A report by the inspectorate found that too many apprenticeships are not meeting the needs of young people, and many of the apprentice courses on offer are failing to give them the skills and knowledge that employers are looking for.
In August this year the new Conservative government pledged to create three million apprenticeships over the next five years. It also pledged to boost the quality of apprenticeships.
But Ofsted said too many low-skilled roles are being classed as apprenticeships and used to accredit the established skills of people who have been in a job for some time. The surge in apprenticeship numbers has been mainly in sectors such as customer service, retail, administration and care. It has not focused enough on the priorities that benefit employers or the economy.
“Inspectors observed apprentices in the food production, retail and care sectors who were simply completing their apprenticeship by having existing low-level skills, such as making coffee, serving sandwiches or cleaning floors, accredited,” the report states.
“The quality of apprenticeship provision reviewed during this survey was too variable and often poor,” it added.
Ofsted, whose inspectors visited 45 apprentice providers and conducted a survey of almost 300 employers and 900 apprentices, said the number of 16- to 18-year-olds being taken on as apprentices is as low today as it was a decade ago, with most places going to those over the age of 25.
It also warned that secondary schools are not doing enough to prepare pupils for apprenticeships.
Ofsted’s chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said that the low number of young people going on to apprenticeships is “little short of a disaster”.
“Too many of our schools are failing to prepare young people for the world of work," he said.
"Even where they do, the careers advice on offer isn’t encouraging enough youngsters into vocational routes that would serve them best.
“Despite the increase in numbers, very few apprenticeships are delivering the professional, up-to-date skills in the sectors that need them most.”
He said that unless apprenticeships become a valid career alternative for young people, there is a risk of a “two-tier system" of high- and low-quality apprenticeships.
Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said it is hugely important that apprenticeships offered to young people are high-quality, properly paid and lead to meaningful qualifications and work prospects.
"Headline-grabbing announcements for three million new apprenticeships have clearly led to a dilution of quality in the pursuit of an arbitrary and futile bid to achieve target numbers," he added.
