Member News
10th February 2011
The government aims to create a record number of apprenticeships, an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) has been told.
Capitalising on the prominence of National Apprenticeship Week, the APPG on management met on Wednesday night to discuss management apprenticeships, and to debate the future of vocational training in the United Kingdom.
Keynote speaker at the session was skills minister, John Hayes, who outlined the government's ambitious plans for apprentices.
"Apprenticeships serve a vital economic purpose and this government will ensure a very dramatic increase in the number of apprenticeships over this Parliament," Hayes said.
"My ambition is to create more places for apprentices than this country has ever seen. We will create a record number of apprenticeships."
The MP for Lincolnshire's South Holland and the Deepings confirmed the government's plans to increase apprentice numbers by 100,000 over the next five years, three quarters of which would be in adult apprenticeships.
Hayes also emphasised the importance of the sense of social, as well as economic, worth that apprenticeships can provide.
"Apprenticeships fill an economic need, but also a social need. They enable hundreds of thousands of people to change their lives, by improving their life chances.
"For too long in this country we have fooled ourselves into believing that the only form of accomplishment that mattered came from academic prowess.
"It is through the acquisition of technical skills and vocational competencies that many people achieve a sense of worth," the minister said.
Hayes described the coalition's plans as focusing on creating a career progression for apprentices that was as "rigorous and seductive" as the academic alternative.
And he noted the work that the government is doing in promoting the status of apprenticeships.
Plans announced this week include hosting graduation ceremonies for apprentices, publishing the names of those who have achieved higher level apprenticeships, and creating alumni networks.
Also speaking at the APPG, attended by learning providers, employers and academics, was Simon Waugh, the executive chairman of the National Apprenticeship Service.
Waugh praised the increased success of management apprenticeships. He noted that whereas 3,600 people started as management apprentices in 2009, the figure had increased to 5,500 in 2010. Waugh also continued Hayes' theme of the social value of apprenticeships.
He said: "We have to wake up to the fact that the graduate route, the academic route, the MBA route is not the only route and it doesn't suit everyone.
"The life chances provided by an apprenticeship give people a fantastic foundation for the rest of their lives."
And Terry Morgan, chairman of Crossrail and CMI president, outlined the importance of management apprenticeships to the financial success of a business.
"If you don't have an apprenticeship programme you are disadvantaged as a business," Morgan said.
"Apprentices are better skilled, prepared for the world of work and ready to maximise their potential, all advantages to any organisation," he added.
The CMI provides the secretariat for the all-party parliamentary group on management.
Article Comments
I don't think it's an either/or situation. I wouldn't disagree that there's a need for the expertise and skills you might associate with the Harvards and Stanfords of this world (though HE policy is a whole separate question).
But what's critical is your point that we face competitors with 'much higher educated managers.' At best only one in five UK managers are qualified in management, irrespective of their other educational attainment. We spend less on developing management skills than most of our European competitors. Yet managers already form the biggest occupational group in the country - and the number of management jobs is set to grow hugely, to a predicted 5.7m by 2017.
So we need to broaden access to training in these skills, which have such a big impact on the performance of our businesses and delivery of public services. Apprenticeships are one way of doing that.
Patrick Woodman - CMI
11th Feb 2011 at 11:54 am
The idea of focusing more on apprenticeships as a long term strategy to make the UK competitive in an increasingly globalised, knowledge based economy is a very myopic view of the future.
At a time when the Harvards, Stanfords and Oxfords of the world are filled with an army of students from China, India and other developing countries where would we stand in 10 to 15 years?
Would we still be competitive and a market leader with our army of apprentices with basic qualifications versus a highly educated work force from India, China and even European countries like Germany? Countries that have much higher educated managers in comparison to the UK.
Shabbir Hussain
10th Feb 2011 at 3:27 pm
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