Everyone likes a bargain. Like many people, I enjoy a foray into one of the many pound shops on the high street, usually coming out with an odd assortment of cheap and cheerful basics. But I certainly wouldn’t want to rely on this for all my weekly shopping.

The government is in danger of doing just that for its flagship apprenticeship strategy. Having set up a review under Doug Richards which emphasised the importance of raising the quality of apprenticeships, they set themselves a target (3 million new apprenticeships) based on achieving quantity at any cost. Having listened to the wise advice of those like Baroness Wolf who saw a new levy on employers as the best way of funding quality apprenticeships, they ignored her other advice, which was to fund the training element separately by investing in high quality vocational training institutes. Instead, employers are going to have to shop around for training providers on an apprenticeship high street dominated by low-cost operators.

So the growth of apprenticeship training of high quality - a key plank of the government’s productivity strategy - is being left to a marketplace rigged for high quantity.

Volume before quality

A better alternative strategy would start with setting a target for quality apprenticeship growth - for advanced and higher apprenticeships in key areas of the UK’s economy. This should be supplemented with a real incentive for schools to promote apprenticeships as a quality pathway after GCSEs, perhaps through some form of funding bonus for the numbers of pupils successfully progressing on to an apprenticeship at 16.

Crucially, the role of private providers - particularly for-profit companies - in delivering apprenticeships should be radically curtailed. This is not for any ideological reasons, but simply because companies driven primarily by profit motives will almost always prioritise low-cost, easy-to-deliver training, which will deliver volume, but not high quality. This is evident from recent figures which show that nearly 80 per cent of private providers’ apprenticeships are in the retail, healthcare and business sectors, nearly 60 per cent are below level 3 (advanced) and over 40 per cent are for employees over 25 years old - many of whom are probably already in work.

The fact that 75 per cent of apprenticeships are now delivered by private providers may be good news if you want high volumes of apprenticeships delivered cheaply, but is certainly not a sound platform for delivering quality apprenticeships in industries looking for high-level technical skills.

To do that, you need sustained funding and investment in the further education colleges that have always been at the heart of the UK’s technical education system. FE colleges have the stable infrastructure and expertise to work with companies of all sizes - including the crucial small- and medium-sized employer (SME) sector - to develop training pathways tailored to their apprenticeship needs. Working with universities, colleges will be able to ensure that apprenticeships offer a genuine alternative route to degree-level professional training. Public funding should only be channelled to for-profit companies through sub-contract arrangements with colleges, which are publicly accountable and not driven by short-term gain.

It’s not sexy, but it works - as the owners of small companies in sectors such as manufacturing, IT and construction, will testify. It’s the system that’s worked for decades to power Germany’s successful economy. If consistently implemented, it will begin to change the productivity equations that are damaging this country’s competitiveness.

While maybe less romantic, this must surely be better than a strategy which risks putting all our apprenticeships into a bargain basement.

FE SPECIAL OFFER: click here to try out a TES Further Education subscription for just £1 for four weeks.

Want to keep up with the latest education news and opinion? Follow TES FE News on Twitter, like us on Facebook and follow us on LinkedIn