Call for employers to accept young apprentices with lower grades
Nicole Weinstein
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Employers should receive financial incentives to take on young people with lower grades for apprenticeships, new research suggests.
A study into the availability of apprenticeships and barriers for some young people by the National Foundation of Educational Research (NFER) finds that minimum entry requirements are “locking people out”.
It states that the minimum English and maths entry requirements of grade 4 or above in GCSE English and maths are preventing many young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, from accessing level two and level three apprenticeships which are the equivalent to GCSE and A-level qualifications respectively.
To make apprenticeships accessible to all young people, NFER is calling on the government to provide financial incentives for training providers and employers to encourage them to take on young people without grade 4 or above in GCSE English and maths, or the equivalent, and support them to achieve this level alongside their apprenticeships.
The report says such incentives would reflect the higher costs and potential risks associated with taking on these apprentices.
Report co-author and research director at the NFER, Suzanne Straw, said: “If the government is serious about creating ‘opportunities for all’, it needs to focus on more effectively tackling these barriers.”
Elise Temple, director of education and skills at Nacro, the social justice charity, supports calls from the NFER to incentivise businesses to support disadvantaged young people.
She said: “There must be a range of high-quality options both academic and vocational available to all young people regardless of where they have come from. Yet minimum entry requirements on apprenticeships, as this report shows, are doing little other than locking disadvantaged young people out.”
“One in three young people on free school meals do not achieve the equivalent of five good GCSEs by the age of 19, locking them out of many education and work opportunities.”
Other key findings listed in the report include:
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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) find it difficult to recruit suitable young people for apprenticeship vacancies.
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Low wages are a barrier to the recruitment and retention of young people, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, on apprenticeships.
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Travel costs may be a barrier to young people accessing more specialised apprenticeship opportunities which are not available in their local area.
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Traineeships, short training programmes which aim to support young people to progress onto an apprenticeship or employment but which are not currently doing this effectively, need an urgent review.
NFER is also calling on the government to consider extending the 16-19 bursary fund to apprentices. This could be used to subsidise travel costs for apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds and help mitigate the current inequalities in apprenticeship access.
The government should also review the current minimum apprenticeship wage, NFER says.
