Leading North West apprenticeship provider, Alliance Learning, would like to offer reassurance to local people following criticism of apprenticeship schemes in Panorama’s ‘Great Apprenticeship Scandal’ which aired on BBC1 recently.

The Panorama investigation highlighted examples of poor quality training schemes loosely termed as apprenticeships where some training providers are seemingly taking advantage of the system to access and maximise government funding without regard to the ethos of apprenticeships. 

Alliance Learning have been training apprentices throughout the area for over 40 years and are keen to point out that the examples shown on the programme are in a minority and that they, along with most other training providers, are committed to offering apprenticeship programmes that are of the highest quality, with real jobs in recognised employers, in fact they currently have many such vacancies available for people of any age to apply for. 

Steve Whitehead at Alliance Learning said:

“While we acknowledge that there are some poor quality training providers within the industry these are in the small minority, some are currently under investigation. My concern is that the Panorama investigation could make employers and young people question the value of apprenticeships.

“It is important to us that the benefits of apprenticeships are not lost through negative publicity generated by a minority of providers – Quality apprenticeships such as those offered by Alliance Learning are highly valued by employers and young people, they provide an opportunity to earn and learn at the same time, they offer real opportunities for young people to get into employment and quickly climb the career ladder. 

Alliance Learning is keen to demonstrate that their reputation for quality and commitment continues be recognised.

They hold Investor in People accreditation and continue to invest in training for all their staff to make sure they are up to date with the latest teaching methods and industry developments. The Matrix Standard for information advice and guidance and The Training Quality Standard amongst others.

Alliance Learning’s apprenticeship programme is very successful, with achievement rates being 10% points above the national average.  Apprenticeship courses take between 12 and 24 months to complete and apprentices are regularly reviewed to support them ensuring they are meeting targets and progressing through the course.

Steve continues:

“Apprenticeships are definitely not the ‘easy option’ when comparing them to other routes such as studying at College moving on to University. Apprenticeships can and do lead to university and many of our apprentices have chosen to progress this route.

“We want our apprenticeship participation and achievement  figures to continue increasing and they will, with the dedication of learners, forward thinking employers and our team of highly qualified tutors our apprenticeship achievement rates are at an all-time high.  

The quality of the vast majority of apprenticeships out there is  excellent, the brand apprenticeship is under scrutiny but employers must trust the good providers and not be influenced by the few highlighted cases which fall below our standards. 

“The best apprenticeships are delivered by the best providers” 

Like Alliance Learning, the majority of Apprenticeship training providers are genuine and committed to making apprenticeships in the UK a success”