The government is keen to update the clichéd view of apprentices. The modern vision is of apprentices across a range of levels progressing into high status jobs such as lawyers and teachers. It’s a great vision – aspirational even – and one that many of us support, but...
To support vision you need foundations, such as: thought-through policy, a planned implementation strategy, resources, standards, monitoring and evaluation. One day we might get all of this, but it is sorely lacking now and yet this vision is speedily turning into practice.
There were half a million Apprenticeship “starts” in 2015. The government wants this to be three million by 2020. This would need a 20 per cent increase per year over four years. Targets can be blunt instruments and the Apprenticeship targets are certainly that. Public sector employers with more than 250 employees will have a target for new apprentices equivalent to a minimum of 2.3 per cent of their staff. For larger multi-academy trusts this means around 100 to 150 “new starts” a year.
Employers will need to hit their target for new starts every year. It also seems that an Apprenticeship that goes beyond a year won’t count as “new” in the second or subsequent years.
So target-driven employers will be tempted to focus on one-year Apprenticeships to meet their targets more easily. Financial pressures might also make them look at replacing current roles with apprentices, rather than creating new roles. Thus the apprentice target is in danger of being seen as focusing on quantity rather than quality, which could damage the reputation of the scheme.
Funding will be via a new contentious employer levy. The government wants all employers to be involved in the scheme, but only those with a paybill of £3 million or more will have to pay a levy – currently set as 0.5 per cent of the annual pay bill. Employers can claim money back (with a government top-up) when they take on apprentices.
Again pressure to hit the “new starts” targets allied with funding pressures could push employers to go for cheaper lower level schemes rather than pay-out for fewer, but higher quality and more expensive places.
UNISON has been looking at apprentice schemes already running across the public sector and quality is already an issue. In the NHS a recent UNISON report highlighted that most Apprenticeships are at Level 2 (equivalent to five GCSEs) rather than in the areas of staff shortages, such as nursing.
A study of local government members showed that 22 per cent of apprentices received no “on the job” training; 39 per cent got no “off the job” training, and of those that did get training, 42 per cent got only one or two hours a week. A survey of our school members showed that 17 per cent of schools have apprentices, mainly teaching assistants and admin/finance staff.
The government is clearly aware of concerns about quality, so is introducing Apprenticeship “Trailblazers” – new apprentice scheme standards set up by groups of employers. The government is also setting up an Institute for Apprenticeships to oversee quality. However there are questions about the above and notably the quality of training support.
While further education colleges, most of whom have a good record in this area, are likely to be a significant player there could also be a flood of new unknown providers attracted by levy funding. How will all this be monitored and evaluated? The Skills Funding Agency is set to oversee: the funding, the three million apprentices, initial 4,000 employers and possible 800 standards, but with only 40 staff to do so. The potential for the misuse of public funds is clear.
So, large numbers of employers forced to hit blunt targets, a tight timetable, new standards, new training providers, stretched monitoring and evaluation resources and an unclear financial support system. What could possibly go wrong?
- Jon Richards is UNISON’s national secretary for education. Visit www.unison.org.uk/education/