Commenting on
Equalising access to
apprenticeships, a new
report from the National Foundation for Educational Research
(NFER), Dr Mary
Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education
Union, said:
"NFER are right to call on the
Government to provide financial incentives for training providers
and employers to encourage them to take on young people without
grade 4 or above in GCSE English and maths (or the equivalent)
and support them to achieve this level.
"The NEU believes that financially
incentivising training providers and employers would go a long
way to helping young people into employment and training. At this
time of spiralling cost of living, the low wages that are
currently offered to young apprentices are simply not enough, and
this needs to be addressed. In some cases, young apprentices
can't afford to travel to the workplace and subsist on the wages
they are paid.
"The NFER are also right to highlight
that the apprenticeship reforms over the last decade have led to
a substantial decline in the number of intermediate and advanced
apprenticeships started, and that the impact of this decline has
particularly affected young people from disadvantaged
communities. Steps need to be taken, as this report highlights,
to encourage young people to take up apprenticeships, by looking
to change both the entry requirements and the
funding."
