'These findings are of major concern,' says Dr Roy Canning. 'Every political party manifesto has targets for increasing the number of apprenticeships, but they ignore the fact that in some sectors 60% of young people drop out before they have completed their training.'
The research findings reveal that the Scottish Enterprise boards have been successful in broadening the scope of apprenticeships from the traditional construction, engineering and motor sectors into service industries including health care, hospitality and retail. There has also been a corresponding rise in the number of women apprentices and increasing numbers of recruits above the age of 18 years.
However, the Stirling researchers found that there was not enough available data to say whether the modern apprenticeship scheme was successful. 'There is no common standard for apprenticeships. Some last for six months, others for three years. Some young people learn useful intermediate level skills, others do not have the opportunity to attend day release courses,' says Roy Canning. 'There is a need for regulation to ensure that young people gain real benefits from the scheme. In some instances the scheme has been expanded into inappropriate, low-paid jobs which do not offer them enough challenge.'
The project uses secondary data on the level and pattern of take-up of apprenticeships in Scotland for the period 1999-2001. It also included six case studies of apprenticeship in emerging industries for apprenticeship in Scotland, including nursery nursing, floristry, retail, tourism/leisure and NHS pharmacy.
The findings revealed a number of differences between the patterns of apprenticeship in Scotland and England. For instance, construction is the largest single sector in Scotland, followed by customer service and administration, which together represent more than a third of all modern apprenticeships. In England, however, the three largest sectors are in business administration, engineering and hospitality. The findings also show that while the health & social care and hairdressing sectors have relatively poor take-up up figures, compared to England, the non-traditional sectors enjoy the fastest overall growth rates for new recruits in Scotland.
The Stirling researchers warn that it is unclear whether recent demand for apprenticeship training in the service sector is in response to demand by employers or as a result of interventions by the Enterprise Agencies.
According to the researchers, given the projected fall in the number of young people entering the labour market, it is difficult to see how the present unregulated apprenticeship model in Scotland will survive over the next 20 years.
They call for a fundamental change at policy level in how apprenticeship is regulated and supported at national level. They recommend that the Scottish Parliament should introduce new legislation to reform the present structure and administration of modern apprenticeships. In particular, they say there is an urgent need for a recognised national diploma in apprenticeship, statutory entitlement to day release at college and monitoring of the employment conditions of apprenticeships. A discussion paper to outline the project's findings and proposals is in preparation.
For further details:
Contact Dr Roy Cannning , tel 44-178-646-7613 (work) or 44-138-277-8828 (home)
Email: Roy.canning@stir.ac.uk
Or Lesley Lilley or Anna Hinds, Tel: 01793-413119/413122
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1 Dr Roy Canning is at the Institute of Education, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA
2 The report 'Emergent Models of Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland' is published by the Economic and Social Research Council
3 The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, high-quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC invests more than £76 million every year in social science and at any time is supporting some 2,000 researchers in academic institutions and research policy institutes. It also funds postgraduate training within the social sciences to nurture the researchers of tomorrow. More at http://www.esrc.ac.uk
4. REGARD is the ESRC's database of research. It provides a key source of information on ESRC social science research awards and all associated publications and products. The website can be found at http://www.regard.ac.uk.