Apprenticeships

[ladymuck]

That's interesting. I always thought that apprenticeships were for youngsters and that by 30 you're assumed to have a career well under way (for the purposes of such a scheme, I mean)

[SueEllen]

That's interesting. I always thought that apprenticeships were for youngsters and that by 30 you're assumed to have a career well under way (for the purposes of such a scheme, I mean)

Nope.

[vetran]

Personal opinion: Apprenticeships are great,

I became an apprentice at 30, did my degree on day release, Employer paid Uni fees, day wage & gave me experience on site.

Yes the starting wage is lower but after 5 yrs I had not only a degree, a job, 5yrs experience but No Uni Debt,

During the 5yrs I had 3 promotions with associated benefits to recognise my progress,

As for "tied to an employer" I could have swapped out to another company on the apprentice programme, once qualified I was tied for 12mth, in that if I left the Employer I would pay back a proportion of the fees, but after that I was as free as any other permie

Ok that wasn't the case when I did my indentured apprenticeship between 16-21. The rules were very clear I had to work for them until 21. The wages were rubbish.

I did learn a trade but it was dying out. I transferred to general electronics then telecoms, luckily I had followed the ONC/HNC route not C&G.

[d000hg]

I've come across a few people who have radically changed career direction or for whatever reason never learned a trade/profession when young and then later wanted to 'make something of themself'. Quite heartening in my view.

[vetran]

Ok boomer.

Not that old, I'm generation seXy!

[Halo Jones]

That's interesting. I always thought that apprenticeships were for youngsters and that by 30 you're assumed to have a career well under way (for the purposes of such a scheme, I mean)

you can be any age, younger people get targeted as they are less likely to know what they want.

it’s only tricky when you are older if you already have a degree.

I went for a complete career change from running a hire/sale scaffolding yard to becoming a thrice chartered* QS


*had to get that bit in there

[northernladuk]

That's interesting. I always thought that apprenticeships were for youngsters and that by 30 you're assumed to have a career well under way (for the purposes of such a scheme, I mean)

Nope. The Coop Retail apprentices are all internal staff who want a career change. Their oldest apprentice last time I heard was in their late 40's. They take some from their academies for the low end apprentice gigs but the good stuff is offerent to employees.

[LondonManc]

As my mate the plumber told me 40 years ago even the queen needs a plumber, he had the first mobile phone I ever saw, a huge Mercedes van and a house twice the size of the rest of us. plumbing has always been good money.

Lot less risk than being a doctor!

Indeed. Porn gives a false impression of plumbers; they're never available when you need one.

[vetran]

Indeed. Porn gives a false impression of plumbers; they're never available when you need one.

and some won't go round your U bend!

[northernladuk]

No. The point is successive governments have pushed degrees more than apprenticeships. They should be more balanced. Furthermore, you can do an apprenticeship and then go to university later - and being older you'll probably get more out of it.

Ah right. Didn't know that. I've actually contracted on the DfE's apprenticeship offering services and they are absolutely committed to it so maybe I've been too close to that and missed the bigger picture.

I think apprenticeships are great. My beef is with UK government policy generally pushing degrees.

If that is the case then yes, that's absolutely wrong. Good apprenticeships are worth their weight in gold. I've got one lad in uni, the other on a degree apprenticeship and I can't for the life of me think why Uni is a good option.

I'm not sure why you think I think that! My aim here was not to say Swiss apprenticeships are great, UK ones are crap, rather that it's a shame that in the UK apprenticeships aren't as much seen as entirely viable alternatives to going direct to university.

And I'd totally agree. Maybe I've been too close to apprenticeships with my lad on one, I did one and working on the service I missed the alternative to Uni angle.

The government should be doing more to create more good quality apprenticeships.

Totally agree with that for sure but they are out there if people really really want them and are willing to work hard.

Tell you one thing I did see which I assume is part of the failing of the govt to push apprenticeships harder, and it might just have been sector specific but there were so many applicants and so few places the bar was set very high. They had the two year apprenticeships that put the applicant through BTEC before going on to a degree aimed at school leavers in place of A levels. Everyone that was taken on had already done A levels at his firm. Although the entry criteria was GCSE from school the people picked already had the A levels. The applicants were seeing it as second best option to going straight on to the degree program with their A levels.

The gov can say they there are X00's of school leaver programmes out there but no school leavers were getting the best ones leading to degrees.