www.hecsu.ac.uk GRADUATE MARKET TRENDS 54 GRADUATE MARKET TRENDS www.hecsu.ac.uk

What does AELP do? AELP is the leading trade organisation for vocational training and employment providers in England. The majority of its more than 770 members are independent private not-for-profit and voluntary sector training and employment services organisations. AELP train 75% of England’s 850,000 apprentices currently on the programme.

What is your background, and what attracted you to your position at AELP?I have been in my role for just over a year now. I am a chartered accountant by training. In my previous job I ran OCR, the exam board. Before that I was a college principal for five years. I have worked for the Department for Education, and have also worked in further education. After spending five years at OCR, I was looking for something else. The apprenticeship agenda was the big thing.

What are the strategic objectives of AELP? We are a membership organisation. We represent providers – mainly independent training providers, but also colleges and universities, which are of late joining because AELP really is about work- based delivery of education and skills. Our goal is to make sure that our members are fully aware of the apprenticeship policy and what the government wants. Our job is to clear any potential pitfalls along the way.

Do you think the government’s target of three million apprentices by 2020 is achievable?We think that achieving three million apprenticeships is easy. It’s not far off what was achieved previously. But now it’s about making sure apprenticeships are delivered by good quality providers. We must make sure that we are all moving in the right direction. Some of our worries

are around the proposed reforms, not actually delivering what the government wants. Apprenticeship standards – about what the curriculum is and what the assessment is – are changing and we want to make sure they develop in the right direction.

What are the changes?At the moment there are mostly only level 2 and 3 apprenticeships, which are at GCSE and A-level standard. The plan is to go from level 2 all the way up to degree apprenticeships. There are major changes in funding – now that we have the levy, levy-payers can get their money back by employing apprentices, or by changing their staff into apprentices. The big shift we think we will see is many more degree apprenticeships so that instead of someone going to university, they will go into employment at 18 doing a degree apprenticeship. Rather than incurring £50,000 worth of debt, they will be in a job, earning money and getting a degree for free as well.

Who pays for the apprenticeship?For large employers, the levy pays for the apprenticeship training and the employer also has to employ that individual. So if the employer pays £100,000 in levy, they can claim the degree apprenticeship against that – which is around £20,000.

Is the levy a good thing?We support the introduction of the apprenticeship levy. That higher level of the levy-payers is great to have on board the programme, but the levy-payers are only a tiny proportion of industry. At the same time, the government needs to support apprenticeships for the non-levy-payers.

What are the risks of the scheme?Ensuring quality standards. At the moment, there are apprenticeship frameworks which set out qualifications that are necessary to get an apprenticeship. These have all been rewritten, led by employers, and these lead to an apprenticeship standard. Then there are the end-point assessments which assess whether the individuals have done the learning. In some areas, we are worried that those aren’t up to the quality they need to be and we need to work with the new Institute for Apprenticeships to make that quality good. The institute will be overseeing the quality process. We all want good quality, but there is a worry about the overall regulatory structure that will ensure that quality.

How do we ensure that there is a robust quality regime for the apprenticeships system and that quality rules over quantity?I’ve been talking about the quality of qualifications. There is also the question of the quality of delivery. We have been pushing very hard for Ofsted to sit over this. The Ofsted inspection regime currently looks at schools and apprenticeships but we want it to take responsibility of all apprenticeships, whatever the level. There is an argument at the moment about degree apprenticeships, as HEFCE are saying they should be responsible for them. Our worry is that an apprenticeship is on-the-job training as well as a degree and we’re not convinced that the HEFCE system is robust enough to oversee them. The government now appears to be suggesting that the inspection duties can be shared between HEFCE and Ofsted.

There’s an argument that apprenticeships are a political solution in search of the wrong problem – how to stop higher education costing so much. What are your views on this?I don’t think that apprenticeships affect the funding of higher education. The real issue is that over half of individuals leaving university don’t go into a graduate job. Is it the right thing for them to be going to university in the first place? You could argue that many people would be better off getting into work and doing their learning at the same time. More than 40% of individuals go to university now. I believe that 10% of that proportion would be better off going into work and doing their learning there. That, I think, is the problem solved. Degree apprenticeships are the alternative route.

Many employers would say that the reason they employ graduates is because the talent pool is taken off into higher education, they can only get hold of them after they leave university. Now they can get hold of them at 18.

How can we make young people more aware of apprenticeship opportunities?Careers advice is not what it should be and that needs changing. Why I think this is a game changer, is that if you have the big corporates with degree apprenticeships – Sky, the BBC or Siemens, for example – then parents (the biggest influencers) will sit down with their kids and say, ‘actually this looks a far better option than doing some courses’. You are better off getting into work. When the public perception of apprenticeships lifts, the apprenticeship brand

will change. We mustn’t lose the lower level apprenticeships, but degree apprenticeships will raise the apprenticeship brand as a whole. This has got to be a good thing. There are already more than a thousand providers around the country, dealing with around half a million employers. Those providers can be going into schools with their apprentices, with their employers, and promoting apprenticeships. Some of the amendments in the Technical and Further Education Bill that is going through Parliament are going to mean that schools will have to let them in to do that.

Are you worried that the two routes – the academic and the vocational – are class biased?The worry I have is actually quite the opposite. It’s that there will be some amazing apprenticeship opportunities and that people who would have traditionally used the route as a way into the workplace will be squeezed out. My worry is that ‘sharp elbows’ will come out, that people who really need help at level 2 – going into retail, or care or sport instruction (some of these really important sectors) – will get squeezed out. My worry is that a degree apprenticeship will become too much a favoured route.

Is there anything else you would like to add?To summarise, I think that we have all got a job to do to promote apprenticeships as a valid option. At the moment school performance measures don’t recognise entry to an apprenticeship as a valid achievement. Their performance tables don’t recognise apprenticeships as a progression. That needs to change. Schools need to be encouraged to actively promote apprenticeships. There are lots of different elements that need to come together, and that is going to take some time and hard work. That is part of the lobby of AELP as well – to help get access to those pupils and promote what apprenticeships are about. I’m more optimistic than ever because the levy means that the big corporates are talking about apprenticeships like they have never done before. Apprenticeships have never been in the national press the way they have been recently. As long as we don’t mess up the quality side, and the funding side, then this system will work. It is going to be a bit of a bumpy ride, but overall we are very enthusiastic about it. As we go along, the AELP will flag any concerns about things that might get in the way of that success and make constructive proposals. That is our job.

Delivering a quality apprenticeship systemMark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), shares his knowledge on the post-levy apprenticeships system, and offers his wisdom on its future

WE HAVE ALL GOT A JOB TO DO TO PROMOTE APPRENTICESHIPS AS A VALID OPTION

IT’S ABOUT MAKING SURE APPRENTICESHIPS ARE DELIVERED BY GOOD QUALITY PROVIDERS