From Animal Care to Teaching and everything in between, apprenticeships are available for all industries and seem to be gaining a resurgence in popularity from their origins.
The first national apprenticeship system dates to 1563 and took seven years to complete. In the early 1900’s interest in the scheme waned as factories took advantage of the young apprentices, so apprenticeships moved to new areas of industry such as plumbing, electrics and ship building work.
If you look back in history, there was no real evidence to suggest that a person serving a 7-year apprenticeship would achieve a higher level of skill than those who chose to study a qualification for a shorter term of just a few months, as there was no formal training standards to be met, which led to employers not fulfilling their duties thus leading to a sharp decline in uptake.
Move forward to the 1990’s and a new reformed approach was taken called the “Modern Apprenticeship”, whereby employers would pay a wage, follow government set guidelines and the apprentice would work toward obtaining a recognised qualification. This new system had a positive effect on the apprenticeship scheme and led to an increase in uptake once more.
Today, we have a vast number of industries that require qualified works people to exist, some of which can be very specialised in niche sectors, and therefore not easy to fill, so this combined with the high cost of further education and living costs, we are seeing a rise of the apprenticeship once more.
There are many benefits to apprenticeships, for both the employer and apprentice.
Apprentices can expect to gain experience in the workplace, meet real life clients, and experience the social aspects of the working environment, all whilst earning a wage and gaining a qualification.
For employers, taking on an apprentice can be a great way to find employees that will learn the business from scratch and want to grow with your company, as they gain a personal connection with their work. It can also remove the need to employ untrained staff or take expensive gambles on the unknown.
If you are thinking of taking up an apprenticeship, we highly recommend this process and recommend you visit https://www.gov.uk/become-apprentice to find out more.
If you are an employer thinking of taking on an apprentice, there are lots of schemes and advice services out there to help you with the process.
Have you completed and apprenticeship recently? Maybe you are currently in an apprenticeship or are looking to take on an apprentice?
We would love to hear your personal experiences and pass on any helpful knowledge you can share.
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