Inclusive Apprenticeships only work when Engagement comes first

Apprenticeships are rightly celebrated as one of the most effective routes into employment. They offer young people the opportunity to earn, learn and build a career at the same time, whilst helping employers develop talent that is tailored to their organisation and industry. Yet despite the growth of apprenticeships over the past decade, many young people continue to be left behind.  

We often talk about access, recruitment and attainment, but in my experience of working with young people for more than twenty years, there is another factor that deserves far more attention: engagement. Before a young person can thrive in an apprenticeship, they need to believe that the opportunity is for them in the first place. 

That might sound obvious, but for many young people facing barriers, it is far from straightforward. Some have had difficult experiences in education. Others have grown up in environments where employment feels distant, uncertain or simply unattainable. Many have experienced setbacks that have chipped away at their confidence long before they reach the point of applying for an apprenticeship. 

As a sector, we sometimes assume that if we create enough opportunities, young people will naturally engage with them, in reality, engagement often needs to come first. Many charities work with young people from underserved communities, where the young people struggle with confidence in themselves and their skills.

This matters because apprenticeship participation alone is not the full measure of success, retention is equally important. The interim report from the Youth Futures Foundation’s Youth Employment Council, chaired by former Social Mobility Commission chair Alan Milburn, highlights concerns around apprenticeship and training drop-out rates among young people, particularly those facing barriers to employment. The report argues that too many young people are being lost from the system before they can realise the long-term benefits of work-based learning. Beyond the personal impact on young people, disengagement carries high costs for employers, training providers and the wider economy. Creating opportunities is essential, but ensuring young people feel able to engage with and sustain those opportunities is equally important.

One of the biggest misconceptions about confidence is that it can simply be taught through encouragement, but in reality, confidence tends to grow from evidence. Young people become confident when they experience themselves succeeding at something they previously thought they couldn’t do. 

A teenager who arrives at one of our programmes convinced they are “not good at anything” can learn a new skill, overcome setbacks and gradually improve. It is then that they begin to realise that progress is possible and that effort changes outcomes. Most importantly, they start to view themselves differently and that shift is incredibly powerful because confidence is often the foundation upon which everything else is built. 

We regularly see young people who arrive withdrawn, reluctant to participate and unsure of their future. Once they experience success in one area of their life, their willingness to engage in others often follows. They become more open to learning, more willing to take on responsibility and more prepared to consider opportunities that previously felt beyond their reach.  

The same principle applies to apprenticeships which are often focused on technical skills and qualifications. Those things matter, of course, but employers frequently tell us that they are equally looking for qualities such as resilience, communication, teamwork and reliability. These qualities rarely develop in a classroom alone, they are built through experience. That is one reason why hands-on learning can be so transformative. When young people are placed in environments where they can actively participate, solve problems, work with others and see the direct results of their efforts, learning becomes tangible. They are no longer being told what success looks like, they are experiencing it.

This is particularly important for young people who may have become disengaged from traditional forms of education. For some, sitting in a classroom and being assessed through conventional academic measures does not play to their strengths at all, and that is ok, it doesn’t mean they lack ability or potential. It simply means they may need a different route to discover it. 

Evidence also suggests that completion is strongly shaped by employer and provider quality, not just learner readiness. DfE data shows completion rates vary by up to 82 percentage points between providers. It also shows that smaller employers and those new to apprenticeships are associated with higher withdrawal rates, while structured workplace support significantly improves retention. This underlines a broader issue. apprenticeships are not just a learner pathway, but a three-way relationship between young people, employers and training providers.

When we watch young people progress through our programmes, we often see their resilience developing almost without noticing. Learning to ski or snowboard involves falling over repeatedly, making mistakes, listening to feedback and trying again. There are moments of frustration and self-doubt and moments where giving up would feel much, much easier. Yet with the right support and encouragement, young people will persevere and achieve their goals. 

The lesson they take away is not really about skiing or snowboarding at all. It’s about discovering that setbacks are part of making progress rather than proof of failure. That mindset has enormous value when entering the workplace, as apprenticeships inevitably involve challenge. New environments, unfamiliar expectations and the pressures that come with balancing work and learning can feel daunting. Young people who have previously had opportunities to develop resilience through practical experiences are often far better equipped to navigate those challenges successfully. 

The most inclusive apprenticeship pathways recognise this reality, and they understand that engagement is not something that begins on day one of an apprenticeship. It starts much earlier, when young people are given opportunities to build confidence, experience achievement and develop a sense of belonging. 

It also starts when they encounter adults who believe in them and when they are allowed to discover strengths they did not know they had. For employers, training providers and policymakers, there is an important message here. If we genuinely want apprenticeships to reach a broader and more diverse group of young people, we need to invest not only in apprenticeship opportunities themselves, but also in the engagement pathways that help young people become ready to seize those opportunities. 

That should mean greater support for youth organisations, sports programmes, mentoring schemes and community initiatives that help young people develop the confidence and life skills that employers value so highly. It should also mean creating more opportunities for experiential learning before formal apprenticeships begin. Most importantly, it means recognising that employability is about more than qualifications alone. 

The young people who thrive in apprenticeships are not always those with the strongest academic record. Often, they are those who have developed the confidence to keep learning, the resilience to keep going when things become difficult and the self-belief to imagine a future for themselves. Those qualities cannot be measured easily on an application form, yet they can make all the difference. 

Plus, the cost of disengagement is not only personal, but systemic. According to the Milburn review, the cumulative cost of youth inactivity and disengagement to the UK economy has been estimated to be £125bn per year, alongside substantial lifetime earnings losses for individuals. Against this backdrop, improving engagement and retention is not a marginal improvement to the apprenticeship system, but central to its long-term sustainability.

Apprenticeships remain one of the most powerful tools we have for improving social mobility and creating meaningful career opportunities for young people. However, if we want them to be truly inclusive, we need to look beyond recruitment targets and qualification frameworks. We need to start earlier, because before a young person can succeed in an apprenticeship, they first need to believe they belong there. 

By Dan Charlish, founder of Snow Camp