Engineering news
Engineering apprenticeships are the most valued across all sectors, but more government funding is needed, according to research from job site CV library, which has released its research to mark National Apprenticeship Week.
The survey of 2,000 UK employees uncovered attitudes toward apprentices in the workplace and finds that engineering apprenticeships are the most valued across all sectors, but industry professionals admit that a lack of government support is a key issue.
The findings reveal that over half (53.6%) of engineering professionals have completed an apprenticeship, compared to just 21.8% nationwide, making the sector the most popular among apprentices. They also found that 92.3% believe the training helped establish their career, and a further 73.1% still work in the industry, making engineering schemes the most valued across all sector. The survey also found that an overwhelming 93.8% believe apprentices are the key to filling the sector’s skills gap. Yet, 93.8% of sector workers don’t think the government is doing enough to fund or support apprenticeships.
From the results, only 1.9% of those that completed an apprenticeship advised that government information made them aware of sector schemes, the rest found apprentice opportunities through individual research or family recommendations. This suggests that despite apprentices having the potential to fill the sector’s skills gap, engineers are left in the dark about apprenticeships due to a lack of awareness initiatives from the government.
Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV Library, said: “Apprenticeships are extremely valuable for engineering workers and employers – the skills acquired during these schemes can shape a career and also help tackle the industry’s skills shortage.
“However, it seems that this opportunity is being underutilised within the sector – while government funding is on its way via the apprenticeship levy, it’s clear that there is a broader issue at play. The data shows that not enough is being done by the government to raise awareness for apprenticeships and more support is needed for both engineering businesses and apprentices themselves.
“Ultimately, apprentices could plug the engineering sector skills gap if younger workers are educated on the value of apprenticeships and more is done to raise awareness and support.”
A lack of clarity from government on funding could also jeopardise new apprenticeship targets put in place to help tackle the increasing skills gap in the automotive industry, according to automotive research centre and vehicle safety organisation Thatcham Research, which believes that the pace of funding process discussions needs to be accelerated to ensure momentum is not lost.
Apprentice graduates form the backbone of the UK automotive industry and, more specifically, the crash repair sector,” said Thatcham Research head of operations, Dean Lander. “It’s imperative that training providers like ourselves are given the financial flexibility to support this automotive success story.”
Research also carried out for National Apprenticeship Week from GetMyFirstJob has revealed that despite efforts to dissipate gender stereotypes in apprenticeships, they still prevail greatly, and that more work needs to be done amongst training providers to promote the obvious opportunities that apprenticeships offer young people.
The apprenticeship platform, which has more than 230,000 young people in its database, found that 91% of male applicants registered on its site were interested in construction roles as opposed to only 9% of females. A similar correlation follows for engineering with 90% of males interested in engineering apprenticeships as opposed to only 10% of females.
Founder and managing director of GetMyFirstJob, David Allison, said: “More work needs to be done amongst schools, colleges and training providers to ensure everyone involved understands the opportunity that apprenticeships offer young people. This involves challenging the many established stereotypes about what an apprenticeship is, and who should consider them.”