Political News Apprentice hopefuls left to “fend for themselves”
Apprentice hopefuls left to “fend for themselves”
Andrew Burnham called for a system offering comprehensive guidance and strong backing for students who wish to pursue apprenticeships, similar to one provided to university hopefuls.
The Shadow Secretary told Labour's annual conference that schools had been perceived as “solely as preparation for university” in the past, with only the route to university clearly defined.
“For too long the debate about schools in this country has been solely as preparation for the university route.
“Young people on the university route know what is expected if they are to make the grade.
“There is a national application system bringing all degree courses under one roof - the Ucas system."
Mr Burnham told delegates present at the conference in Liverpool, that those who go straight into work or apprenticeships were neglected.
“As a country, we haven't focused anything like enough on the opportunities for the 50% or more of kids who don't plan to go to university. Young people who want to head towards work or an apprenticeship are left to fend for themselves.”
He said that apprenticeship hopefuls should also have access to an equivalent system provided to university applicants, suggesting an “Ucas-style” system for apprenticeships.
The system would allow those seeking apprenticeships to gain access to what is available and how to apply for them and what is required to do so, according to the Shadow Secretary.
Recalling Tony Blair’s priority of “education, education, education”, he said that Labour wants to take it a step further to embody “aspiration, aspiration, aspiration”.
“People on the university path know what’s expected of them. I want young people who aspire to apprenticeships to have the same clarity, ambition and sense of purpose,” he told the party conference.
“I want them to be able to find out and apply for them in exactly the same way as people apply for university.”
He said the system would also accommodate businesses to influence what subjects children took at school so they came out with relevant qualifications.
Apprenticeships are becoming increasingly popular for career chasers, fuelled by government plans to triple tuition fees to £9,000 a year from 2012.
An ICM Omnibus poll commissioned by Pearson Training for National Apprenticeship Week showed that more than half of the 1,100 people questioned said the rising cost of higher education has made them think more positively about apprenticeships as a career choice.
In addition, nine out of ten employers see apprentices as key to the future success of their business over the next two years, according to a study carried out in February by vocational education Organization City & Guilds.
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union, welcomed Mr Burnham’s idea of an Ucas-style system of apprenticeships, saying it highlighted the “central importance of securing parity of esteem between academic and vocational pathways.”
However, she added it would have to be matched by a “national framework of entitlement for learners” and supported by a “national framework of pay and conditions of service to raise the status of the professionals who deliver vocational courses”.
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