Steve Gray responds to low-quality Apprenticeship claims

As the largest Group Training Association in England, we were pleased when Her Majesty’s chief inspector from Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, commissioned a survey into the delivery of Apprenticeships.

Published last week, the report ‘Apprenticeships: Developing Skills for Future Prosperity’ was unfortunately met with a resoundingly negative media response, making headlines which focussed almost exclusively on apprentices that “do not receive sufficiently high-quality training”.

The report states: “Group Training Associations (GTAs) provide a very successful model for collaboration between employers and providers. They were set up 40 years ago as training providers funded partly by subscription and controlled by a board made up of the local employers they serve. This has become a model of industry/provider partnership that has responded very effectively to the training demands of industry.”

The commitment to delivering £3m Apprenticeships over the next five years is commendable and shouldn’t be overshadowed by sensational headlines. The good practice identified in the survey now needs to form the basis of quality, high-level Apprenticeships being offered by all in the future. To read the full article, please visit www.training2000.co.uk/WilshawReport