Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Apprenticeship is a statutory-based programme of structured education and training that formally combines learning in the workplace with learning in an education or training centre. The completion of an apprenticeship prepares the participant for a specific occupation and leads to a qualification recognised under the national framework of qualifications, NFQ, from level 5 upwards. Apprentices are employed under a contract of apprenticeship. The action plan for apprenticeship sets out to make apprenticeship a valued proposition for employers and prospective apprentices, underpinned by a target of 10,000 apprentice registrations per annum by 2025. Last year there was a record number of 8,607 registrations, an increase of almost 40% on figures for the same period in 2019, the last comparable year.

When we launched the action plan we wanted to see apprenticeship become fully embedded as a mainstream route to skills development for employers and prospective apprentices. The Government will continue to ensure that learners are enabled to develop skills that will allow them to achieve the best possible outcomes. Seeing the progress to date under this plan, I am hugely encouraged that we are well on the way to achieving this. The diverse range and number of stakeholders who took part in the development of the action plan demonstrates the level of commitment to, and ambition there is for, apprenticeship in Ireland. Building on the existing excellent mix of first-hand practical experience from the worlds of further and higher education, providers and learners, industry, apprenticeship development and worker-focused advocacy, I believe that the strategies we are implementing will allow us all to reach our overall objectives under the plan. Furthermore, the national character of apprenticeship programmes, the approved standards of knowledge, skill and competence will not only be maintained but will be enhanced through this plan.

To understand how we came to this point I would like to give the House a brief overview of the history and context of our apprenticeship system, specifically the legislative basis for apprenticeships, the formation of SOLAS, the review of apprenticeship training in Ireland in 2013 and the development of post-2016 apprenticeship programmes. I will then speak in more detail about the development process and deliverables to date of the Action Plan for Apprenticeships 2021-25.

The tradition of apprenticeship in Ireland predates the foundation of the State and perceptions of apprenticeship in many areas are still based on that long tradition of craft apprenticeship. Traditionally, the system was orientated towards young males and construction-related trades have accounted for approximately 80% of all apprenticeships. Training given to apprentices was delivered on the job and under the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act 1898. The main legislation governing modern apprenticeships was set out in the 1967 Industrial Training Act, the 1987 Labour Services Act, and Sl No. 168/1997 Labour Services Act 1987 - Apprenticeship Rules, while the National Training Fund Act 2000 provided for a levy on employers to be paid into a national training fund.

The 1967 Act established An Chomhairle Oiliúna, AnCO, and gave it the power to provide for vocational training including apprenticeships, charge a levy on employers and establish a register of apprentices. It also had the power to make rules governing apprenticeships, subject to consultation with the industrial training committee representing workers, employers and the Minister for Education. An apprentice is defined in the Act as a person employed by way of apprenticeship in a designated industrial activity and includes any person to whom regulations under section 28 of the Act applied. The Act defined an "activity of industry" as any activity of commerce, trade or occupation but excluded primary production in agriculture, horticulture, fishing and any activity of a professional occupation.

To establish an apprenticeship in any occupation AnCO was required to designate the relevant activity of industry as a designated industrial activity by an industrial training order. The Act gave AnCO the power to declare that every person employed in a particular manner in a designated industrial activity by a particular employer was an apprentice for the purposes of the Act. Therefore, apprenticeships are confined to cases where AnCO, which is now SOLAS, made a formal designation of an industrial activity as an apprenticeship under an industrial training order. Before doing so, employer and employee organisations representing substantial numbers in the activity must be consulted.

The Labour Services Act 1987 provided for the dissolution of AnCO and the establishment of FÁS and the transfer of a range of AnCO functions to FÁS, including training functions. Craft apprenticeship in Ireland had been traditionally based on time served without requiring attainment of predetermined standards of competence and knowledge. In 1991, a new standards-based apprenticeship system was introduced whereby in the future a person would have to have a national craft certificate to be recognised as a craft worker. In 1997, the apprenticeship rules set out the minimum age and entry standards provided for a vision test where necessary, precluded an employer from charging a fee or other consideration for an apprenticeship and set out rules governing dismissal and termination of contract in the event of consistent failure to meet the standards required. The rules also required employers to demonstrate to FÁS that they had the capacity to provide the on-the-job training required and to provide relevant release for the off-the-job phases. The modules of training for the on and off-the-job phases were to be determined by FÁS following consultation with appropriate bodies.

The Further Education and Training Act 2013 provided for the dissolution of FÁS and the transfer of its functions to An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileannna, SOLAS, which is now the body with statutory responsibility for the apprenticeship system. It is estimated that more than 105,000 people qualified via the apprenticeship route between 1967 and 2013. SOLAS was established on 27 October 2013. Its mandate is set out in the Further Education and Training Act 2013. Among other functions, such as research, monitoring and co-ordinating of further education and training provision, it also advances moneys to education and training boards and other bodies engaged in the provision of further education and training programmes. SOLAS administers the Irish apprenticeship system. At the same time as FÁS was dissolved, 16 education and training boards, ETBs, were established on the dissolution of the 33 vocational education committees. In 2014, the transfer of the former FÁS training centre network and its more than 600 staff and training facilities to the ETBs was successfully completed.

