Employer-led realities: Apprenticeship past and present

Abstract

In 1993, the United Kingdom launched yet another new initiative to revitalise youth training, but this time, rather than choosing a title which conjures up the flexible workplace of the future, it chose to delve back into the industrial past and introduced Modern Apprenticeship. Piloted for a year in 15 occupational sectors, Modern Apprenticeship is to expand in 1995/1996 to cover some 50 sectors, many of which have little history of substantive or accredited workplace training. By examining the history of apprenticeship in the United Kingdom, including evidence from two industrial sectors (electricity supply and chemicals), this paper suggests that whilst the concept of apprenticeship may still be very attractive to young people, their parents and some employers, the history of its decline over the past 30 years should be treated seriously by policymakers attempting to re-create apprenticeship in the 1990s. © 1996 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.