Social immobility grows
Gary Laybourne
Charity CEO and Co-Founder of Coach Core / Dad / Coach / Athlete / Trustee!
Like many of my peers, there is a growing concern that apprenticeships are now moving further and further away from the people that need them most. New Government figures show that spending on degree level apprenticeships have moving from ￡44m in 2017/18 to ￡506m in 2021/22. This is great news to see such uptake in apprenticeships... but it has come at a cost to the level 2 and level 3 apprenticeships underneath them. Due to eye watering costs of many degree level courses, particularly those at level 6 and 7, we are seeing more entry level apprenticeships being cut and this is reflected in level 2 starts dropping by 53% in the same 5 year period.
There is growing evidence that employers are simply using the levy to train existing, older staff and the funding this requires then squeezes what is left to in the apprenticeship funding pot for others, namely young people starting out on their career pathways. Long seen as the solution to support those from low socio-economic backgrounds back into education and employment, like University, the opportunity to now access an apprentceship grows even harder. The Sutton Trust recently published findings that showed fewer degree apprentices were eligible for free school meals. This is another indicator that this route is slowly growing harder and harder for disadvantage young people to access as more and more of their better off peers are squeezed out of the escalating University costs and/or are already in employment and being training and upskilled by employers looking to spend their levy on a more 'sure bet'.
This simply can't be allowed to happen.
Many employers claim that they want to promote diversity and bring new talent into their organisations, and yet they do not create a recruitment and retention strategy that reflects this. To bring in new ideas requires a new approach.
At Coach Core we have shown time and again, with the 800+ apprentices we have supported, that rough gems take time but they shine incredibly bright when you take the time to polish them.
We work largely with SME's, many of whom said to us that they had to revert to traditional recruitment solutions as they recovered from the pandemic. We of course understand this but in many instances, I think it is still a lack of full understanding of:
a) what level 2 and level 3 apprenticeships can do for the organisation short and long term
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b) how employers can benefit financially from adopting this way of recruiting
c) just how impactful young people from very different walks of life can be to your thinking and approaches as an organisation.
Coach Core will continue to champion these truths and we just hope that a change of thinking at government level will take place to recognise that this talent pool is slowly being drained by the system as it is right now.
Gary Laybourne
CEO - Coach Core Foundation
@GaryLaybourne
Eternal Optimist and CEO at Bath Rugby Foundation
1 年This is a sobering read Gary. It feels like at every level children and young people from LSE backgrounds are being discriminated against and ending up in the benefits system or even worse. Charities like ours are trying to stop young people falling into the river but sadly the damage is being done upstream.
Strategic advisor at Sajeimpact. Former MP for Loughborough. Chair - Leics Business and Skills Partnership Business Board - Dir. Sports Think Tank. Chair - Sport for Development Coalition. Chair - Active Together
1 年Good post and an important issue to raise. Happy to Help raise elsewhere…
Lords Taverners - CEO
1 年Great piece Gary, keep banging this drum!! Here at Lord's Taverners we are looking forward to working with you and the team soon to explore how we get more of our own older participants onto L1 & L2 apprenticeships, so we can grow our workforce as demand for our Community Cricket programmes grow. It also helps us to acehive our own objectives to empower young people to overcome the barriers that inequality throws up. By creating pathways into employment young people become the product of the programme. Moreover, we are particularly excited about creating more of these pathways for our incredible participants who live with a disability. Being role models with lived experience for the next generation of young people coming through our programmes is so important. So, Yes! We are ready to see the huge, huge benefits of this pathway into employment and into a career in community sports coaching… what a great way to create a self sustaining workforce model and provide fantastic exciting learning and personal & professional journeys for young people who face barriers of becoming employed and living independently! ????