Ofsted FE and skills director Lorna Fitzjohn told the House of Commons Education Select Committee that too many schools were failing to advise young people about the benefits of apprenticeships.

Ms Fitzjohn this morning gave evidence to MPs in Portcullis House, Westminster, that focused on how the number and quality of apprenticeships for 16 to 19-year-olds could be improved.

She said poor careers advice at schools, which tended to encourage young people staying in education post-16 to take A-levels and higher education degrees, was one of the main reasons that the number apprenticeship starts in the age group had “flatlined”.

Ms Fitzjohn added: “We did a survey last week which showed that only one-in-five schools were offering quality careers advice. That clearly is a worry.”

She added: “Although they [schools] were aware of the National Careers Service, it was very underused.

“We certainly see schools, parents and young people having quite a poor understanding of what apprenticeships are about.”

She also spoke about the role that local enterprise partnerships could play in apprenticeship growth and her concern for young people outside of education and without a job.

Other people who gave evidence were Katerina Rudiger, head of skills and policy campaigns at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Conor Ryan, director of research and communications at the Sutton Trust, and James Whelan, head of mathematics at Harris Academy Morden secondary school in Surrey.

Read issue 120 of FE Week, dated Monday, December 1, for more.

Cap: Lorna Fitzjohn giving evidence at the committee hearing

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6 Comments

  1. This is a legal requirement but no one seems to have the appetite to tackle the schools. Ironically Ofsted award good and outstanding grades to schools who offer little or no advice and until funding or inspection impacts then the schools will continue to keep the most able for their 6th forms. It’s a no brainer simply grade L&M as Requires Improvement or inadequate if schools fail to comply with proper careers advice and the picture would change overnight.

    Has anyone looked at the scandal of 17 year old with poor AS who drop out or come to college to do the course that should have done at 16 and to add insult to injury when they reach their second year aged 18 we see a funding reduction of 17.5%

    So this theme will be repeated ad nauseum until schools are penalised.

    • Norman, I’m right with you on this one. Government policy on CEIAG in England since 2010 has wrecked delivery. Parents (=voters) should be up in arms! In the meantime independent advisers like me are working with schools who want to deliver a good service – and making a local difference.

  2. Ms Fitzjohn should take a look at the figures. The most recent stats on the Apprenticeships website show 1.4m applications in 12/13 for 129,000 vacancies
    http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/news-media/latest-news/article358.aspx

    Even so FE Week has reported on more recent figures that show, despite overall falls in numbers, the number of 16-18 starts was actually up.
    http://feweek.co.uk/2014/11/26/breaking-all-age-apprentice-starts-down-for-second-consecutive-year-but-improvement-for-16-to-18/

    Those figures combined could go to show that the interest far outweighs the number of opportunities on offer and that while overall, schools have been slow to take on their new Careers responsibilities, in some areas there is fantastic work going on to promote these routes and encourage interest. In my view, schools are beginning to grasp their duties in this area and more and more are appointing CEIAG leads to head up this work in school. Those with an influence on policy should be mindful that continuing to allow a situation where demand outstrips supply at current rates, may well soon give the Apprenticeship brand a tainted name in the eyes of educators, students and parents.

    • Anthony Barnes

      I think Russell’s comments are very telling. Only 10% of employers currently offer apprenticeships and some employers are deterred because of concerns about the content, structure and changing funding arrangements. These problems can be addressed. We need to increase the supply of good quality apprenticeships and then schools will naturally re-balance their careers work to reflect this. It is not a conspiracy by schools to keep quiet about apprenticeships. Around 1,000 schools have gained awards for the quality of their careers work and they can’t get an award without providing information on all the options available to young people!

  3. Totally agree with all 3 comments so far. There are far too few vacancies for the amount of people who want one. There are also schools who don’t give information on apprenticeships, in the main because they need bums on seats in their 6th form but also because there is still an outdated view in many quarters of apprenticeships being for less academically able pupils.

    Schools need support to be able to deliver good careers education, after all, Connexions used to do it for them but now without Connexions, most schools are lacking anyone with expertise and having been given no budget to employ anyone to oversee careers they are between a rock and a hard place.

    As Anthony says, many schools have gained careers awards and more should be encouraged to do so. So maybe Norman is right, the threat of Ofsted grading leadership and management as inadequate may be the stick that is needed for the most recalcitrant heads to be ‘encouraged’ to prioritise careers ed. However, before we get to that point, the government should fund school careers activity to allow the many heads who WANT to do a better job of careers to be able to without sacrificing other needs such as exam results or staffing.

  4. I concur with most of these points, yes there is more to do around careers advice and there are still some teachers/advisors/parents who are not familiar enough with Apprenticeships to be informed – but that is not the underlying cause of participation issues. As Russell and Anthony state, there is in sufficient demand for Apprenticeship jobs with applications at c.10-1 to Apprenticeships advertised. Interesting to note how different perspectives view ‘demand’ – surely this has to be employment/workforce ‘demand’ with ‘supply’ being young people wishing to enter the workforce?!