The chance to develop vital skills and experience before starting an Apprenticeship can give would be apprentices a real head start.

The National Apprenticeship’s Access to Apprenticeship programme and the Sector Skills Council’s Pre Apprenticeship developments highlight the importance of preparing learners for their Apprenticeship.

‘NCFE Progression to Apprenticeship’ qualifications can be delivered to support learners and help equip them to make the most of their Apprenticeship right from the start.

By preparing learners before they start a full Apprenticeship, they’re more confident and better prepared for their chosen Apprenticeship study route.

The NCFE qualification in Learning to Learn is one of the Progression to Apprenticeship routes we offer.  However, becoming skilled in the art of learning is certainly a controversial idea which can divide opinion in the education sector.

Is it truly necessary to acquire a capacity to learn; an ability that is seen as innate and instinctive? Or alternatively, does the skill of learning need cultivating?

Surely equipping people with the personal and study skills they need to get the most out of their learning experience can only be a positive thing?

At NCFE, we believe that an individual’s “learning muscles” can indeed be exercised and expanded to enhance achievement. That’s why we worked with Gateshead College to develop the NCFE Level 1 and 2 Awards in Learning to Learn.

Our Learning to Learn qualifications help new students master the essential skills they need for their learner journey; gain confidence by achieving a qualification at an early stage of their studies; experience a high quality standard induction to help them become a more effective and motivated learner and most importantly, reach their full potential.

Learning to Learn also offers an excellent opportunity for would-be apprentices to prepare for learning in the workplace.

The qualifications can also be delivered alongside other Progression to Apprenticeships qualifications such as our Occupational Studies suite, Developing Effective Thinking Skills and Employability Skills, to support young people to get the most out of their chosen study route. Having developed a wide, transferable skills base, apprentices will begin their Apprenticeship more confident and better prepared.

Overall, we believe that more effective learning really can be taught! Improving a young person’s learning prowess promotes engagement, provides individualised support and raises success and achievement.

Learners become prepared for their main course of study and any shortfall in learning can be addressed at an early stage. No learner comes to college as the finished article, so therefore we need to do all we can to ensure their learning experience is a positive one.

Whether it’s to support Access to Apprenticeship programmes or any other Apprenticeship pathway offer, we recognise that there’s no ‘one size fits all’.

We work flexibly with you to develop your own NCFE Progression to Apprenticeship package so that you can support your learners in the way you feel best.

David Grailey is chief executive of NCFE [advertisement]

The government’s commitment to promoting and funding more Apprenticeships has been welcomed by those who are working hard to tackle youth unemployment.

Skills minister John Hayes set out his vision for Apprenticeships, saying that by increasing routes to learning we could “seed opportunities for thousands of Britons and build the economically successful and socially just nation we crave”.

We applaud this vision – but to achieve it, all of us involved in delivering skills and training to young people now need to play our part and think innovatively about how to integrate employment and skills.

Recent reports suggesting that Apprenticeships are not being taken up by the under 25s and those out of work are concerning. And it’s self-evident that to optimise the value of Apprenticeships in addressing the unprecedented challenge presented by youth unemployment, training provision must recognise and respond to the needs of young, unemployed people.

Last year, the government implemented the biggest change to the welfare to work sector in ten years, providing a single, personalised structure for all customer groups and superseding the complicated raft of national programmes previously on offer.

As a provider of the government’s Work Programme, it is also clear to us at Working Links that organisations such as ourselves are in the perfect position to help the youngest benefit claimants prepare for and secure Apprenticeships, ensuring that coveted apprentice slots are going to those who need them most – young people without jobs.

Just after Work Programme launched, we commissioned and published the results of research into employer and young person attitudes towards Apprenticeships. Our results showed that the vast majority of young people were worried about their job prospects. The research also revealed four out of five employers believed that Apprenticeships would help reduce youth unemployment and that an overwhelming number of employers felt that an Apprenticeship gave young people the skills they need to find lasting work.

More controversially, traditional views regarding the skills that employers look for when hiring young people were challenged by the report. Of the employers surveyed, 86 per cent said they look for potential rather than experience when hiring young people and cited soft skills such as ‘a good attitude’ and ‘enthusiasm and motivation’ as key qualities in a potential work ready candidate.

Careers advice was also called into question. The young people surveyed felt that they are not getting enough advice from schools about vocational qualifications such as Apprenticeships – only 24 per cent of young people were given advice on Apprenticeships, while 70 per cent received information about college courses.

