Prospect magazine:
More apprenticeships is a good thing - but it's time to look at the quality
30 November 2017
As our latest research shows, disadvantaged young people are less likely to enter the best apprenticeships than their better-off peers. We’ve also found concerning gender gaps, with female apprentices concentrated in sectors with low earnings after completion. These inequities need to be addressed, with better guidance for all young people. This should emphasise the benefits of apprenticeships and should be communicated more widely in schools. The Sutton Trust will be campaigning through 2018 so that in future anyone completing level two should automatically progress to level three, unless they opt out. The focus on apprenticeship starts rather than overall apprentice numbers, and quality, in the government target does a disservice to young people at present.
Related publications
"Apprenticeships for Young People in England: Is there a Payoff?" by Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally, and Guglielmo Ventura, CVER Research Paper 010 (November 2017) is available at http://cver.lse.ac.uk/publications/default.asp
This paper is part of the "Better Apprenticeships" project, funded by the Sutton Trust https://www.suttontrust.com/research-paper/better-apprenticeships/