Figures for apprenticeships starts are out today. There were 442,700 new sign-ups in the academic year 2010-11 compared with 279,000 the previous year. Of these 175,000 were aged over 25, 138,900 aged 19 to 24 and 128,300 aged under 19. These are encouraging figures in many respects. Most encouraging is that 16-19 apprenticeship starts have risen by roughly 10 per cent on the previous year, which is an increase from approximately 6 per cent of 16-18 year-olds to around 7 per cent. This increase is important because if apprenticeships are to really take off then they have to become better established as a post-16 career choice.

It is a moot point whether the increase in new apprentices last year was due to apprenticeships becoming more attractive, or the economy becoming so stagnant that entering the job market proved off-putting. It’s unlikely the increase was due to young people turning up their noses at university, since last year saw a record number of applications, all trying to avoid the rise in fees due in 2012. However, many prospective undergraduates were locked out of university due to the cap on student numbers – somewhere around 180,000 applied but failed to get a university place in the same year. Perhaps these young people will be applying for ‘adult’ apprenticeships as we speak.

In 2015 16-18 year-olds will not be choosing between the job market and apprenticeships since education and/or training will be compulsory until 18. So new apprentices for this age group are likely to continue increasing as young people who prefer some kind of wage at 16 choose the route. What is not clear is whether young people will start choosing apprenticeships because they are seen as a high-quality option.

If they are to be seen as such, they need to be presented as being just as much about education as employment. They are presented as thus in countries with successful high-volume apprenticeship schemes like Germany. Apprentices there earn more even if they ultimately change sectors, because good apprenticeships impart ‘transferable’ skills valued by all employers; both through continued general education and general workplace training.

Will England’s apprenticeship programme become similarly high quality? The Government hopes so, and is trying to increase the amount of Advanced and Higher Apprenticeships. But there is a lot of work to be done. Currently a young person can do an apprenticeship that lasts only 16 weeks – yes, that’s right, 16 weeks. Some of these apprenticeships, in retail, start in the run up to Christmas and end shortly after. Schemes like these look uncomfortably like cheap labour for the holiday period with little educational value (apprentices can be paid £2.50 an hour). By 2015 the Government will have to insist on two-year apprenticeships for 16 year-olds, since by that date a young person will not be able to enter the labour market until they are 18. Such a move would drive up quality. But it is also likely to make employers less keen to offer new apprenticeships, leaving the Government with a difficult balancing act to perform.

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