Apprentices: How to Boost Support With Quality Mentoring
David Shindler
Writer. Mainly. Coach. Often. Volunteer. Sometimes. Learning to Leap. Always.
I was once an apprentice cameraman for a small film company immediately after leaving full-time education. My manager was an experienced cameraman and my learning was mainly through observing him, asking questions, and his supervision. The professional and personal development was haphazard. He was task-focused and not open to discussing emotional issues. I lacked an outlet for my anxieties about the work and the role. Looking back, mentoring from someone else in the company would have helped me settle in and grow. Fortunately, I received the benefits of mentoring later on in my career.
Things came to a head when my boss went on leave and left me in charge. My inexperience was soon exposed when I made a costly client mistake. I still remember with a shudder the owner of the business intervening to rescue me while angrily barking "why have a dog when you can bark yourself!" He let me go a month later.
Apprenticeships today
Today, the picture is hugely different as Government and business get serious about professionalising the vocational landscape. Employers are heavily involved in establishing standards for a wide range of formal apprenticeships. The Government is committed to reaching a target of 3 million apprenticeships by 2020. Employers with a wage bill of more than ￡3 million contribute 0.5% to a Levy. Employers can then use this fund to spend on apprenticeship training (with a 10% Government top-up in England). Non-Levy payers with smaller wage bills get a helping hand from Government, although they still contribute 10% towards costs for those 19+. The government will pay all the costs for new apprentices aged 16 to 18 for smaller companies with under 50 employees.
This radical move to greater vocational opportunities is complex and evolving. Policy and practice remain uneasy bedfellows. Different employers of all sizes are at differing stages of transition to this new world. Awareness varies as to the existence of the Levy, what is possible and what is working. Commitment to investing in apprenticeships varies because of questions about the quality of provision and objections to the way the Levy scheme is being implemented. In the Leeds City Region, where I'm based, only 20% of 120,000 businesses (of which 1800 are Levy-paying) currently offer apprenticeships.
Another raging debate is about the type and level of apprenticeships that are needed to close the skills gap. In Leeds, higher-level skills have been imported to date and the Brexit implications remain unclear. In 2018, 400 Degree Apprenticeships will be on offer. Yet, others argue that Level 2 apprenticeships are critical for building progression on solid ground and for social mobility.
The missing gap
Given all the above, it benefits all those involved in making apprenticeships a success to work collaboratively, learning and sharing good practices as they go along. This is paramount if apprentices are to complete their apprenticeships and make the transition to being fully-fledged employees. The same applies to employees who support them. Attraction, retention, and engagement are critical success factors for making apprenticeships work.
However, research by the Mentoring School reveals that nearly half of apprentices (46%) feel they do not receive enough support from their employers and 84% feel employers would benefit from more training on supporting apprentices. Almost 1 in 2 employees do not feel confident in supporting apprentices. Overwhelmingly, people at all levels in the organisations surveyed support the need for training.
In response to this missing gap, the Mentoring School developed the National Apprentice Mentoring Qualification to train work-based mentors how to understand the psychology and theory underpinning the structure, engagement and pastoral support that apprentices often need.
Developing Mentors
Making apprenticeships work within an organisation has cultural change implications. Many employees not involved with apprentices may have outdated perceptions or little idea what they entail or be unclear about an employer's responsibilities. Mentors have an opportunity to engage with others internally to build awareness of what a modern apprenticeship means and how colleagues can support them. They can act as champions. Equipping employees with the professional skills to mentor apprentices sends a message that their employer is serious about investing in people.
What difference would you expect to see resulting from professional mentoring training for the various stakeholders involved in delivering apprenticeships?
- The employer recognises the importance of having a trained mentor and shows commitment to a professional standard. They appoint mentors for the apprentice who are not their managers.
- The training provider’s on-programme staff can identify how their pastoral mentoring is different from their course-focused mentoring. They are able to identify ways that they are developing the apprentice’s employability and life skills to prepare them for the expectations after their training ends.
- The work-based mentor can speak about the impact of their training on the way they support their apprentices. They recognise how the mentor’s role is separate from a manager’s. They can speak about ways they support the employability and life skills of the mentor, not just support their work.
- The apprentice recognises who their mentor is, can talk about their regular timetabled meetings and what they gain from them. They can tell you what the boundaries are for their mentoring relationship.
Other issues include whether young people are attracted to apprenticeships, whether the current minimum apprenticeship wage is sufficient while they work and study, exploitation by some employers (135,000 underpaid according to TUC research), and generational fairness.
Millennials often get a bad press for perceived inadequacies compared with previous generations. I don't subscribe to that view. I have seen from my clients and working with Youth Employment UK how the power of believing in young people can release their enormous potential. Mentoring is a powerful approach to supporting apprentices.
In an era of increasing automation investing in people development is both a business imperative and the right thing to do. Apprentices deserve quality mentoring and the employees who mentor them need investment in their professional skills and confidence to help them succeed.
Learning to Leap is an Approved Training Partner of the Mentoring School. If you are interested in developing your employees to be brilliant mentors for apprentices (with or without Levy funding), please get in touch by connecting on LinkedIn or emailing [email protected].
If you liked this post, please share it and click the FOLLOW button above to get more!
David (@David_Shindler) is an independent career coach, author, blogger, speaker, and associate with several consultancies. He is the author of Learning to Leap: a guide to being more employable, and co-author with Mark Babbitt of 21st Century Internships (250,000 downloads worldwide). His commitment and energy are in promoting lifelong personal and professional development and in tackling youth unemployment. He works with young people and professionals in education and business.
Visit the Learning to Leap blog to read more of his work and check out his other published articles on LinkedIn:
How to Face the Robots in the Infinite Career Game
Why Lack of Trust is at the Heart of Graduate Frustration
Are Career Opportunities the New Career Paradigm?
Setting and Reaching Goals: What Works for You?
Character: Be the Hero of Your Story
How to Be a Vulcan in a VUCA World
Early Career Dilemma: How to Manage Expectations
Let's Ditch the 'What do you want to do?' Career Advice
Father's Day: Learning From The Pleasure And The Pain
Employability: Do You Know How To Dance In The Digital Age?
New Career Opportunities In The Sharing And Gig Economies
New Graduate Hires: Why Managing Up Is Important
Work Readiness: Are You Lost in Translation?
Job Seekers: Test And Learn To Be A Game Changer
Career Adventures: Take A Walk On The Wild Side
Accountability, Productivity, And Saving Lives
Being Human In The Artificial Age
The Unwritten Rules Of Graduate Employment
Healthy Job And Career Transitions
Solutions For Closing The Gap From Classroom To Career
The Multiplier Opportunity In The Generation Game
Culture: The Quantified Self And The Qualitative Self
Purposeful Leadership To Create The Life Of Meaning
The Uber Effect: Opportunities For Job Seekers And Employers
Hierarchies are tumbling as Social soars
The Emergence of the Holistic Student
New Graduates: Following Is A Rehearsal For Leading
How Redefining Success Helps You Succeed
Why Developing Yourself Is A Matter Of Life And Death
Generation Now: The Imperative Of Intercultural Skills
#If I Were 22: Choose Insight Before Hindsight
How To Align Talent, Careers, and Performance
Writer. Mainly. Coach. Often. Volunteer. Sometimes. Learning to Leap. Always.
7 年What was there view, Michael? Got a link to the post?
President at P3 Cost Analysts
7 年I was just reading about mentoring the other day on LinkedIn, though they had the opposite opinion! Great to get both sides.