Opening the door to apprenticeships is the first of two linked publications. This first report investigates the scale of the issues faced by young people who are disadvantaged and disengaged from apprenticeships in accessing and succeeding in these opportunities.

The second report will look at potential solutions to enable more effective policy and practice responses.

Apprenticeships form one of the four main learning routes for young people aged 14-19, and will play a critical role in achieving 100 per cent participation under the Raising of the Participation Age from 2013. Significant numbers of young people, however, continue to experience barriers to accessing and succeeding in Apprenticeships.

This paper maps the challenges, and proposes key areas for future exploration. This publication forms part of the ongoing work of the Apprenticeship Pathfinder Project, a key strand of which seeks to capture the impact of policies, projects and programmes in ‘opening doors to Apprenticeships’ for young people who are disadvantaged or disengaged from this learning pathway.

The Apprenticeship Pathfinder, funded by the National Apprenticeship Service, is working with three local authorities – Hertfordshire, Manchester and South Tyneside - to support their progress towards Government aspirations for Apprenticeships for 16-18 year olds.

This project is one strand of the Local Wellbeing Project – an innovative exploration of the ways in which local government’s practical understanding of how to increase wellbeing could be accelerated.

We have created a glossary to clarify some of the key terminology used within the ‘Opening Doors to Apprenticeships' publications. Some of these concepts have various and often disputed meanings and this document provides a description of what is meant in this particular context.

Download a copy of the associated glossary.

Download a full pdf version of the report.