She has hundreds of millions of social media followers. She has a host of products tied to her name, from cosmetics to emojis, and an estimated personal wealth of more than $370 million.

Kim Kardashian West may have failed in her mission to “break the internet” with an infamous magazine cover back in 2014, but since then she has become one of the most influential celebrities in the world.

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Kim Kardashian West: We should applaud her for embarking on an apprenticeship

And she has now another accolade to her name, after being named one of the Tes People of the Year for 2019. On the face of it, it may be surprising to see a social media star among the respected educationalists on the list. But the media personality, model, businesswoman, socialite and actress is here on merit, as an unlikely figurehead for a key plank of education: apprenticeships.

In April, at the age of 38, Kardashian West announced the news she had been keeping secret for almost a year in a cover interview for Vogue magazine: she had resumed her education by undertaking a four-year apprenticeship with a law firm based in San Francisco.

The apprenticeship programme may have grown in profile in England in recent times ­­- in no small part down to the ill-fated government target of creating 3 million apprentices in five years - but they are far less visible on the other side of the Atlantic. The work-based route to becoming a lawyer is available in only four US states, and allows apprentices to take their bar exams without attending law school. Kardashian West is already one year into her training and hopes to take the bar in 2022.

It would be easy to dismiss the move as a PR stunt. But, as part of her work with criminal justice reform organisation #cut50, Kardashian West has visited prisons and petitioned governors. “I just felt like the system could be so different,” she explained, “and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more”.

She is acting as a torchbearer for lifelong learning, for career changers, for high school graduates without a degree making the difficult decision to return to education.

For that, and for raising the profile of the apprenticeship brand across the world, Kardashian West deserves our respect.