Apprenticeships are in the eye of the storm. Over the next
18 months we are going to witness huge changes to the way they look, and how
they are delivered and funded in England. There is a long and rich tradition of
apprenticeships in both the hospitality and retail sectors and in many respects
these changes should give us an apprenticeship that is much closer to their
original incarnation. Apprenticeships have seen successive governments spend decades
re-shaping them, trying to ensure greater parity of esteem with academic
qualifications, addressing numeracy and literacy, and providing progression to
higher education, etc. In essence, they have been the victim of a succession of
education and welfare policy interventions, but as a result they have lost
their original purpose, which were around skills development and productivity.
In recent years both hospitality and retail have seen huge
growth in apprentice numbers, with approximately 57,000 people completing a
sector-specific apprenticeship in the past year. Apprenticeships have become
much more than a way to develop the skills, knowledge and competence for
someone to enter a professional occupation. Instead, they have become the main route
to access government funding since the demise of Train to Gain. Unsurprisingly,
this has meant that they have become so stretched and contorted that they have
lost their original purpose.
While employers have welcomed the most recent changes
warmly, they are likely to mean that apprenticeship numbers will fall
dramatically across hospitality and retail. This is because the recommendations
are likely to restrict apprenticeships to those in new roles and the government
is looking for a much greater financial contribution from employers. In the
immediate aftermath of these changes, we project that numbers could drop as
much as 70-80 percent, so what impact would this have?
A recent paper by the Edge Foundation suggests that apprenticeships have taken on the ‘dead weight’ – or training
that would have taken place anyway – that was previously in Train to Gain.
Figures suggest that about 85 percent of apprenticeships could be classified as
dead weight and it is likely that a large proportion of these are in
hospitality and retail. If that’s the case, these changes will not have a
significant impact on skills development as the same quality in-house training would
still be delivered.
So while we are likely see a significant fall in the number
of apprentices, what impact might these new apprenticeships have on the sector?
For a start, they are likely to be broader and much more demanding, enabling
someone new to the sector to develop the full breadth of skills, knowledge,
behaviours and competence to become a professional. One of the recommendations
has been that apprenticeships should focus on what someone needs to achieve
rather than become obsessed with pinning down the various qualifications or
training programmes that could make up one. The view is that employers should
set the appropriate standards that apprentices need to achieve.
People 1st has been working with employers in aviation,
retail and hospitality to develop and test these new professional standards and
see what impact they would have on future apprenticeships. They are already
suggesting more ambitious and robust frameworks and have generally been enthusiastic
and supportive of this new consensual approach. They see the simplicity it
brings, the fact that it is a real industry standard, and like the consistency
that it brings.
The introduction of professional standards also helps
address the needs of those existing staff that need development by recognising
the critical role of in-house training. Sector employers are making a
significant investment and this is most likely to be offered in-house. For too
long the perception has been that qualifications are better than in-house
training and, as a result, there has been no parity. For the first time,
however, professional standards allow them to stand on an equal footing. To
support this People 1st has developed a quality mark with employers and is
currently assessing and recognising quality training through its Quality Mark
process.
There is still huge uncertainty about how these changes are
to be introduced. If the government gets it right, they could be a good thing
for the sector as apprenticeships will regain their primary skills and economic
crown and carve out a clearer role to develop skilled professionals in the
sector. If successful this will enable the sector to tackle its skill
shortages, but also help tackle the lazy assumption that the sector has nothing
to offer but low skilled roles. Overall it’s clear that the sector is gearing
up for the change and there are some exciting opportunities ahead.
