As apprenticeships gain ground in the eyes of employers, society must recalibrate its attitude, it was claimed today.
The Ulster Teachers’ Union, Northern Ireland’s biggest locally-based teaching union, was responding to a recent government survey which revealed that employers believe people with apprenticeships are more employable.
“Whilst it is encouraging to see that employers – the people at the coal face of our economic recovery – appreciate the value of applied subject qualifications, I believe there is still work to be done in our wider society to breakdown the so-called gold star mentality of an academic degree qualification,” said Avril Hall Callaghan, General Secretary of the UTU.
“The world is rapidly changing and if Northern Ireland is to take its place in the economic recovery of the UK then must produce a new young workforce which takes account of this.
“It is good to see increasing collaboration between the business world and education as this will ensure that tomorrow’s employees are equipped with the skills which employers need as opposed to what have perhaps been the more traditional qualifications to which their parents would have aspired.”
Qualified apprentices scored four per cent higher on an “employability” scale in the survey than university graduates, and 15 per cent higher than the average of all other types of qualification.
The survey was commissioned by the Department for Business as it recently launched an online guide to higher apprenticeships in 41 subjects which will be available to school leavers this year.
Employers rated on a scale of one to 10 how employable they considered people with a variety of different qualifications to be, with one being the least employable and 10 being the most.
Higher apprenticeships allow participants to earn a wage while studying towards a degree-level qualification, and are offered by a range of businesses including management consultancies, public relations firms and science and engineering companies.
“What we need is a greater parity of esteem between applied subjects and purely academic subject. Both have their place in our society today and that of tomorrow,” added Ms Hall Callaghan.