Susan Pember, OBE, is no apprentice when it comes to the whole issue of skills for life and apprenticeships. This former local authority officer and teacher went on to become principal of a further education college and in 2000 was appointed director of the Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit at the DfEE. Since October 2003, she has taken on a bigger portfolio at the Department as director of Apprenticeships and Skills for Life. She could be described as the apprenticeship tsar. ‘My present role is to make sure that government policy on apprenticeships is delivered through our many partners and really meets with 21st-century needs,’ says Susan. ‘I will know we are successful when everyone I talk to stops saying “Oh, I didn’t know there were still apprenticeship schemes.” There is a big job in raising awareness of the many excellent apprenticeship schemes currently being offered by employers.’

How does Susan overcome the bad press (or no press) that apprenticeship schemes often attract? ‘There is a lot of very good work being done by the Department, the Learning and Skills Council LSC, the Sector Skills Councils, the Association of Learning Providers ALP and employers’ organisations such as the CBI Confederation of British Industry,’ she states. ‘I think for the first time ever we have all the right pieces of the jigsaw in place to drive the apprenticeship agenda forward.’

Where has the impetus for this new-found enthusiasm for old-fashioned apprenticeships come from? ‘The government is really driving it and there are many new initiatives such as the Modern Apprenticeship Task Force. There is definitely a new impetus and a realisation that apprenticeships and the skills that go with them are vital for the country. Each time a new body is set up, like the Sector Skills Councils, delivering apprenticeships become part of the remit. This is really a joined-up approach – for the first time.’

Susan is an ardent proselytiser for the cause of modern apprenticeships. She is in great demand as a speaker at seminars and conferences, and will be a key speaker at this year’s Partners in Learning Conference of the ALP in Harrogate.1 ‘I will have two main themes: Apprenticeships and Skills for Life and the importance of the link between the two.’

Susan’s point is that we are rarely, if ever, in the same job for life. She says that young people going into apprenticeships stay in a job for, on average, 11 years. ‘This means that they have to have really good transferable skills to be able to do that. We are under an obligation to make sure that young people and adults have the basic employability skills. We also have to find an effective mechanism that allows people to take the information about their acquired skills from one job to another. We should all be part of this agenda.’

How will this be done? ‘We have to be a bit smarter about records of skill achievement – using new technology, for example.’ Partnership is one key to success and, she says, ‘We have been working very closely with the ALP on basic skills, and excellent work is coming out of this.’

Apart from providing good quality programmes for young people, the big challenge is to make sure they know about and value them. But Susan recognises that there are barriers to this new age of apprenticeships. ‘For the employers,’ she says, ‘we need to reduce unnecessary paperwork. We need to be able to help them provide quality programmes, ones that young people and adults will really be attracted by.’

Part of Susan’s enthusiasm for the task (some might think a daunting one) of promoting an apprenticeship culture in our academically biased education system is her experience on the ground. ‘Many of the schemes I have seen in this country are absolutely world class,’ she enthuses. ‘That is what makes my brief so exciting. Some of the engineering and automotive schemes, for example, are superb. Whatever people say, our best easily competes with the best in Europe.’

Susan has a vision of the future. ‘We target youngsters too late,’ she says. ‘I know we will have succeeded when nine and ten year-olds recognise that being an apprentice is something very important to their later lives; when their parents want them to be apprentices.’ It is a matter of changing our culture. ‘We must build role models; how many young people realise that David Beckham was an apprentice?’ she enquires.

And what of the further education sector? ‘FE and work-based providers can rise to the challenge,’ she suggests. ‘FE needs to go back to its roots, providing a vocational route for people and being responsive to employers’ needs in their area. Many FE colleges are doing just this, but they all have to work at it and see it as fundamental to what they do.’

It is this kind of close partnership between provider and employer that will help to drive and embed apprenticeships in Britain. ‘Young people and adults love to see their trainer/lecturer working closely with a training manager from a company – they get a real buzz from that.’

Though there are many hurdles to jump, Susan Pember believes that we are on the brink of a real revolution in apprenticeships and skills for life. ‘The time is right and there’s a real will for change out there,’ she says. And, if she is right, apprenticeships could be the new cool.

Reference

1. Susan Pember will be speaking at the Association of Learning Providers Partners in Learning Conference at the Royal Hall, Harrogate International Conference Centre, Harrogate, UK, on 20 May 2004. For more information visit www.partnersinlearning2004.com

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