When Philip Hammond announced the provision of £695 million for the development of technical, skills-based education, predictably there was a warm reception from the obvious main players such as the skills minister Anne Milton and Association of Employment and Learner Providers chief Mark Dawe. 

The chancellor repeated the government’s intention to provide 3 million new apprenticeships by 2020, which he later repeated as “high-quality apprenticeships”. This was reiterated by Ms Milton only today.

Sadly the current national picture of apprenticeships is nowhere near as rosy. 

There have been definite shortfalls in starts and a number of apprentices have dropped out. Clearly, some work needs to be done to find out why some of those undergoing the experience are less enthusiastic than politicians and providers.

What does ‘good’ look like?

More essential is some kind of model of what a good apprenticeship process looks like, with evidence of successful implementation and a clear picture of the benefits for the business. Normally we would be looking towards larger companies with global credentials for exemplary practice. After all, they have the resources. 

But as the government has been keen to incorporate businesses of all sizes and types it might be more enlightening to see how a smaller operation with a unique profile has been running its scheme for nearly two years - long enough to reap the rewards.

For over nearly 25 years my “transport provider”, Hovertravel has conveyed me along with about 850,000 passengers a year across the Solent to my school. Its hovercrafts serve many user groups, from commuters to tourists to hospital out patients. 

What has always been engaging about the company is its focus on the people it serves and the people it employs. The two go hand-in-hand.

Benefits for other employees 

I got to know about the company’s ambitious apprenticeship scheme at a point before 2017 when Neil Chapman, the managing director, announced to the Hovercraft users’ group this new way of developing people.

So when I expressed interest in seeing how the scheme had developed over the nearly two years it had been in operation, I was invited to meet with Scott Henwood.

As one of the duty managers he has responsibility for the two terminals and oversees the teams on shift. 

He outlined the apprenticeship structure, the expectations and the support as well as the benefits to the young people involved, their possible career pathways and the ways in which the business has managed to set up developmental opportunities not just for the apprentices but for employees working at other levels.

10 tips for other businesses

It’s a model that other organisations would do well to follow. The 10 key features are:

1. A long-term recruitment and retention mechanism. The company is not looking for cheap quick-fix temporary appointments to fill the gaps at the bottom of the hierarchy. Currently, 10 per cent of the staff is apprentices.
2. Flexibility in terms of starts and finishes. There are six apprentices at any given point in time. They can be taken on as soon as a vacancy arises and complete their course after 12 months. There are no fixed points in the year.
3. An expectation of a full-time job at the end of the training. The company intends to be able to offer a job at the end of the training, sometimes sooner. The enormous benefit to the company is that it not only cuts recruitment costs but that managers know the new post-holder has been trained to meet the specific challenges of the operating environment.
4. Commitment from all levels of the organisation to make the apprenticeships work. This covers more than just the point at which the contract is set up between the employer, apprentice and educational provider, in this case, Highbury College in Portsmouth. Even if an apprentice is offered a full-time job before the end of the year, the company makes it a condition of employment that the qualification is completed. This ensures that the employee benefits fully from the training and shows that the content and skills in the programme are necessary and valued.
5. Careful distribution of apprentices within the operations to ensure proper supervision and support. Each apprentice is assigned a mentor. Only one apprentice is deployed within one team per shift, working alongside more experienced personnel. The apprentice’s progress is overseen by the team leader who will be directly responsible for validating the learning recorded on the job.
6. Promoting study at the beginning and end of shifts to help apprentices divide up their study time and meet deadlines. 16- or 17-year-olds apprentices have been accustomed to the discipline of schoolwork. Some could struggle with covering the content via distance learning and meeting deadlines in a working environment. Therefore the company is promoting a new pattern for apprentices. The added benefit is that there is a half hour overlap between shifts to allow an apprentice from the previous shift to confer with a colleague just about to start a new shift. Both can use the IT facilities on site so are not wholly dependent on their own resources. 
7. Access to a variety of career paths. Originally the apprenticeship scheme was intended to cover customer service and administration. However, the company has seen some interesting twists in the career paths of some of its apprentices. One apprentice has recently moved over to the engineering section straight immediately after completion, leaving a vacancy for a new recruit. All apprentices spend time in different departments. It is expected that each will find a niche in the business. Some when they reach 18 will work as crew members - with all the appropriate first aid, fire-fighting and life-saving training.
8. Opportunities for apprentices to be more independent and develop communication skills. One quoted success is of an apprentice running a series of excursions to the Hovercraft Museum.
9. A continuing pathway with experience in other organisations to prevent insularity. Recent initiatives have included sending staff as well as apprentices to Gatwick Airport on a Virgin Airlines “Work with Us” day and to Sky Break (Gatwick Airport’s customer service desk as well as to hovercraft designers and manufacturers, Griffon Hoverwork).
10. Benefits for other staff. The growth of the partnership with the college has led to courses led by college teachers being given at the Ryde terminal during shifts. Cover is arranged to allow Hovertravel staff to update their skills.

‘Spreading a learning culture across the business’

Most companies take on apprentices within schemes which may or may not result in long-term employment. Some take advantage of the scheme to fill temporary gaps cheaply. 

Other businesses are deciding simply “to absorb the levy as an added cost to their business”. 

Such approaches seem short-sighted and short-termist. 

What makes the Hovertravel approach so outstanding is that apprenticeships are integral to the staffing structure and spreading a learning culture across the business. 

Yvonne Williams is a head of English and drama in the south of England