Responding to the Sutton Trust's 'Better Apprenticeships' report, UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'It's increasingly clear that the government's pursuit of its three million apprenticeship target is coming at the expense of quality and choice within the system, and that this is having a real impact on outcomes for young people in particular. 'Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach which incentivises businesses to push existing employees into apprenticeships, the government should expand the apprenticeship levy to include other forms of high-quality workforce training. 'Most importantly, we urgently need the long-awaited careers strategy to ensure that learners of all ages are well supported to understand their options and progress in their learning.' 

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/ 

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