The silence surrounding the Government’s plans to remove (at least some) Level 7 apprenticeships from the scope of the Growth and Skills Levy looks set to be broken soon. An FE Week exclusive suggests the Education Secretary sought clearance from the Cabinet Office back in April for an exemption for Level 7 apprentices aged 16-21 at the time of starting their course.
So, is this an ‘important concession’? Yes, in sense that we are seeing some tilting of existing funding in the apprenticeship system towards young people, a trajectory we would very much like to see continued as the Growth and Skills Levy is fleshed out. More so in revealing it is not, allegedly, the Education Secretary going out to bat for young people, but colleagues in “other departments”. We have our work cut out. Nonetheless, those colleagues may be left feeling short-changed. After all, how many 16-to 21-year-olds are starting a Master’s-level apprenticeship? Well, in 2023/24, just 2% of Level 7 starters were under 19s. 33% were aged 19-24, but given these are challenging qualifications (many requiring a Level 6/degree or industry experience), it might be fair to assume that the older of that age bracket are making up the bulk of that third. 65% of Level 7 starters were aged 25+.
ASK and you shall not receive. News came this month that the national Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme will no longer receive DfE funding due to its “success”. Supported by the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) and Amazing Apprenticeships, and delivered by contractors in the North, Midlands, London and the South, the ASK programme “has played an important role in promoting apprenticeships and other technical education routes over the last nine academic years”, noted the Children’s Minister in a recent written answer. The latest CEC Future Skills Questionnaire shows that in 2023/24, students were over twice as likely to report awareness of apprenticeships between year 7 and year 11 (from 38% to 80%, almost on a par with A levels).
But to assume that means ‘job done’ is lazy thinking. Our recent research into T Levels and Degree Apprenticeships demonstrates that awareness does not necessarily translate into understanding.
Misalignment of expectations around what a course entails and potential destinations also affects students’ enjoyment of a course, their willingness to stay and complete. Over the years, we’ve seen the DfE fund plenty of shiny new initiatives and marketing campaigns around FE and skills, with similar (or greater) budgets to the £3m ASK programme. In the absence of any clear plan as to why or how the volunteer apprenticeship and T Level ambassador networks could do this previously-funded work out of the goodness of their hearts, with the same degree of “success”, wouldn’t it be better to keep plugging away at what is working?