It’s clear that both employers and the government see Apprenticeships as crucial to reducing youth unemployment and recognise the positive impact these schemes have on society. We’re working with the government to help realise this vision and help young people into a future of sustainable employment. An integration of the Apprenticeships and the Work Programme will not only help ensure better life chances for the young unemployed, but will further improve the service offered by the Work Programme to young people.

We’re already trialling a project in the South West of England to do just that – a pilot programme that is helping young people who are unemployed to gain the valuable pre-employment skills they need to successfully enter into an Apprenticeship. The pilot is up and running in Plymouth and is about to roll out across the region.

Working Links will share the learning from the pilot with government, employers and other key stakeholders to help develop a workable, nationwide programme that successfully integrates Apprenticeships, the Work Programme and the needs of employers, large and small.

 As we pause to evaluate the importance of Apprenticeships in National Apprenticeship Week, we must remember that collaborative working really is key to achieving the government’s vision of securing a better future for the next generation.

Mike Lee, Director, Skills and Young People at Working Links

The key word is already in Apprenticeships.

We need to be doing more to ‘entice’ SMEs and other employers to take on Apprentices and even more importantly, offer real Apprenticeships that are based on ‘real’ jobs.

In our submission to the BIS Inquiry on Apprenticeships we will be emphasising a number of key points.

Firstly we welcome any growth in the numbers of 16 to 18 year old Apprenticeships, particularly in the current climate, but we would like to see as great a focus on the 19 to 24 year olds who are struggling to find employment or training opportunities.

Secondly, we need to see more evidence of recruiting apprentices to ‘real’ jobs. A number of training providers need to show more evidence of job outcomes; it is simply not good enough that in the past some apprentices have been recruited for seasonal work and short employment contracts.

We support the employer ownership agenda; employers need to be taking greater responsibility for investment in training if they want to meet their own skills needs.

However, at the same time, government needs to work harder to push the right messages to employers and to reduce bureaucracy as much as possible to incentivise co-operation.

we believe a rebate on tax or National Insurance would work better than a cash payment.”

There should be a bigger drive and push to convince SMEs of the value and ROI of taking on apprentices but we believe NAS’ Apprenticeship Week will be doing just that and we look forward to the media coverage.

Last but not least there needs to be more clarity on what does and does not constitute a 50 per cent contribution for 19 to 24 year old Apprenticeships as this is being interpreted differently by every provider.

Some financial incentives for employers might help, but in this difficult economic time we believe a rebate on tax or National Insurance would work better than a cash payment.

All in all we feel that NAS was started up with good intentions, but has a stretch to do to improve on quality, position Apprenticeships strongly in the market place and convince employers of the true worth and value of apprentices.

Lynne Sedgmore is Executive Director for the 157 Group

Despite a lot of media coverage of apprenticeships in the last year, not enough has been heard from the apprentices themselves. We know that the Government and employers invest in the apprenticeship programme and that they get a healthy return on their investment. Apprentices also make an investment so it is worth reflecting on the ‘return’ for them.

Last year we carried out a survey of 81 people from across the country, aged 17 to 61, who had been nominated for the Adult Learners’ Week Adult Apprentice of the Year Award, sponsored by Pearson. The results were incredible and show just how worthwhile the increased investment in apprenticeships is for all sorts of people at all stages of their lives.

 For many, the experience has truly transformed their lives: “Doing the apprenticeship has changed my life. I am much more focussed. I am doing a real job in a real workplace gaining the most brilliant experience.” Underlying this is the sense that it has given them a fresh start and has helped them prove to themselves and to others that they are not a failure. “I feel that as a middle-aged woman what I have achieved is remarkable. My journey has not finished – it has only just begun.”

 With FE Loans, the learner/apprentice will be the purchaser, will feel able to shop around, will look for the best offer. Will this be empowering?”

Even more than this, the impact reaches forward into future learning, personal development and family life.  “I am so sorted now, feeling much more positive about myself and my family are more relaxed around me and are proud of me.”

If they are that good then making the case for more investment must be easy and it certainly looks positive with the very welcome and large increase in Government investment. From 2013, those over the age of 24 will need to take out a loan for their apprenticeship and there is a lot of understandable concern about the impact this will have on fairness and equality (see NIACE Adults’ Learning extra January 2012) but perhaps too little thinking about the potential positives.

