Responding to the need for change in apprenticeship delivery This is the first in a series of two articles about apprenticeships written exclusively for FE News. This first article is by Cerian Ayres – National Head of Technical Education for the Education and Training Foundation.Cerian Ayres examines the recommendations from three key reports on apprenticeships, alongside the UK government’s new accountability framework for apprenticeships. Recognising the widespread feeling among those delivering, and supporting the delivery of, apprenticeships that change is needed to meet recent recommendations, Cerian signposts to the support available to the sector.Those of us involved in delivering and supporting the delivery of apprenticeships appreciate the strengths of the apprenticeship model for work-based education and training, for lifelong learning, for social mobility and for driving the UK’s economic and industrial growth. We’ve seen it working, and we know it makes sense. But many of us have a feeling that it could be better, and that’s the view of several significant reports that we’ll consider in this article. We understand the sense of apprenticeships – but what about the sensibilities? Sensibility is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the ‘ability to feel and respond to something’ and that’s what we need to do, as a sector, if we’re going to drive the improvement that we need to see in apprenticeship delivery. This isn’t just about improving apprenticeships either; it’s about realising the potential of every existing and future apprentice and making the most of a societal shift in focus from academic to technical education. But how? Many of the answers are provided in three key reports, and the UK government’s new accountability framework for apprenticeships. Learning from three key reports In October 2022, The St Martin’s Group and the Learning and Work Institute published ‘Apprenticeship Outcomes and Destinations’. The report addressed high rates of non-completion amongst apprentices and made a set of recommendations to government about how to improve retention and completion rates. The recommendations included that: the DfE should re-align accountability and responsibility to ensure employers are sufficiently incentivised to support completion;training providers need to place greater emphasis on pastoral care and the wraparound support for apprentices;training providers and employers should ensure the provision of, and access to, information about the apprenticeship as early as possible;the DfE should publish tracking of long-term employment outcomes for apprenticeship programmes through Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data. In February this year, Disability Rights UK and the Disabled Apprenticeship Network (DAN) published ‘Speaking from experience – Getting it right for Disabled apprentices’. This examined a critical area of deficit in apprenticeship delivery and concluded that training providers should “develop and change [their] curriculum to make it easier for Disabled apprentices to get the training they need”. Training providers were also encouraged to “familiarise [themselves] with the additional learning support funding available for apprentices with learning difficulties or disabilities”. In addition, the report concluded that employers should: offer flexible work arrangements tailored to individual needs, including part-time apprenticeships; be prepared to support disabled apprentices with applications to the Access to Work scheme; have a streamlined process to put reasonable adjustments in place quickly, so disabled apprentices can focus on getting on with the job; promote a culture where apprentices feel safe to talk about their disability and support needs, including conversations about their mental health. Also in February 2023, City & Guilds and AELP published ‘Raising the Standard – sectoral approaches to raising apprenticeship achievement rates’. Their report explores both subject-...

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