potential reasons:
- Awareness of apprenticeship opportunities remains low and the perceived image of apprenticeships is poor.
- Low wages offered by apprenticeships are putting young people off from applying for them.
- SMEs reported feeling that young people have a lack of career focus, meaning they are less likely to make long term commitments to apprenticeships.
- SMEs felt young people were attracted by the appeal of short-term high-paid low-skilled jobs rather than the long-term financial and progression benefits of apprenticeships.
Availability and accessibility
The report also raised concerns about the substantial variation of availability and accessibility of apprenticeships in different regions across the country. The report argues that this variation must be taken into careful consideration when ensuring that all young people have access to suitable apprenticeship opportunities. The report also found that access to apprenticeships varied vastly within regions, particularly for apprenticeships in specialised sectors.
Around a quarter of learners who undertake a traineeship scheme progress on to an apprenticeship. In addition, awareness of traineeships among SMEs was low among the participants of the study.
Recommendations
The report makes the following recommendations:
- Government should provide financial incentives to encourage training providers, colleges and employers to take on young people who do not meet the minimum requirements for English and Maths at Level 2 to reflect the higher costs and potential increased risks associated with taking on these young people.
- Government should extend the 16-19 bursary fund to help apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds with travel costs to tackle geographical inequalities.
- Government should review the minimum apprenticeship wage in light of the increasing cost of living.
- Government should review existing campaigns promoting apprenticeships and draw on best practice to improve awareness of apprenticeships amongst young people, parents, carers and teaching staff.
- Government should review how work experience and employer engagement could be better resourced and coordinated in schools.
- Government should review the traineeship scheme to support more young people in progressing to apprenticeships.
