Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

MPS want to know: Who should provide information about apprenticeships?

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When most people this applies to will be in school.

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Hi Juno, a recording of the session is still available and will be for some time. If you follow the link you will still be able to view it long after the live taping.

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Reply 21

e2w

Is the university bubble about to burst? Are too many universities churning out graduates with degrees of dubious value and an accumulated debt of tens of thousands? Are these graduates working in careers worthy of this debt? Many will say an emphatic "no"! Richard Branson, the CBI’s John Cridland, Professor Sir Roderick Floud, the former president of Universities UK are three such critics. There are many more, including thousands of former graduates pondering the value of a third rate degree from a second rate university.
The idea that a degree was a passport to a great career is long past its sell-by date. But how about the other ‘myth' --- that top A level students are always best served by going to university as the only and best preparations for that great career in law, accountancy and the other professional services occupations?
Who has been perpetuating these myths? Surely not the leading secondary schools - private and state - and their careers advisors. Mind you, they do like boasting about their successes in getting students into university.
Time for a reality check.
The escalating costs of university study – tuition fees plus the cost of survival – and the uncertain job outcomes for graduates have transformed the landscape both for young people planning their careers and for major employers seeking the brightest and the best.
Leading businesses are already adapting to this by offering the brightest students entry into professional careers combined with degree equivalent qualifications post A-level via the higher apprenticeship programme. Many businesses recognise the benefits and opportunities of recruiting school leavers and are looking for a better alternatives than continuing to recruit graduates.
Leading schools need to respond to this new challenge by offering their students programmes designed to help them make better-informed, calculated choices about the next steps after school or college and give them an open door directly into a professional career working in partnership with top employers.
An innovative response to this is provided by E2W Enabling Futures who have created a programme that brings together students, businesses and schools, with multiple benefits for all three:
• Schools are able to offer and support alternative pathways into professional careers, meeting the needs of their students and their obligation to provide access to independent and impartial careers guidance
• Students are supported in developing the skills, attitudes and behaviours that major professional employers demand, ensuring a successful entry onto a positive career pathway post A-level
• Businesses are able to play a part in shaping the programmes to ensure that the appropriate competencies are developed to meet their recruitment needs – creating a keen and eager talent pool of the brightest and the best
Peter Cheese, CEO, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said: “Apprenticeships offer a real alternative to university and are growing in recognition and importance. We need all professions and areas of business to embrace them and to provide the frameworks and programmes that encourage young people to follow the apprenticeship route to develop opportunities and careers, which is good for them and good for business.”
Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education says, “So our government’s vision has been clear. To create a new norm that when young people leave school, they choose between two equally prestigious routes to a great career - university or an apprenticeship - or, with higher apprenticeships, to do both at once. We want these apprenticeships to offer real jobs and top-quality training to develop the practical skills and experience that employers want.”
Young people, their parents, their schools and their would-be employers need to have access to programmes that open doors, that provide wide choices and great opportunities, and break the cycle of disillusionment that overwhelms so many graduates.