Our February Youth Voice Forum focused on apprenticeships and traineeships, and looked at how accessible the career path is for young people.
The session was chaired by Reena Staves (Youth Futures Foundation) and aimed to explore apprenticeships and traineeships, how accessible they are for young people, and what the language and attitude around them was like in careers guidance.
Laura-Jane Rawlings (CEO of Youth Employment UK and co-chair of the YEG) provided an overview on the work done to aid youth unemployment during the pandemic and an update of the work the YEG are currently doing to advise government policy and the Department for Work and Pensions now that youth unemployment figures have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Guest Speaker and Youth Employment UK Youth Ambassador, Euan Wilcox, shared his experience doing a business management degree apprenticeship with IBM. He explained why he thinks apprenticeships are a great route in the world of work for young people and shared his frustration that apprenticeships aren’t viewed in the same light as the university route, and therefore aren’t promoted to young people in the right way.
The Youth Discussion Highlighted:
- Perceptions & attitudes – Some felt that apprenticeships are seen as a second class option to university which is the ‘traditional’ route. Therefore, schools focused on pushing students towards university. It was raised that this could be due to the accessibility of apprenticeships for young people.
- Accessibility – Apprenticeships are highly competitive so fewer people get the opportunity to be employed through this route. Young people are struggling to get their foot in the door when thousands apply for only one position. Some felt this was because of how many are available, especially degree apprenticeships. Participants looked at the government apprenticeship service website and looked for available opportunities in their area which ranged from 50 to 2740 apprenticeships, and 1 to 53 degree apprenticeships available depending on location.
- Careers advice – Due to attitudes towards apprenticeships, experiences were that apprenticeships were discussed less during careers advice. Some felt that they were pushed towards applying to university regardless of if they wanted to go. Some were therefore unsure of apprenticeships as an option as they didn’t get sufficient advice.
Suggestions moving forward:
- Perceptions & attitudes – Apprenticeships need to be viewed as equal to university. This needs to come from government policy and careers advice in schools.
- Accessibility – Employers needs incentives and support to be encouraged to take on more apprentices and do that successfully.
- Careers advice – Careers advice needs to be more comprehensive and include better discussion around apprenticeships and traineeships. Young people also need more support in their journey when applying for opportunities, just like they would with university.
The next session will take place on 8th March and will explore Youth Justice and Offending.
More About The Youth Voice Forum
The purpose of the YVF is to create a safe space for young people to come together and discuss the views, experiences & challenges that they face as a direct result of Covid-19. Here they also support the work that the YEG do and have an active voice in influencing policy. The YVF ensures policy responses genuinely reflect young people’s needs and perspectives by providing young people with opportunities to identify what changes need to be made and discuss solutions to the problems they themselves have identified.
Youth Employment Group