The current apprenticeship system has its roots in the 2013 review of apprenticeship training in Ireland. This reinforced the benefits of workplace learning that is supported through classroom-based learning in an education or training setting. It was this review that set out the need to expand apprenticeship beyond the 27 craft apprenticeship programmes then in place. The terms of reference of the review were to determine whether the current model of apprenticeship should be retained, adapted or replaced by an alterative model of vocational education and training for apprentices, taking into account the needs of learners and employers, the needs of the economy and the need for cost-effectiveness into the future.

The apprenticeship review took place in the context of a wider reform programme in education and training, including major structural change in further education and training, the establishment of SOLAS and the development of new national strategies in further and higher education. Written submissions came from 69 organisations and a panel of representatives of the review group and the technical group met 25 major organisations with a role or potential role in apprenticeships in Ireland. The major benefits of apprenticeship systems based on dual modes of learning, combining workplace learning in an enterprise with classroom teaching in an education or training setting, were seen as promoting better collaboration between enterprises and education and training providers, ensuring an enterprise-led role in the design and assessment of programmes, improving the competitiveness of companies, opening up rewarding careers for a large segment of the population, ensuring that theoretical learning in an education or training institution is strongly grounded in the practical experience of undertaking a real job, supplying job-ready employees and providing an ideal learning mode for those who learn best by doing.

The review group concluded there was significant scope to expand apprenticeships into a wide range of business sectors, such as ICT, retail, hospitality, business administration, medical devices, sport and leisure programmes, childcare and social care, financial services, accounting, hairdressing and beauty care. Such programmes would require a strong commitment from employers to identifying occupational needs, recruitment and payment of apprentices and joint collaboration with education and training providers in programme delivery.

In practical terms the following key recommendations were also made. The first is the establishment of an apprenticeship council, and in consultation with industry experts, professional bodies, trade unions and education and training interests, it would lead the task of expanding apprenticeship into new sectors of the economy across a range of qualification levels and mapping sectors where new apprenticeships could make a real difference. This was to be carried out in consultation with partners. The second recommendation is a national training fund, a ring-fenced fund that should be established to promote the development and operation of apprenticeships in new occupational areas.

Another recommendation is apprenticeship consortiums, which would be employer-led consortiums to identify the occupations considered to be suitable for apprenticeships that can make proposals to the apprenticeship council for funding, with a key role for employers in identifying occupational standards and in shaping the content of the curriculum in collaboration with education and training providers. There should be apprentice wage determination, specifically the rate of payment to be made to apprentices in new occupational areas to be determined by individual employers, and the Apprenticeship Council would have no role in this.

On the question of apprentice employment conditions, every apprentice would be employed under an approved contract of apprenticeship. Training should be substantial in depth and duration and the apprentice should be employed in a real job, with programmes to have a duration of not less than two years and to provide for more than 50% workplace-based learning. Recommendations were also made around areas such as recruitment, curricula, assessment, progression, incentives for employers, feedback mechanisms, labour market intelligence, statistics and evaluation, branding and awareness campaigns and traineeships. SOLAS was to maintain a national register of apprentices for the purpose of planning and management of overall apprenticeship numbers and a publicly accessible national database of employers approved for apprenticeships, based on data transfer from education and training boards, ETBs.

There were also recommendations regarding existing apprenticeship programmes. The review group recommended the curriculum for each family of trades be reviewed and updated as a matter of urgency, with programmes providing for the appropriate integration of transversal skills, particularly literacy, numeracy, maths, science and ICT. It was also recommended that the minimum entry levels needed to complete each programme successfully should be reviewed while ensuring appropriate pre-apprenticeship programmes would be made available for those unable to meet the entry requirements. A curriculum review should be carried out on the basis of families of trades.

The governance framework and operational arrangements set out in the report were designed to include real possibilities to create new apprenticeships rapidly, react to emerging needs, and target resources and participants towards sectors with high potential for growth. In June 2014, the Apprenticeship Implementation Plan was published to renew existing apprenticeships and expand apprenticeship into new sectors. The enterprise-led Apprenticeship Council was established in 2014 and, over its lifetime, oversaw the development of almost 40 new apprenticeships in sectors such as auctioneering, ICT, hospitality, logistics and biopharmaceuticals. Two calls for proposals in 2015 and 2017, combined with rationalisation of some existing craft apprenticeships, have brought the total number of available apprenticeships to 65 across all sectors of the economy, with a further 18 in development. The new programmes are delivered through consortiums of employers, employee representatives and education and training providers, departing from the craft apprenticeship system of centralised programme co-ordination through SOLAS.

