Every so often you attend an event that is truly inspirational.
The Employer Apprenticeship Conference and the West of England Further Education Sector Recruitment event was one of those events.
It was all organised by South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS) in conjunction with partners City of Bristol, Bath and Weston Colleges, Skills West (of Business West), the West of England Colleges and the Western Training Provider Network at the SGS WISE campus at Stoke Gifford, Bristol.
Sara-Jane Watkins, the SGS Principal, talked about the new world of apprenticeships in terms of the apprenticeship levy programme which went live nine months ago.
“We absolutely recognise that managing the transition to the new regime has presented some challenges for everyone involved in apprenticeships”, she said.
Sara-Jane is absolutely right.
The levy has been controversial and has attracted a lot of criticism from employers and training providers.
In fact, the latest figures from the Department of Education just released show a 35 per cent drop in uptake of apprenticeship places.
Those figures are pretty shocking-27 000 apprenticeship starts in November as against 41 600 a year earlier.
This demonstrates a need for real reform in the system and far stronger support from the government in what they have always trumpeted as a flagship initiative to develop young people and help to fill the urgent skills gap.
“Many employers are paying a significant amount of money into the levy pot and it must not be seen as just another tax”, added Sara-Jane.
“The levy money does not have to be spent on employing additional recruits into apprenticeships and increasing your pay bill, but instead it can be used to upskill your existing workforce so that they have the skills and capabilities to both progress in your organisation and also to improve the productivity and diversity of your business”.
I was privileged to be asked to introduce the apprenticeship event.
My apprenticeship journey started at 16 when I left a South London comprehensive school to be a trainee journalist after writing to 120 newspapers trying to get a start in journalism.
I served indentures for three years and after another move to Sheffield, I joined the Daily Mail in Manchester as a reporter at 23 years old. I was very proud.
Since then I have worked as a reporter and news editor on national newspapers, and edited regional newspapers for the last sixteen years-retiring as editor of the Western Daily Press.
I always wear my apprenticeship badge with pride and over the last twelve years, I have developed apprenticeship campaigns and awards in Gloucestershire which have now been adopted by newspapers all over the country.
The apprenticeship sector workshops on the day were impressive forums.
Sitting in on the construction and engineering segment, I thought that the SGS Director of Apprenticeships ,Pat McLeod, did a great job on really getting into the nitty gritty of apprenticeship application detail.
It can be very confusing, and I think that it would be very helpful if Pat’s presentation points are made available to companies.
Business West played a key part in the apprenticeship event, and our Head of Skills, Nicky Williams, told me:
“This was a fantastic event and it was great to see so many employers there.
“However, it’s clear that businesses are still not aware of the implications of the new apprenticeship reforms and the benefits and funding that are available.
“Skills West can help-we offer free impartial apprenticeship advice to businesses of all sizes and can put companies in touch with national and local training providers to make it easy for them to get all the apprenticeship support they need”.
It was great to see one of the region’s great entrepreneurs speaking at the event both to encourage apprenticeships and to encourage people, perhaps retired or semi-retired, to use their skills as teachers and mentors.
Neil Ricketts is chief executive of Versarien in Cheltenham, a thriving engineering business now worth over £100 million who had just returned from China with the Prime Minister’s trade delegation.
He was inspirational.
I thought the West of England Further Education Sector recruitment event in the afternoon was really innovative.
The challenge here is the lack of staff to deliver training to the future generation whether in the classroom or in apprenticeships.
The response was tremendous. Nearly over one hundred and fifty people showed interest in putting back something into education and our young people’s development.
And they covered a wide range of areas from employability and business, business and media, accounting /finance, IT, marketing, construction, engineering and health and safety. There was also interest for English, maths, foreign languages, science, health, social care and animal welfare.
This was a very special event.
As I left I met a former colleague-an editor who had been made redundant. She was looking to put something back into our young people’s development.
Perhaps there is a lesson for us all in that.
You can view some presentations from the day here.
- Log in to post comments
Apprenticeship support
An apprentice can help boost the productivity of your business. Find out how to recruit an apprentice, upskill your existing staff and what funding is available.
Do you want to join the conversation?
Sign up here
Pledge your support
Do you want to inspire and develop the skills of people living and working in the region? Find out how your business can benefit by helping to invest in skills and training. Our advisers are on hand to help with any questions you may have.