Voice of Apprenticeships Conference 2015
The Voice of Apprenticeships Conference was held on March 3rd -4th in London. It was a gathering of some of the most influential voices of the sector including our very own Beth Gardner (Fair Train’s CEO).
Our Fundraising Apprentice Georgina and I attended the first day of the conference where the Apprentice Debate took place. The Apprentice Debate was a platform for apprentices of all different sectors and backgrounds to voice their own opinions on the future apprenticeship programmes and discuss the challenges faced in vocational education. The debate was chaired by Georgina Taylor - a former apprentice of City and Guilds. Taylor opened the debate by speaking about her own experience and the challenges she encountered early on in her apprenticeship. Georgina then introduced the speakers:
Dominic Gill, Microsoft UK (Apprenticeship Lead Microsoft UK.)
Jake McClure , Assistant Director - Talent, Accreditation and Overseas Delivery, Civil Service Learning,
Deborah Astles, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Unipart group.
The panel welcomed the group and started with their own thoughts on the current state of apprenticeship programmes. The three main topics that were up for debate were:
Apprentice pay – Should there be a minimum wage for apprentices?
Post apprenticeship support - Who is responsible for ensuring apprentices get the right support to gain full time employment after completing an apprenticeship?
Apprenticeship reforms – Should the government consult apprentices on the apprenticeship reforms?
To be at such an event was whole new world for me; when the panel opened the questions to the floor microphones were handed to anyone who wanted to have their say. To have such a gathering of young people and apprentices was amazing to see; the different opinions between such a diverse group showed how apprenticeships differ for each individual. When the topic of the apprentice wage arose, the majority of the group were firmly set in their opinion that apprentices deserve at least minimum wage. It was discussed that young people are not only paying bills but rent, utilities or a mobile phone contract, each individual was probably deducting a large part of their salary, as it is often no longer the case that apprentices are still living at their family home. An older apprentice stated firmly that she supports her family on the apprentice wage and finds it extremely difficult without any help from her employer such as travel subsidiary.
We also discussed the benefits of Apprentice Connect - an initiative run by qualified City & Guilds apprentices to give young people the opportunity to meet successful apprentices, and hear their inspirational stories. I believe it’s an innovative way for apprentices to connect as in some cases it can be an isolating experience if you are the lone apprentice in an organisation, I think that apprentice connect has the potential to be a national platform for apprentices to meet and network with others, this would be a great way of sharing success stories and helping other apprentices where they need it.
The debate opened my eyes to a lot of the controversy surrounding apprenticeship programmes and I enjoyed hearing not only similar opinions to my own but the challenging opinions that broke the norm. Once the debate was over all of the attendees were invited to the rest of the conference. Myself and Georgina headed up to the exhibition space to meet with Beth who was catching up with some connections from OCR and City and Guilds. I took this opportunity to find out who was exhibiting and use my networking skills to make some new connections.
Once networking and lunch was over the three of us headed to the main hall and watched the main conference speakers including Catch22’s CEO, Chris Wright, who spoke of the importance of keeping the history of apprentices and the values we have learnt from our past experiences alive in future apprenticeship programmes. The day in its entirety was tiring but was well worth it to be at the heart of something such as the apprentice debate where I felt I could meet other apprentices and talk to them face to face and see how the changes to programmes affect them and what it could mean for future apprentices. It was a delight to be with such likeminded people. I would recommend that any future and current apprentices should try and attend next year’s event.