Guardian Careers Talk on Apprenticeships
During the Apprenticeships week, our very own Chief Executive Sa’ad Medhat has been engaged in lively discussion as part of a panel of experts in a live Q&A on the Guardian’s Careers website.
The panel, which brought together representatives from organisations such as the National Skills Academies, City and Guilds and private industry representatives, as well as the apprentices themselves, was debating the merits of Apprenticeship schemes and answering the questions of prospective Apprentices and interested members of the public.
Sa’ad pointed out that “there is a big weakness at the moment in the UK secondary education system in that vocational training is perceived as being of lower status than academic education, and that few teachers really understand where vocational and in particular science, engineering technical practical training can take you.” It would appear that Apprenticeships do not get the recognition that they deserve, and indeed need, in order to become a successful alternative to academic routes at institutions of Higher Education.
We at the NEF are looking to do a lot more to work with Apprenticeship providers through our current
NEF PAID programme, as well as informing policy on Apprenticeships in the future. You can view the discussion on the Guardian Careers site
here.
