http://www.ifw-net.com/freightpubs/ifw/index/more-uk-apprenticeships-in-the-pipeline/20017956435.htm

More UK apprenticeships in the pipeline

David Badger | Fri, 27 Apr 2012

Government will provide more opportunities for youngsters in logistics and other sectors

Prime Minister David Cameron this week revealed that the UK government plans to create more apprenticeships and make vocational training easier to access and more rigorous.

Speaking during a visit to logistics driver training provider System Training in Carlisle, Cameron set out four challenges:

“First, we’ve neglected basic skills. Things like English and maths – and yet they are the most valuable vocational skills of all.

“Second, we’ve treated practical skills as a soft subject. We haven’t insisted on rigour and high standards.

“Third, there was a suspicion of business and a sense that employers shouldn’t be allowed too close to courses. And fourth, while we created a clear glide path into university for academic study we have left the route to vocational learning confusing and incomplete.”

Government-licensed agency Skills for Logistics (SfL) said it was appropriate that the prime minister chose a training provider in the logistics sector to make his speech on apprenticeships.

It said more than 25,000 individuals had successfully graduated with Skills for Logistics apprenticeships, “bringing their employers the efficiency benefits of employees with up-to-date and relevant skills”.

CEO Mick Jackson, said: “SfL can point unequivocally to the high quality and success of its logistics job and employer-focused apprenticeship schemes, created in close partnership with employers and built around the high demand for the right kind of skills.”

SfL has two levels of apprenticeship available: the Intermediate Apprenticeship, which is equivalent to 5 GCSE passes; and the Advanced Apprenticeship, which corresponds to 2 A-level passes.

SfL is working with the National Apprenticeship Service to develop more higher-level apprenticeships to give employers the flexibility to offer an alternative route to school-leavers.

Jackson added: “High-quality apprenticeship frameworks, such as those offered by Skills for Logistics, are a valuable alternative opportunity for vocational training for many young people, particularly those put off university by high tuition fees.”

Paul Champion
Strategic Project Manager

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