The Apprenticeship Pathfinder Project

The Apprenticeship Pathfinder is funded by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and works with three local authorities in Manchester, South Tyneside and Hertfordshire. The overall aim of the Pathfinder Project has been to map and collate an empirical evidence base of the processes and relationships that will be required by local authorities, the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), and others, including schools, Connexions, careers services and employers in implementing and achieving the government's aspirations for Apprenticeships, that:

• Apprenticeships become a mainstream learning route for young people aged 14-19
• young people meeting the specified entry standards will be entitled to an   Apprenticeship place by 2013
• one in five young people are engaged in Apprenticeships within the next decade

What have we done so far?

An initial scoping exercise was conducted to provide a snapshot of the way apprentices and Apprenticeships are perceived by employers, parents and young people in the three Pathfinder authorities.

A DVD was produced featuring apprentices in two of the three Pathfinder areas talking about their experiences. This film was used as part of the official launch of the project in June 2009:

Two expert seminars were held, in April 2009 and March 2010 on the subject of ‘opening doors to Apprenticeships' for disadvantaged and disengaged young people.

The first seminar explored the barriers that can prevent young people from accessing the Apprenticeship pathway. The subsequent paper built upon the issues discussed and set out the scale of the challenge in ‘Opening doors to Apprenticeships' for young people who are disadvantaged or disengaged.

The second seminar reflected on ways forward for both policy and practice. A second paper has been published which reports on the discussions at the second expert seminar, focusing on progressing the agenda in understanding disadvantage and disengagement from Apprenticeships, raising awareness, effective pre-Apprenticeship routes, and employer engagement.

All three Pathfinder authorities have produced action plans which detail how they intend to achieve the ‘one in five' target ahead of the statutory timetable. Each authority now convenes a steering group to take the actions forward across the local authority both as commissioner of Apprenticeships and as employer.

Future?

Since the inception of the project there have been many changes in the external policy climate around Apprenticeships. Most notably NAS began operating in April 2009. The future of the project will see a refocus of the work for the Young Foundation to the creation of a web based resource. Learning from the Pathfinder Project will be synthesise to create a resource for all local authorities to access and reflect upon, when working towards their statutory goal of one in five young people in an Apprenticeship by 2020.

Find out more

To find out more about this project please get in touch with Marcia Brophy, Wellbeing and Resilience Programme leader, on marcia.brophy@youngfoundation.org or call 020 8980 6263.