Charter calls for refocus on young people


Apprenticeships should be 
refocused towards young people and have education at their core, according to a new charter launched this month by university and college lecturers’ union UCU.


The union said it was time for the government to scrap its “arbitrary” target of three million 
apprenticeship starts by 2020 and refocus the programme “on providing genuine, high-quality learning and employment opportunities for young people”. 


The growing criticism of the current apprenticeship system finally forced the apprenticeship and skills minister, Anne Milton, to admit earlier this month that it was 
“unlikely we will meet three million by 2020”. 


The UCU charter says that the introduction of the beleaguered apprenticeship levy scheme in 2017, has led to many employers simply rebadging existing training options for staff rather than creating real jobs and opportunities for young people.


The UCU charter sets out an 
alternative vision for the future of apprenticeships which has education at its heart, a strong emphasis on quality, and would help to create real jobs as part of an integrated industrial strategy.”


Other proposals in the charter include simplifying quality assurance arrangements, action to improve equalities monitoring, and putting apprenticeships at the heart of efforts to develop new climate jobs.


Andrew Harden, head of further education at UCU, said: “Two years on from the introduction of the apprenticeship levy, too many young people still find themselves unable to access the benefits offered by apprenticeships.“


www.ucu.org.uk/media/10208/UCU_apprenticeships_and_jobs_charter/pdf/UCUapprenticeshipsandjobscharter