You'd have to be on Mars (or Venus) to not have noticed, since the tale end of the Labour Government, the media hype around apprenticeships; millions of pounds of tax payers money pumped into the National promotion of this most ancient and honourable training system.
It's as though Ministers have competed to pledge the highest numbers of new apprenticeship places - it's as though I keep expecting to see 'Brucey' as Speaker encouraging John Hayes to go 'higher'.
Make no mistake, I am a long, well-documented fan of apprenticeship programmes - I still have the 'I Love Apprenticeships' badge that little Lord Young gave me at an event we were supporting in London once.
But, and it is a big 'but', however excellent the ideal of apprenticeships are, however important they are as an instrument in the skills of the future 'battle' (which we are losing btw), it seems we are on a dangerous course.
Apprenticeships are vital in any economy I believe. Yet, I cannot bring myself to be anything but mystified at the current Apprenticeship strategy being spearheaded by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) - although I appreciate they are merely servants carrying out the 'master's' wishes.
The problem I have is that the new strategy is to keep increasing the numbers of apprenticeship places in the UK - an ultimate strategy of 'over training'. Some say this model works well in other countries, often citing the Deutsche Telecom model of releasing their 'over-trained' back into the labour market. But in the UK this could well lead to just a more highly skilled queue at he door of the JobCentre as we wallow in a recessionary hollow.
Training Providers have benefited from this model of over training in the UK - sometimes at the expense of Further Education colleges. Thousands of students put through the 'programme', with each and every one of them representing a positive entry on the Training Providers' cashflow. Can this be right?
Recently, the Government have been encouraging large employers to increase the number of apprenticeship places they offer, convinced, like some mad alchemist, that this magic ingredient called 'apprenticeships' is going to save the UK economy (or at least help them reduce the number of NEETS and improve the youth unemployment figures temporarily) .
So, 300,00 apprenticeship places, 350,000...500,000 - I can't even keep up with the latest targets that are coming from Government, such is the intensity of their campaigning.
Big question - would their be so many apprenticeship places if the Government did not provide direct financial incentive to employers?
If you beleieve the answer to be 'No', then you are probably the most realistic. Having interviewed many HR Directors and CEO's of the UK's top companies, I can assure you that only a few convinced me that the investment in apprenticeship programmes would continue without financial incentives from the Government.
So why is this point important? Because it clearly demonstrates the culture of 'over training' through increased apprenticeship places, which in turn can only result in a reduction in the actual quality of that training and the subsequent quality of the apprentices themselves over time - hardly a solution for the forecasted skills gap that we have looming for most industry sectors.
Government should stop using Apprenticeships as a political football. They represent the best opportunity to learn for thousands in the UK - and I believe they are also one of the best ways to improve social mobility in the UK. They need protecting by organisations such as City & Guilds, organisations that have witnessed the changing view toward apprenticeships over many governments but have renmained rightly focused on the importance of this kind of 'learning'.
My biggest fear is that apprenticeships are ultimately going to be devalued, downgraded and then dispensed with for another spell in the box marked 'Not Popular' - until another Government comes along one day and.....history tends to repeat itself.
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