The government and businesses must work hand-in-hand to encourage learners from disadvantaged backgrounds into apprenticeships – and ensure that once those learners are in training, they are given equal opportunity to level up, the co-chair of the Social Mobility Commission has said. 

Speaking exclusively to Tes ahead of the commission’s report on the detrimental impact that the apprenticeship levy has had on those from disadvantaged backgrounds, Steven Cooper said that the findings from the report should be a "key tool within the government’s armoury" when it comes to apprenticeship policy in the post-coronavirus landscape. 

He said: “This report was important before Covid-19 and it’s even more important now. Encouraging firms to recruit young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and giving them a skill, giving them a purpose, making them feel as if they are learning and developing, which they do if they are in a proper apprenticeship system, that’s good for the economy, that’s good for people’s wellbeing. 

“I think this is a key tool within the government’s armoury, it’s been proven to work, it’s not being properly targeted. The key statistic for me is that it’s proven that apprenticeships can promote social mobility, but only if it is targeted at disadvantaged learners, and at the moment it’s not targeted at all. It's certainly not targeted where it can have the biggest impact.”

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The negative impact of the apprenticeship levy

The report, published today and entitled Apprenticeships and Social Mobility – Fulfilling Potential, says that learners from disadvantaged backgrounds are being left behind by the apprenticeship system, with participation rates dropping by more than a third since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy. 

The report also reveals that most of the benefits of apprenticeships only manifest for more privileged learners - despite the fact that apprenticeships are viewed as one of the most effective means of boosting social mobility. 

The report shows a 36 per cent decline in apprenticeship starts by people from disadvantaged backgrounds, compared with 23 per cent for others. It also shows that the quality of training is not equal – even within the same industry and at the same level. Disadvantaged apprentices, the report says, planned to receive between 1.5 and 3 months less training in 2017-18 than their peers in three industries: construction, engineering and ICT.

Mr Cooper told Tes that targets should be set – and that there were a number of options that the government could implement to reach those targets. 

He said that a certain number of apprenticeships could be ring-fenced for disadvantaged learners, the rules around qualifications on entry could be changed, or the levy itself could be changed to incentivise employers to find apprenticeships from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Recruiting apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds

Mr Cooper added that speaking to employers was key. He said: “As an employer myself, I know it’s not always easy to find potential apprentices from more disadvantaged backgrounds. Are there charities or organisations out there that could help? There are many out there, but how many people know about them? They could then be connected to more scale or SME employers.”

He added that much more needed to done around the Baker clause and that now more than ever, all students needed to know what their options were on leaving school. 

He said: “The more schools can encourage apprenticeships and technical learning, the more people can encourage learning beyond school, the more that can be targeted to disadvantaged communities, the more than can be done to give those people a better wage in relation to apprenticeships, the more that can be done to give additional support around the pastoral care. It might be better transport links, bus services for some communities, particularly in the North East or West – all of those things combined but it has to be a coordinated, targeted approach.”

Supporting learners on to higher-level apprenticeships

The research also shows that just 13 per cent of degree-level apprenticeships go to disadvantaged learners, and that when disadvantaged learners do gain an apprenticeship, they tend to be clustered around lower-level schemes. 

Mr Cooper said that supporting disadvantaged learners through the apprenticeship levels once they were in the system was crucial. Supporting apprenticeships with foundation maths and English skills, he said, could play a crucial part in this. 

He said: “Everyone learns at different speeds and if you are from a disadvantaged community or background, it may well take you longer to get to that level. It doesn’t mean you are less bright, it just means that you have other stuff going on in your life, or the journey to work may be difficult or you may need some more pastoral care and support and encouragement.

“Focusing on that is key, but finding a more blended way or thoughtful way of helping all apprentices to get to those levels in maths and English which will be at different times, I think, would be key.” 

The importance of mentoring

Mr Cooper said that mentoring was key to support disadvantaged apprentices through different levels – and crucial to prevent early drop-outs. 

The data showed that  63 per cent of disadvantaged men starting an intermediate apprenticeship between 2013-14 and 2014-15 achieved the qualification within three years of the start of training, compared with 67 per cent of non-disadvantaged men.

Mr Cooper said: “I’d love to see more disadvantaged apprentices go on to higher-level apprenticeships. We know that when they do, they get a disproportionately good boost to their earnings – we want to see much more than at. Getting those apprentices through to the higher level is what is falling down at the moment. Putting measures and incentives in place to help work that through is a good thing.

“Disadvantaged learners may not have role models around them. They may have difficult learning environments at home or a lack of a device or technology or access to data to help them learn. In my experience, it’s rarely a lack of IQ, it’s more a lack of confidence and a lack of know-how and the more support you can put around them to provide that confidence, to provide that know-how, listen to the challenges they are facing and offer guidance and help, and often that support, looking like they do, having gone through it themselves, that’s really powerful.”

Gillian Keegan, minister for apprenticeships and skills, told Tes  that she wanted every learner in the country to leave school with the opportunity to a do a high-quality apprenticeship.

She said: “It is the whole reason I am a politician. I am that story, I am that journey. Apprenticeships need more promotion. They are the best-kept secret. I think it needs more consistent business-college engagement across the country.”

She stressed there were some colleges with successful relationships with hundreds of employers.

She said: “You will find another college, perhaps where there is more deprivation and less diversity in terms of businesses, and they will probably struggle to replicate that.”

“So the first thing is to make sure that everyone knows how brilliant apprenticeships are – that is schools, the parents and everybody else involved in that journey, and it is also making sure that business engagement element is consistently good in all places. And apprenticeships have to be high quality.”