Ask not what employers can do for apprentices

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) recently said that “not enough employers in the country know how Apprenticeships can benefit their businesses and that this is limiting the number of young people being offered places on the highly popular programme”. Readers of my previous columns on FE News will not be surprised to hear that I don’t disagree at all – the AELP are dead right.

The AELP also urged the government’s National Apprenticeship Service to work with providers to persuade more employers that Apprenticeships represent an excellent investment with real returns for their business” and I am 100% behind that message too.

I’m not entirely convinced, however, about the merging of the welfare-to-work agenda and the Apprenticeship-focused skills agenda. I understand that the Apprenticeship programme can offer countless benefits to disadvantaged young people. But I think combining the two runs the risk of clouding the key message to employers, which is that apprentices can add significant value to businesses that employ them to fit in with a long-term strategic direction. Tie in the welfare-to-work agenda and the over-riding temptation in the current political and social climate would be to see Apprenticeships as stop-gaps or “second chances” for those who do them, rather than the popular high-status choices that we know they can be.

In my mind, just as within our sector we push the mantra that the right learner must be matched with the right course, so the employers’ motives for introducing apprentices to their businesses have to be right from the outset. Every apprentice has to be brought in for a specific reason and with a role or goal in mind. Every business should be looking at their recruitment policy as an integral part of its overall growth strategy. Therefore, when making a recruitment decision, the question should not be what can this organisation do to help young people locally, or bring down the government’s unemployment figures – but what is the best course of action to ensure long-term profitability for our business?

For the small and medium sized companies that understandably feel detached from the broader big-business picture painted by the national media, the Apprenticeship message has to be even clearer. By and large, they do not have the financial wherewithal to take socially uplifting recruitment decisions, even if they want to. First and foremost, the commercial logic behind taking on an apprentice has to be at the top of their list of priorities. Both the public and WBL sectors need to tap into the mindset of the business community and resist the temptation to use the cap-in-hand approach to boost Apprenticeship take-up.

There is a delicate balance to be struck between the desire to get more people on Apprenticeships quickly and an apparently needy approach that immediately creates division between ethics and profitability. On the other hand, we as an industry also have to ensure that the qualifications we offer are of the highest quality and that shorter-term Apprenticeship programmes – which have attracted some criticism lately – are designed and delivered in such a way that they offer those enrolled a genuine learning opportunity, and demonstrably serve the UK’s long-term skills agenda.

Apprenticeships are not, and never have been, a back-to-work-scheme for the unemployed or disadvantaged.

Employed correctly, apprentices will not be a drain on resources, there merely to exercise an employer’s social conscience, nor will they simply be a way to help the government move more people from the ranks of the unemployed into the work environment to sharpen up their figures.

By delivering a consistent, well-targeted argument for Apprenticeships, we will of course satisfy both agendas. If more employers take the option of bring more apprentices into their business, they will be indirectly supporting the government agenda and creating greater levels of opportunity for people who see further education as the next rung on their particular career ladder, whatever their age. Not only will unemployment figures fall, but the next generation of the British workforce will also be better educated and trained to regain some of the ground this country’s industries have lost in recent years.

There are still thousands of employers out there yet to be convinced. It’s wonderful to see that 326,000 people embarked on the Apprenticeship programme in the UK in the first nine months of 2010-11. But for that level of intake to be maintained or ideally increased, employers who have already taken on apprentices, as well as those who are still watching and waiting from the sidelines, will quite rightly want to see concrete reasons to join in.

Joined-up agendas are all well and good, but the success of Apprenticeships will largely be driven by their impact on the commercial agenda – if that’s positive, hopefully the rest will follow.

Trevor Luker is managing director of Pearson Work Based Learning

Visit the Pearson Apprenticeships Profile Page to read other FE News articles by Trevor Luker.

Time to sharpen Apprenticeship focus

Let technology drive you forward
Structured support can build bridges