Introduced in 2016, Foundation Apprenticeships (FAs) offer Scottish students a chance to experience work-based learning alongside their other studies in the senior phase of secondary school. They have enormous potential, offering young people the chance to experience the world of work while gaining a qualification and pursuing other academic subjects – an embodiment of the mix and match approach we’ve been advocating for at Edge. There are similarities with the T Levels programme in England. Both programmes are usually taken by students in the last two years of school and involve an industry placement as a core component. Like T Levels though, FAs can be very difficult to deliver and take up has remained stubbornly low at just 4,122 enrolments in 2021 (according to SDS’s most recent data). On a visit to Scotland in November last year, I spoke to staff at Glasgow Clyde College about overcoming the challenges they face delivering FAs and the benefits they bring to their students.
Industry placements: Like T Levels in England (as examined in our recent research report), the industry placement aspect of FAs make them highly appealing to young people in Scotland, but finding employers who are willing to offer these, and who are close by is very difficult. A 2022 evaluation of FAs by Education Scotland found that, “Difficulties in securing suitable work placement opportunities have contributed to increased rates of withdrawal”. This varies by subject – it’s easier to find employers in industries that traditionally offer work placements, like Social Services, Children and Young People, than in Life Sciences, where there is the added complexity of risk assessments. On top of that, many employers find it difficult to work around students’ timetables, because they will often only come in for a few hours at a time between periods or at times that don’t match up with a typical 9-5 working day. As one teacher said, it can be “more like babysitting than work experience”.
Timetabling: The second biggest challenge is timetabling. FAs require school students to spend two days out of school every week – one at the college and one at the industry placement. The college has the mammoth task of coordinating this with multiple local schools. Glasgow Clyde College has set aside Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for FA classroom-based units, but even this doesn’t necessarily work for all schools. Recently, they’ve trialled offering only the NPA modules to some students, without the accompanying SVQ work-based units, for schools that can’t commit to releasing their students two days a week. For the students themselves, especially those in fifth year, it can be very difficult balancing an FA against their Highers, so much so that one teacher described it as “a huge testament to their commitment”. Concerningly though, as Education Scotland warn in their report, school staff often underestimate the volume of work when providing guidance.
Confidence: Anyone who has read the results of last year’s Youth Voice Census knows that young people’s confidence is on the decline. I heard from staff how this might have impacted students’ decision about whether to pursue an FA, especially in subjects that are more reliant on people skills, like social services. Extra time and support are needed to get these young people prepped for the industry placement. Young people in Scotland do have the benefit of being able to take Skills for Work qualifications at Levels 4 and 5 to help boost their confidence before undertaking a Level 6 FA. But the work placement can still be tough. “Sometimes they still get treated as a child by the other members of staff, because, oh, you're just a wee school placement”. Despite these challenges, staff felt that Foundation Apprenticeships offer enormous benefits to students.
In particular, the work placement gives them the opportunity to experience a work environment and gain skills out of reach in school or college. As one teacher put it, “If they're not enrolled in one of these programs, then in school, their work experience will be a single week, which they can opt out of. So they might just leave school with absolutely no experience of the workplace.” While FAs do not aim to make young people “work-ready" they can provide vital support in interviews by giving students the ability to “talk knowledgeably” about the industry.
Lessons for England: Last November the Education Policy Institute recommended that the Government consider introducing a smaller version of the T Level, approximately equivalent in size to an A Level – something that sounds remarkably similar to a Foundation Apprenticeship. While this sounds good on paper (especially for those who would like to see more mix and match of academic and vocational qualifications in the 16-19 stage), the experience of FAs show that the challenges of delivery are likely to persist even on a smaller scale. Importantly though, these are not insurmountable.
The experience of Glasgow Clyde College shows that flexibility, matched with a commitment to putting learners at the centre of events and strong school-college-employer relationships, can make delivery possible against any odds.