Apprenticeship Week

[Lex]

I often wish I'd been told about apprenticeships when I was 16; in my day, we were all just told to go to university: http://news.warwickshire.gov.uk/blog/2015/03/09/apprenticeships-good-for-warwickshire-businesses/

[rebbonk]

I did a full 5 year apprenticeship. I learned a lot and not just about the trade. But, and it really is a big but, I was taken on by a decent company who were looking toward the future. (Sadly their future didn't come and after the Falklands war they closed down, but that is another story.)

Far too many companies take on apprentices as cheap labour. They get tax breaks for training them (often that training leaves a lot to be desired) then get rid of them at the end and set new ones on.

Yes, apprenticeships can be good, but you do need to be careful.

[Gladys]

I agree with you Rebbonk. You do need to be careful. My son trod a long and lonely path towards training to be a Farrier. This was prior to the shake up which closed down all Farriery training in 2012/2013. Up to the closure Farriery training by Apprenticeships was outside the Government's control and the Farriery Training Agency and The Worshipful Company Of Farriers were untouchable or so they thought. The closure was due to poor and often abusive training practices by some of the training farriers who made their apprentices work often long gruelling days where they are under the horse and the Master is on his phone or elsewhere. In my son's case, the straw that broke the camel's back was one such fellow who made him get under between 14-17 horses a day (a Farrier then commanded £80 per set of shoes +vat) whilst my son earned just £2 per hour. They'd shoe from 6-7am and finish under horses from 7-8pm after which he'd have him and his peers in the forge until 10pm at night. This Master would make Bank holiday weekends a distant memory working the apprentices on the Friday of these weekends right up to 7-8pm and making sure the horses needing shoes were in the sticks in muddy water logged fields not 'nice' yards with covered areas etc. I know this example seems extreme but I can assure you it was common place. Thank goodness for the shake up .http://www.warwickshire.ac.uk/farriery/