Tens of thousands of apprentices are receiving inadequate training as inspectors struggle to assess a deluge of businesses cashing in on a government scheme.
After the Learndirect scandal, figures from the education watchdog Ofsted reveal that nearly half of all registered apprenticeship providers inspected last year were inadequate or required improvement.
At the same time, Ofsted has admitted it will struggle to cope with huge increases in the number of companies setting themselves up as training institutions after the introduction of the apprenticeship levy last May.
So far 2,000 colleges, private institutions and companies have registered to train apprentices to meet the government’s target of three million apprenticeships by 2020.
Hundreds of these bodies have yet to be inspected and many will not be inspected for another three years. The head of Ofsted, Amanda Spielman, told The Times that she had been speaking to the Department for Education about “resources” for this area of its work.
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Businesses have warned that they are concerned at the “patchy” training standards and have accused ministers of putting quantity of apprenticeship starts before quality.
Figures from Ofsted show:
● The proportion of students being taught by inadequate providers increased to 20 per cent last year, or 37,000 apprentices.
● Of 189 providers assessed 6 per cent were outstanding; 43 per cent good; 40 per cent required improvement; and 11 per cent were inadequate.
In contrast 9 per cent of schools were judged last year to require improvement and only 2 per cent were inadequate. Government research into apprenticeships found 10 per cent of apprentices did not even know they were on the scheme.
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Two fifths of level two and level three apprentices either received no training or fewer than six hours a week on average.
Concerns about standards in the sector have been heightened by the collapse of Learndirect, which received £600 million in public funding since being privatised in 2011.
Robert Halfon, the Conservative chairman of the education select committee, called for urgent reassessment of the whole sector to ensure that quality was not being sacrificed for quantity.
Mr Halfon said: “It is incredible that so many institutions providing apprenticeship training have been judged by Ofsted as not good enough.”
Jane Gratton, head of skills at the British Chamber of Commerce, said that businesses had concerns about aspects of the new scheme. “Ministers need to be concentrating on the quality of provision rather than quantity,” she said. “It should be less about the numbers and more about the outcome.”
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Joe Dromey, senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, who has given evidence to the education select committee’s inquiry into apprenticeships, said: “The government is seeking to boost the number of apprenticeships at the same time as slashing the budget for Ofsted who are responsible for enforcing quality.
“Learndirect should serve as a wake-up call. We must ensure that we protect and improve quality, so that apprentices are not failed by the system.”
A spokesman for the Department for Education said all providers of apprenticeship training had “been through a rigorous application process” that considered a “variety of measures including, quality and a provider’s capability to deliver high-quality apprenticeship training”. “Where a provider has been rated inadequate, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has provisions to ensure that learners continue to receive high-quality training.”
Q&A
What are apprenticeships?
A form of on-the-job training where an employee works while studying part-time for a nationally recognised qualification relevant to their area of employment. Most work four days a week and spend the fifth day off site in an academic environment, but apprenticeships vary hugely.
Who pays for the training?
In the past, the government — but in May ministers introduced a levy that all companies with a turnover above £3 million a year are required to pay. It is designed to encourage them to embrace apprenticeships; critics say it is little more than a new tax. Smaller companies continue to have apprenticeship training bills paid for by the government.
What are the problems?
The number of apprenticeship training providers falling short of the mark is too high. Last year 189 providers training 187,000 apprentices were assessed by Ofsted. Of these 6 per cent were found to be outstanding, 43 per cent good, 40 per cent required improvement and 11 per cent were inadequate. Also, companies paying the levy can choose any provider as long as they are registered with the government: there are now more than 2,000 registered institutions, compared with about 900 under the old system. Ofsted says it does not have the capacity to ensure that they are all being properly assessed.
