VETTER E learning course (EN)

Apprenticeship and other forms of work-based learning can be an opportunity for empowering young people and adults, boosting their long-term employability through quality education and training.

There is broad consensus in Europe that apprenticeships and other forms of work-based learning may support the transitions of young people from school to employment and increasingly contribute to upskilling and reskilling of adults.

Within the EU policy framework, Cedefop carries out research and knowledge brokering activities to provide evidence to support policy making at the EU and national levels and to support European cooperation on apprenticeships and work-based learning among Member States.

Political interest in apprenticeships has grown considerably in recent years. Apprenticeship promises to be an effective means of ensuring that formal education and training systems are well aligned with labour market needs. School-to-work transitions are smoother in countries where apprenticeship is well-structured, ensures deep engagement of employers, and is governed by strong cooperation between all education and labour market actors. The great financial crisis of 2007-08 offered further evidence of the capacity of countries where apprenticeships are strong to withstand surging youth unemployment. The crisis provoked a renewed, global focus on the important role that apprenticeships can play as a form of initial vocational education and training (VET) that prepares young people for jobs in real demand.

Because of that crisis, in recent years governments across Europe and the OECD have invested considerable resources in improving apprenticeship provision, introducing and reforming apprenticeships to reach ever more learners, both young people and increasingly adults (Cedefop, 2019). The consistent aim has been to ensure that apprenticeships are attractive to learners, to employers and to society, providing apprentices with skills demanded by employers while contributing to societal and economic wellbeing (OECD, 2018a).

However, while interest in apprenticeship is strong and growing, consensus is still lacking on what an apprenticeship is or should be (Cedefop, 2018). There is broad agreement across Europe and the OECD that apprenticeships are rich in work-based learning and so stand in contrast to school-based vocational education and general education systems. However, while apprenticeships tend to share several common features, such as compulsory working in a place of employment, usually in combination with learning at an education and training provider, with a contractual link tying the learner and the employer, they can be fundamentally different in their strategic function and purpose. This has implications for the way they are defined and situated within national education and training systems.

Where apprenticeships have a clear and established education and training function, they run as an education and training system. The aim is to provide people with full competence and capability to enter an apprenticeable occupation through qualifications that are unique to apprenticeship training, as in journeyman or tradesman qualifications. Where apprenticeships combine the education function with a strong employment function, they are positioned mainly as an alternative mode of learning delivery: apprenticeship provides a qualification like other VET pathways, while the specific aim is to facilitate transition to the labour market (Cedefop, 2018). In this, apprenticeships are often seen as a way of broadening the available educational offer and improving the attractiveness and inclusiveness of upper secondary education to potential learners (OECD, 2018a).

Apprenticeships are also highly heterogeneous on an organisational level. In some countries, on-the-job training and school-based learning alternate within a week; in others two years of VET school are followed by two years in a firm. In some countries, apprenticeship pay comes close to that of a skilled worker; in others it is no more than weekly pocket money. In some cases, apprentices are overwhelmingly teenagers fresh out of secondary school; in others they are much more likely to be older and come to apprenticeship after years of work experience. Apprenticeships can be narrowly focused in a small number of occupational areas, such as the traditional trades, or be found in offices and the service sector. Apprenticeships are commonly delivered at ISCED 3, but in an increasing number of countries they span ISCED 2 to 6.

Apprenticeships reflect the societies, economies and education systems in which they are located. Differences between apprenticeships make direct comparisons difficult, but not impossible, and in such variation lies opportunity for peer learning, empirical analysis and innovation. Scope emerges for researchers to observe how particular apprenticeship systems are responding to universal phenomena widely termed the megatrends of the 21st century.

Governments have invested so strongly in apprenticeship over recent years because it represents an attractive means of helping young people to enter working life with confidence in securing skills in long-term demand. For governments, such economic resilience is highly attractive, as is the capacity of apprenticeship to reduce full costs to taxpayers in delivering upper secondary qualifications. Where well delivered, apprenticeship creates a platform of knowledge and skills that prepares learners for lifelong careers (OECD, 2010; OECD, 2018a). It will be a matter of concern for governments, therefore, that essential employer engagement in apprenticeships is at risk.

VET systems need to become more responsive to changing patterns of employer demand. Responsiveness drives changes in who is taught VET, what they are taught and how they are taught. The logic of the change being witnessed suggests the need for more rapid updating of curricula, a stronger emphasis on the workplace as a site of learning, and growing flexibility in provision with more targeted qualifications and more personalised learning. To avoid missteps, such responsiveness calls for ever stronger relationships between the stakeholders related to VET provision. All those who have an interest in the successful delivery of VET need to be engaged in ensuring its effective design and operation. In the Covid-19 recession, where confidence among all stakeholders is fragile and labour market demand becomes still more turbulent, the need for collaboration to underpin the responsiveness and attractiveness of apprenticeships is an urgent priority.