| 'The importance of apprenticeships' by David Lammy MP for Tottenham and Skills Minister. |
| Saturday, 10 November 2007 |
Yesterday, (Friday 9th November) I visited BMW's Hams Hall plant with the Prime Minister to see their apprentices programme in action. What I saw convinced me we are right to be doubling the number of apprentices in this country and making sure all young people stay in some form of education and training until the age of 18.
The 200 or so apprentices going through BMW's programme each year have achieved a very high completion rate. They are being set on their way through top quality training to good jobs and careers, armed with the skills employers need for success.
This week we had the spectacle of the Queen’s speech. The pomp and ceremony of the occasion can seem very detached from the reality of people’s everyday hopes and struggles in Tottenham and places like the West Midlands. Yet the paradox is that behind the façade, the measures announced each year have the power to change lives.
I believe the bill on apprenticeships, announced on Tuesday, is one of those measures. I should declare an interest here as the Minister for Skills. But let me explain. Apprenticeships have a heritage and an ethos that pre-dates the emergence of the ‘knowledge economy’, the rise of India and China, or the recent political emphasis on education and training.
Apprenticeships represent a tradition of providing young people with vital life skills. Part of this is the chance to learn a craft, to build expertise and to excel in a particular vocation. This is in itself cannot be underestimated as a force for good: indeed, all the research shows improved life chances and higher earnings for those that complete apprenticeships.
But more than this, the apprenticeship route – when harnessed properly – can be a force for wider social good. Because apprenticeships provide people not just with skills, but also with an environment in which to grow and develop as people. To be an apprentice is to be mentored, to learn over time through real life experience, and to build relationships with those who have something to pass on. At their best, apprenticeships offer exactly the kind of structure, routine and the sense of direction that can be missing in young people’s lives.
An unmistakable feature of our age is that people are less deferential than previous generations were. They are less willing to conform to the structures and social norms that their parents grew up with. Much of this cannot be reversed – and indeed the rise of a more mobile, confident and ambitious generation of young people is welcome. But confidence and ambition need to be nurtured carefully, within the right environment. Jamie Oliver, David Beckham and fashion designer Alexander McQueen were all born with talents in their fields. But it is the habits of dedication and commitment that they learned as apprentices that helped turn potential into real-life success.
The word ‘craft’ comes from the German ’kraft’, which means ‘power’ or ‘ability’. Our ambition as a government is to distribute power more widely than ever before – and to develop the talents of young people as never before. For the first time ever, every young person will have the option of an apprenticeship by 2013, with more financial support going to young people to help them take up that option, whatever their background. This, for me, is what Queen’s speeches are all about – and why they matter to my constituents, apprentices in the West Midlands as well as the Westminster bubble.
A version of this article later appeared in 22 November 2007 edition of the Birmingham Mail.
Please click here view a webcast of David's visit to the plant.
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