Modern Apprenticeships are to be offered to all young people with 5 GCSE passes (Grades A* to G) who want them. In a follow-up to the plans announced in the pre-Budget report to boost basic skills for adults , the government will open up the apprenticeship programme by 2004.
In a joint statement between the Chancellor, the DTI and the DfES, a target was established of one in four 16 and 17-year olds entering the scheme. Speeches by Patricia Hewitt, Estelle Morris and Gordon Brown stressed the importance of the scheme for creating a flexible workforce, and the role of business in identifying and responding to skills requirements.
The expansion includes a £16 million marketing campaign, an appeal to the public sector to embrace the apprenticeships, and a drive to raise their status so that skills-based training is no longer considered the poor relation to academic achievement. The new technical certificates for modern apprenticeships will ensure that detailed technical knowledge is a fundamental part of the apprenticeship diploma.
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Apprenticeships
A move in the right direction but we also need to see incentives for employers to recruit in this age group with all the problems in retention and motivation, and more money to be available for training other than the NVQ. The NVQ is a vehicle for measuring competance not a training tool in itself. Providers have been left with yet another unmanagable system and a lot of the quality providers have withdrawn from what is seen as a bargain basement approach to training. A lot of the providers remaining involved only deliver on these programes and do no private work at all. This is partly due to a heavy admin burden and partly due to the problems in diversification within one business.
Still a way to go Estelle, ask some of the employers how they regard this age group and it is clear that they do not regard the non graduates as being the work force of the future.
Training By Design Global Ltd