In its 2013 report, the apprenticeship review group signalled a new direction for apprenticeship. Some scope was envisaged for flexibility in content and delivery within programmes, but the review group was clear on issues such as the need for national apprenticeship standards and a national apprenticeship contract, for all apprentices to be included on a national register, and for all employers to be approved for the purposes of apprenticeship. The Apprenticeship Council strongly agreed that only one apprenticeship should exist and be defined for any given occupation.

In addition to its proposed role in overseeing the development of individual apprenticeships as outlined above, the council needed to give further consideration, in consultation with the relevant agencies and stakeholders, to the overall governance and system issues arising as the new apprenticeships were developed. Key issues considered included how standards would be adopted, revised and consistently applied under a more distributed system than currently exists; how new apprenticeships would be governed, both individually and nationally; and how new education and training providers and employers would access the new apprenticeships once they were in operation. There was also the question of how the apprentice registration process and quality assurance process would work, covering training both on and off the job, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the various players involved in apprenticeships.

The council was also required to review financial considerations such as development, capital, running and system costs. In 2015, the council invited proposals for new apprenticeship programmes from a consortium of enterprise, professional bodies and education and training providers. The Apprenticeship Council received 86 separate submissions and, following evaluation, 25 proposals were approved for detailed development. These covered the areas of manufacturing and engineering, tourism and sport, financial services, information technology, transport distribution and logistics, and business administration and management. A similar call for proposals in 2017 led to the approval of a further 26 programmes for continued development in areas such as horticulture, sales, animation, engineering, farming, ICT, logistics, hairdressing and recruitment. To date, a total of 40 new apprenticeship programmes have been developed to completion and successfully launched since 2016.

The Action Plan to Expand Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland 2016 - 2020 set a target of 31,000 cumulative new apprentice registrations by the end of 2020. A total of 25,815 registrations was reached, supported by strong recovery of craft apprentice registrations. The new apprenticeship base had grown strongly as a result of the new apprenticeships launched during that time, providing a solid foundation for increased awareness and recruitment in the following years. A programme of review of all craft was delivered, curricula was revised and modernised, and an updated framework for quality assurance was developed.

The 2016 action plan included a commitment to review pathways to participation in apprenticeship in Ireland. The first review was carried out in 2018 and made recommendations to increase participation in apprenticeship by diverse groups; launch an online apprenticeship "jobs market" to increase visibility of opportunities for all potential apprentices; create new pathways via pre-apprenticeship courses around the country; promote the bursary incentive with employers; and promote diverse pathways to participation in apprenticeship in the 2018 to 2020 Generation Apprenticeship campaign.

Progress was made in a number of areas since the 2018 Review of Pathways to Participation in Apprenticeship, but there remained a number of outstanding areas of action in terms of baseline data collection. Developing areas of good practice were evident, including through the TU Dublin Access to Apprenticeship programme, all-female tech apprenticeship classes through FIT, and the rolling out of more than 500 pre-apprenticeship places in further education and training as part of the post-leaving certificate reform programme.

This Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 was delivered at a significant juncture in the history of the Irish apprenticeship system. For the first time, learnings from both the traditional craft apprenticeship model and the post-2016 apprenticeship model were utilised to inform the future direction of the system. The plan seeks to provide a single system for the future that builds on the well-established strengths of craft apprenticeship and the learnings from five years of consortium-led apprenticeship in this country. The timing of the plan is also significant, having been developed during the period of the Covid-19 crisis, which has had a heavy impact on the delivery of craft apprenticeships as well as apprentices in sectors such as hospitality.

The plan is heavily informed by stakeholder input, including in excess of 60 written submissions, additional internal consultations and an online survey of all registered apprentices. In addition, targeting small and medium enterprise employers, the nine regional skills forum managers, in collaboration with the Department, undertook a survey of 340 small and medium enterprises to better understand the perspectives of small businesses on apprenticeship and how the particular challenges they face in engaging with apprenticeship might be addressed. Inputs from all three strands of the consultation process are reflected throughout the plan.

Specific proposals for change have been considered in conjunction with broader policy requirements and priorities in identifying those actions that will be required to deliver on the objectives set out for the apprenticeship system of 2025. The five key objectives we have identified are: a high-quality and innovative approach; employer-driven responses; apprenticeship for all; a valued option; an a single, coherent system.

Significant progress is being made in realising the ambition for apprenticeships set out in the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025, which was published in April of last year. The further development and mainstreaming of apprenticeships through the creation of a single unified apprenticeship system has a key role to play in meeting Ireland's skill needs in a manner that presents a valued proposition for apprentices and employers alike.

Key to the delivery of the ambition set out in the action plan is a new organisational architecture, involving the National Apprenticeship Office and the National Apprenticeship Alliance. The office will have-----

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