In her column for the Caerphilly Observer, businesswoman and Welsh ICE director Mandy Weston considers the importance of apprenticeships.
As Apprenticeship Week 2013 came to an end last week, it was encouraging to see so much being done locally to promote apprenticeships as a positive career pathway for people in Caerphilly county.
Last week I attended an event at the Associated Community Training (ACT) offices in partnership with Barclays where a scheme to introduce 1000 apprenticeships by 2015 was launched.
Caerphilly Council also offers the ‘Caerphilly Passport Programme’ – a journey for individuals through the various tiers of development, ranging from unpaid placements to paid employees at a graduate level in specialist areas such as social work, environmental health, ecology or waste management.
Yet the focus on this year’s campaign has been very much on the fact many businesses still don’t offer apprenticeships, even though learners are increasingly realising their potential not only in pursuing practical industries like construction, but also to qualify as lawyers, accountants and surveyors.
Visitors at the ACT event heard less than 20% of companies in Wales use apprenticeship schemes, however, even though Wales has the highest performing apprentices in the UK.
Considering the benefits to both business and employee, this is surprising. Not only do they focus on all areas of industry, they are also open to older ages, different backgrounds and various levels of experience after Welsh Government amended the criteria too.
Not everyone is cut out for further education and at ICE alone we have introduced various initiatives supporting young apprentices to help, through the NVQ scheme and Jobs Growth Wales.
I would therefore urge others locally to seriously consider the benefit apprentices can bring to your business – and what that might do for all us in terms of a stable future economy for Caerphilly County and beyond.