Off-the-job ‘confusion’ sparks apprentice mental health warning

Apprentices struggling with anxiety and stress from job and college demands, survey finds

Apprentices struggling with anxiety and stress from job and college demands, survey finds

Employers who refuse to release apprentices for off-the-job training in work hours are harming learners’ mental health, according to research.

The study also found confusion about what counts as off-the-job training is triggering anxiety among apprentices.

And experts say a lack of understanding of the controversial policy among employers and apprentices limits achievement rates.

The survey of 1,000 training providers, 90 employers and 195 apprentices by software company OneFile sought to reveal the key barriers to reaching the government’s 67 per cent national achievement rate target by 2025. The current achievement rate, for 2022/23, is 54 per cent.

Respondents were unanimous that off-the-job training – a legal requirement introduced following the levy reforms in 2017 – was the most frequent obstacle.

The rule originally required apprentices to spend at least 20 per cent of their normal working hours on off-the-job training, before it was replaced by a six-hour per week baseline figure in 2022.

What qualifies as off-the-job training varies by apprenticeship and sector, but it must focus on developing new knowledge, skills and behaviours. It must also take place outside the day-to-day role but during normal, paid working hours.

More than a third (36 per cent) of training providers surveyed said employers not giving apprentices time to complete off-the-job learning during work hours was their biggest difficulty when it came to achievement.

And 32 percent of employers admitted the most challenging aspect of apprenticeship delivery was finding time for apprentices to complete off-the-job learning.

Meanwhile, 51 per cent of the surveyed apprentices said having more time to do off-the-job training would make it easier to complete their apprenticeship.

Around a quarter said they had felt stressed or anxious in the past year of their training. The most common cause was “not being able to manage the demands of the job and college work” (57 per cent) and “not completely understanding what’s required of me” (43 per cent) with off-the-job training.

The OneFile researchers said: “Employers have a legal obligation to provide enough time during working hours for their apprentices to complete their OTJ work. This is clearly not happening often enough. 

“The workload is clearly a source of stress and anxiety for many apprentices. While pressure is part and parcel of the world of work, it is a concern this pressure is excessive for the apprentice at such an early stage of their career. More must be done now to manage mental health and wellbeing.”

Last year, scores of big-name apprenticeship levy-paying businesses called on the government to rename the off-the-job training policy, warning that the “confusing” title was exacerbating high withdrawal rates.

England’s largest apprenticeship provider, Lifetime Training, led the call. The firm’s previous chief executive, Jon Graham, argued that the terminology was “out-dated” as it “relates to models of training which require apprentices to spend time away from the workplace, rather than the work-based approach.”

He said at the time: “It does not reflect the current reality of apprenticeship delivery or the learner experience. The result is a perception that this training must be carried out at home or after hours. This is not the case.”

Employers and training providers in OneFile’s research agreed that allocating more time to do OTJ training and improving communication with the training provider and apprentice would improve completion rates. 

Emily Rock, CEO of the Association of Apprentices, said: “Apprentices tell us they need off-the-job training, and employers recognise this and want to provide it, but operational and business challenges get in the way.

“This is an area that could be fixed at little or no cost, but solving it would significantly impact apprentice engagement and retention and employer buy-in.”

Tina McKenzie, policy chair at the Federation of Small Businesses, recommended that the Department for Education develops a toolkit to help small employers monitor and comply with the off-the-job training requirement.

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