‘Provide apprenticeships careers talks or face legal action’. That was the headline of a Schools Week article in summer, reporting the requirements of the ‘Baker Dearing’ clause to schools.
It’s a bit nerve-wracking, isn’t it? It’s understandable why that message might not have filled school leaders with enthusiasm.
Of course, the government is completely right to take vocational and technical education extremely seriously, and to let schools know students should be taking it seriously too. Ministers are bang on in banging on about it.
But teachers need support to boost their knowledge and schools are under huge pressures. They are expected to meet so many millions of requirements. And many school leaders and teachers won’t have done an apprenticeship or worked with an apprentice before. Passion comes from deep understanding. Do you and your staff deeply understand apprenticeships?
We now know that apprenticeships are not working for students – especially disadvantaged students – in the way they should. In December the Sutton Trust published a report called The Recent Evolution of Apprenticeships, which showed some major warning signs.
It found that although about 17 per cent of students were eligible for free school meals, the proportion was much lower for apprentices under 30: only 13 per cent at level 2; nine per cent at level 3; seven per cent at level 4/5 and only five per cent at level 6 (or degree level). More disadvantaged students chose to go to university (6.7 per cent) than take a higher-level apprenticeship.
That’s despite apprenticeships allowing students to pursue qualifications, get paid, side-step university debt, and get a head start on gaining much-needed skills for the jobs market.
It’s lack of knowledge, not will, that’s holding students back
Even more worryingly, while the gap in representation is most noticeable in the highest-level apprenticeships, there was a decline of up to two percentage points in the representation of students from poorer backgrounds within each level of apprenticeship between 2015 and 2020.
That is not the right direction.
It means that young people and those in deprived areas “have not been the beneficiaries so far of this expansion”, said the report.
But really, what could be an easier sell at a time of skills shortages and a cost-of-living crisis? As far back as 2014, the Richard review of apprenticeships argued that apprenticeships support both the economy and the apprentice.
Of course, there’s nothing like real-life examples to ignite a real enthusiasm. The Institute for Research in Schools focuses on helping students run real science research projects, so we’ve found a few science apprenticeships that should spark your interest.
Did you know your students could do a laboratory scientist apprenticeship with AstraZeneca? It would be a specialist apprenticeship in microbiology, based in a small town in the north. Those kinds of local opportunities can be lifechanging for a young person who can’t or doesn’t want to move far from home.
Or what about a physics technologist apprentice at a cancer centre in Liverpool? They want one right now.
And do your staff know about higher-level apprenticeships? Because National Grid, another huge and well-known employer, is looking for a cyber technologist higher apprentice to join them. What about an apprentice pharmacy assistant? An environmental consultancy apprenticeship (with the promise of excellent pay)?
Apprenticeships can help more students towards some of the most exciting, high-status careers around – and not just in science and tech.
So, ask yourself. Have you been to see an apprenticeship in action? Have you made use of the huge bank of free resources on Amazing Apprenticeships? Do you know what the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme is and how it can support schools? Did you invite students who went on to undertake apprenticeships back to talk to current students? Do you direct students to additional opportunities such as the Sutton Trust’s Apprenticeship Summer School or your staff to webinars like ‘Making higher and degree apprenticeships accessible and attainable for your students’?
Forget the threat of legal action. It’s lack of knowledge, not will, that’s holding students back from applying. So this National Apprenticeships Week, get knowledgeable and let’s ensure all our students have access to these opportunities.
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