Apprenticeships – promoting the value, dispelling the myths

Maritime UK is acting as the focal point to ensure that employers across the sector see the value of apprenticeships, and employ more apprentices.

Former Shipping Minister John Hayes set employers a target during London International Shipping Week 2017 – to double the number of apprentices they employ.

He was launching the joint Maritime UK/DfT booklet on apprenticeships, and asked ‘every maritime business, whether they pay the (Apprenticeship) Levy or not, to discuss how apprenticeships can help them succeed by growing the next generation of talent’.

The drive to increase the number of apprentices employed is a major focus for Maritime UK and a key part of that is explaining their value, says Iain Mackinnon, secretary of the Maritime Skills Alliance.

 “I see apprentices as a valuable tool for employers in achieving their people goals – not just for the sake of it, but because you need skilled, talented people,” he says. “You need to show potential apprentices a career path and structure in order to attract them.”

Mr Mackinnon, who coordinates apprenticeship work on behalf of Maritime UK, describes the Government’s rules as ‘like the Highway Code – the employer is in the driving seat’.

“In the industry, there are some terrific champions who are pushing things hard – they see the opportunity. And there are others who don’t yet ‘get it’ and need more persuasion and discussion to help them understand what apprenticeships are and how to go through the different steps.”

There are myths to be dispelled, he says, not least that apprenticeships are only for school-leavers in entry-level positions. Apprenticeships can be suitable for much more senior roles, where what’s required is a longish period of carefully structured training towards defined objectives, where what’s on offer is some subsidy from the Government – and where there’s no need at all to call those involved ‘apprentices’.

Different working groups are therefore busy looking at the potential of using the apprenticeship approach to train marine pilots, port marine operations officers, technical superintendents and marine surveyors. The potential is significant. 

Measuring progress against the target is a challenge, says Mr Mackinnon. “At present there are no good statistics on maritime apprenticeships that we can usefully refer to.

“We are working towards a set of data which covers all the bases within Maritime UK’s definition of ‘maritime’. We need to gain sufficient detail so that we have a good grip on what’s really going on and do not mislead ourselves. We are therefore meeting soon with the statistics team at DfT to find a better way forward.”

As Maritime UK continues to press home the value of apprenticeships, key focus areas are ensuring that good quality information is readily available, giving presentations to employers, putting out indirect messages to employers through the trade press, and one-to-one discussions.

“It is about reviewing old standards, dispelling myths, promoting the whole notion of apprentices. The extent of current action to promote apprenticeships to employers varies a good deal between different parts of the sector.”

All the copies of the apprenticeships booklet launched at LISW were snapped up and that is encouraging, says Mr Mackinnon. “Part of the task is to reach those who do not normally think much about skills, and the Apprenticeship Levy certainly helps with that; it’s focusing minds.”