IPPR apprenticeship report released

In response to the Earning & Learning: Making the apprenticeship system work for 16 to 18-year-olds report by IPPR, David Hughes, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), said: “Abolishing Level 2 apprenticeships and instead introducing a rigorous pre-apprenticeship is an interesting approach to ensuring that all apprenticeships offer valuable high quality training for both young people and employers and potentially to support better and fairer access. “The Association of Colleges has been calling for the introduction of a pre-apprenticeship offer for some time, so it’s good to see other organisations pushing for the same idea, even if we probably need to debate the level at which that is delivered. Supporting the UK economy by tackling skills gaps and shortages is vital so it is vital that entry level provision for adults aged 19 and over including those who are changing careers should be maintained. “All further education colleges provide apprenticeships and are keen to do more, so it is interesting to see the suggestion that this offer should only be open to colleges and not-for-profit training providers. I’m sure that will be debated long and hard.”