Helping young people in York and North Yorkshire access apprenticeships
9 October 2023
Careers Hubs across England are rolling out action plans to get more young people taking apprenticeships
The York & North Yorkshire Careers Hub – led locally by the Y&NY LEP – is among them and aims to help learners overcome barriers and widen access to apprenticeships and technical education roles.
All 44 Careers Hubs in England have pledged to boost these learning opportunities following a national report published by The Careers & Enterprise Company, which oversees the network.
York & North Yorkshire Careers Hub and the Y&NY LEP were among organisations to contribute to the report, called Conditions for Transition. The research highlights eight common factors affecting apprenticeship take-up – with different factors having different weight in different regions.
The local picture
In York and North Yorkshire, there were areas where the region scored above the national average – such as the number of employers offering work placements to college students, and the number of employers interested in providing work placements to T-Level students.
Yvonne Emerson, Strategic Careers Hub Lead, said: “It’s good to recognise areas of success in our region, but also to explore where improvements can be made. For instance, our hub is focussed on a three-strand approach to support young people build confidence when applying for future apprenticeships and technical pathways.”
The 3 strand approach:
-
- Upskilling the education workforce on apprenticeships and T-Level pathways, qualifications and skills, knowledge and behaviours information to better support young people.
- Building a provider network to support young people with understanding local labour market information, the opportunities, pathways and the recruitment processes to apprenticeships.
3. Gathering best practice from education to inform a Parental Engagement Strategy to better inform and enable parents / carers and guardians, to positively and confidently support and guide them to a successful next step.
More on the research
Read the report and explore the framework on The Careers & Enterprise Company website.
About Careers Hubs
Careers Hubs bring together schools, colleges, employers, and apprenticeship providers in local areas across England. The goal is to make it easier for schools and colleges to improve how they prepare young people for their next steps.
Careers Hubs drive progress against the Gatsby Benchmarks by enabling schools and colleges and their careers leaders to access training and support, and to collaborate in a focussed way, bringing together best practice and local labour market insight.
Hubs offer schools and colleges dedicated support from the local hub team and facilitate partnerships with key employers committed to improving careers across an area.
The York & North Yorkshire Careers Hub supports the area’s 77 secondary, post-16, further education colleges and special education needs and alternative learning institutes, which equates to around 49,000 learners aged 11 to 19 across the region.
On Tuesday 26 September 2023, the York & North Yorkshire Careers Hub hosted a conference for education providers and businesses. Areas outlined in the report, and other key topics, were discussed through presentations and roundtable discussions, with attendees encouraged to make a pledge in areas they will be moving forward.