 Our survey of adult apprentices not only gave evidence of the benefits, it also taught us how important it is to listen to the learner experience. Our respondents had ideas about how to improve quality, how to advise potential apprentices, what worked for them and what might work better for others. In the best examples, learners felt empowered at work, at home and in their communities.

With FE Loans, the learner/apprentice will be the purchaser, will feel able to shop around, will look for the best offer. Will this be empowering?

Will people with the right advice and guidance, with better public information, be able to demand a better quality offer? Will this result in a more personalised learning experience, with curriculum and delivery designed to meet their needs? Will people demand a more blended offer, with more use of technology and distance learning? Any provider of training who can tap into this demand will surely be more successful, just like in any other market-place?

So, here at NIACE we are keen to do more work to capture the apprentice voice, to help empower learners to get more of what they need and to support people to get the best possible information, advice and guidance to be able to be informed customers. It will be fascinating to see if the introduction of FE Loans helps accelerate this.

The final words should go to an apprentice:  “If it wasn’t for my apprenticeship I would still be stuck in a rut with no direction to walk in. Now I have this qualification I feel a new person with limitless possibilities and it has given me back the drive to learn to further myself in my career. I owe my whole career down to one qualification – thank you!”

David Hughes is the CEO of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE)

The debate around apprenticeships over the last few months, which has now prompted a Commons select committee inquiry, was originally sparked by FE Week’s coverage of ‘short-course’ apprenticeships and we know that the publication is able to talk knowledgably about the subject, even if we may not always agree with its opinions.

However I cannot extend the same compliment to some of the other comment which I have seen on the matter.

First and foremost some observers seem to hold a traditional and therefore inaccurate view of what an apprenticeship actually is.

That is why the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), which represents providers who deliver over 70 per cent of apprenticeships in England, is using its submission to the select committee to firstly secure a clear, universal definition of an apprenticeship.  We set out our proposed definition in our well-received position paper to ministers last autumn, namely:

“An apprenticeship is a competence based skill development programme, designed and endorsed by employers for their employees, which combines independently accredited work based learning, off-the-job training and relevant experience in the job.”

This definition implies an acceptance, as allowed since Modern Apprenticeships were introduced in 1994, that apprenticeships can be for employees of any age in response to employers’ needs although we fully understand current policy prioritising towards young people.

It means therefore that it is incorrect to simply think of apprenticeships as a means of job creation for young people.

Protecting the brand

We support the coalition government’s ambitions to see more apprentices complete at levels 3 and 4.

However, all levels of apprenticeships offer high quality training which brings extensive benefits to both the employer and the apprentice.

Whilst we would encourage progression to level 3 apprenticeships wherever possible, it must be recognised that in many occupations and sectors a level 2 apprenticeship is the most appropriate level of qualification, offering the right quality, skills, knowledge and benefits to the apprentices and their employers.

Opinion-formers and policymakers in their well-meaning attempts to defend the apprenticeship ‘brand’ would be in our view misguided if they sought to deny a valued qualification that employers ultimately own and protect.

This is not to say that employers have or should have free rein to call any type of workforce training an apprenticeship when public money is involved.

Proper apprenticeships should be subject to the same audit scrutiny, Ofsted inspection regimes and SASE compliance with the sector skills council playing an important role as custodians of standards.

This is very pertinent to the current pilot being proposed for the ‘Employer Ownership of Skills Development’ where apprenticeships may well feature in some of the employer bids.

Our select committee submission refers to previous AELP proposals on how apprenticeships should be funded by the state, employers and learners, bearing in mind that loans are on the horizon.

With the government announcement that apprenticeships for 16-18 year olds must last a full 12 months and the additional costs of Functional Skills to be added, it is unfortunate that the funding rate for this age group has been cut by 2per cent. Quality provision comes at a cost.

At a time when the government is trying to grow the number of young people starting apprenticeships, this rate cut will surely create a tension between increasing volumes and maintaining quality.

Role of the NAS

National Apprenticeship Week comes under the remit of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and we support the marketing initiatives that the agency is undertaking to promote the programme to employers, particularly those to raise awareness among SMEs.

The National Careers Service may be coming on stream in April but AELP believes that NAS can play a particularly valuable role in schools, explaining to young people, their teachers and parents that apprenticeships offer a high quality vocational training that will suit many young people better than the traditional academic route after the age of 16.

With success rates at 74 per cent, and rising, our apprenticeships are something we should be proud of and celebrate.

Graham Hoyle is the CEO of the Association of Empoyment and Learning Providers (AELP)