Modern apprenticeships

Issue 28

Photo of John Park

John Park, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife

Giving easy access to vocational training for pupils who would prefer not to pursue higher education is a key component of economic success, according to one proponent.

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The opportunities available to Scotland's young people today are a vital component of ensuring Scotland's economic future.

The importance of establishing a well-qualified skills base to enable Scotland to compete effectively on a global scale is just one of the reasons why I am bringing forward a private member's bill in the Scottish Parliament on modern apprenticeships.

The Apprenticeship (Scotland) Bill aims to establish a right for every suitably qualified 16-18 year old to access a modern apprenticeship. To deliver this entitlement, the Bill will place a requirement on the Scottish Government to provide additional support for employers in training apprentices and for the public sector to match its training levels with its overall employment levels.

"We need to ensure that children and school leavers are offered the best advice to make the right choice for their future"

The proposals recognise however, that key to achieving this expansion in provision will be the need to increase the promotion of apprenticeships in schools through information, advice and guidance (IAG) to pupils. To do this successfully we need to ensure that children and school leavers are offered the best advice to make the right choice for their future, involving those from across industry as much as possible.

Feedback received so far on the measures outlined in the Consultation document for the Apprenticeship (Scotland) Bill have highlighted the importance of investing in CPD for those engaged in the IAG process in schools. The necessity of ensuring parity of esteem between vocational and academic options for young people has also been reiterated.

Furthermore, the opportunity emerges here to challenge some traditional inequalities and influence the diversity of apprentices recruited if the skills base of the UK workforce is to change. Under the current set up of the modern apprenticeship system, young people experience similar occupational segregation to the gender stereotyping that remains in many sectors of employment and learning. For example, the majority of apprentices in construction are men (around 98 per cent in 2005); in childcare, predominantly women (nearly 97 per cent in 2005).

"The opportunity emerges here to challenge some traditional inequalities"

Additionally, there is an immediate need to increase BME participation in taking up modern apprenticeships and address the issues raised with regard to accessibility for disabled young people. Again, feedback to the consultation has raised the importance of access to training and learning in tackling such inequalities.

As the Leitch Review noted that there will be fewer lower skilled jobs available and less opportunity for unskilled young people to enter the job market straight from school, it is important that the Scottish Government takes steps to meet the economic challenges of the future, something which the Skills Strategy, published by the Scottish Government in 2007 in response to Leitch, fails to achieve. There needs to be a real step change in the opportunities for young people to access an apprenticeship, as demand is currently outstripping supply.

By providing suitably qualified young people with the right to access a modern apprenticeship, the Apprenticeship (Scotland) Bill is an ideal opportunity to tackle the skills and training agenda head on. The Children, Skills and Learning Bill, making its way through Westminster, has shown that the approach being taken in England does just that and without similar action by the Scottish Government, Scotland will be left lagging behind.

The current economic crisis should ensure that now, more than ever, there should be a shared focus on supporting those who would otherwise face barriers getting a job, and recognise the importance of training as a way of enhancing the skills base of young people. It is time we met that challenge.

 

37% OF VOTERS SAY

they do feel that fostering a sense of global citizenship in the classroom can have a long-term, positive effect on the wider world?

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Latest comment...

would like to knowthe GTCS view on this scenario. I agree with Steve its a last option!