‘A huge learning curve’: apprentices on the benefits and pitfalls of vocational training

The government hopes to increase focus on technical and vocational learning in England from the age of 14. In parallel, there is an ambition to create thousands more apprenticeships.

The work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, has also announced a new bursary aimed at ensuring families will not be left financially worse off if their teenager starts an apprenticeship.

Research from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found that black and mixed-ethnicity learners from poorer backgrounds and those for whom English is an additional language are less likely to complete their apprenticeships.

The Guardian asked people to share their experiences of apprenticeships.

‘I am progressing faster than colleagues with degrees’

Ellen*, 24, from Worcester, decided an apprenticeship would work better for her than university, although it was “never suggested” as an option at school.

“It was just assumed that uni was going to be the way I went,” she says. “I did my own research on my other options.”

Securing an apprenticeship was not easy, and she experienced “a lot of rejections” before she won a place at a medium-sized MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) consultancy.

Her three-year apprenticeship was four days a week with a day at college for her higher national certificate (HNC) studies. Her HNC course was two years, but the apprenticeship requirement of submitting evidence added an additional year.

Ellen passed, gaining a BTec level 4 HNC as well as a CIBSE (Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers) Licentiate, and EngTech certification through CIBSE as an end-point assessment organisation and the UK regulatory body, the Engineering Council.

“It was a huge learning curve and I had to ask for extra help from my teachers,” she says. “At 18, being thrown into the deep end, you just want to do well, you just want to try your best to get all the answers right.

“I had a really good experience at the company that took me on as an apprentice and then gave me a job – really supportive managers – but I found it difficult to balance work, study and having a social life. All my friends chose to go to university and were all over the country, and there was no one around my age at work so having any social life was very difficult.”

Ellen says a “lack of female role models” within her industry and office was also “a difficulty”.

“I have since moved into fire sprinkler design, but starting my new career with a construction qualification and four years of industry experience has meant I am progressing faster than my colleagues who have degrees,” she says.

‘I was effectively being paid to learn’

Harry, 26, a machinist, says he feels “gratitude” that he has a job, as he sees friends who went to university now questioning that decision.

“Some have needed uni to get the jobs that they have now, but some of them I don’t think have needed it, and they’re starting to realise that,” he says.

Harry, from Billingshurst, West Sussex, says that, after achieving three A-levels, he briefly flirted with the idea of studying business at university.

“The cost put me off,” he says. “Also, it didn’t sit right with me in my gut to go to university. I just didn’t think I had the mental strength for full-time education while balancing a part-time job and watching my money.”

Instead, he worked two ski seasons as a chaperone in France and was planning a third when the Covid pandemic closed down tourism.

“I was lucky and privileged enough to be able to come back home to stay with my family,” he says. “They obviously wanted me to get a job to pay rent.”

Harry knew about apprenticeships through his father, who had done an electrician’s apprenticeship in the late 1980s, and applied for “about five”. He got a four-year level 3 engineering machine technician work placement, involving a day a week of study. He started his apprenticeship in 2020, but delays due to Covid meant he finished it in 2025.

Harry threw himself into his studies. “While I was at college, I made sure that all the time I was there, I was doing as much work as I could because I was effectively being paid to learn,” he says.

At the end of his apprenticeship, he gained an engineering technician (machinist – advanced manufacturing engineering) level 3 qualification. The apprenticeship had a guaranteed job if he passed. Harry was offered a role, but he decided to go elsewhere for a better wage.

He adds: “I do take gratitude in the fact that I have a job. People are meant to come out of uni and find a career, but I don’t think many of them can.”

‘Some people were not ready to come to work’

Hannah*, a metalworker, says while her apprenticeship was “amazing”, she saw how others struggled and missed out on completing theirs because of a lack of support.

“The work suited me, and I received plenty of affirmation after a long spell of unemployment and low self-confidence,” she says. “The college qualification opened a lot of doors.

“I took maths and English functional skills tests as part of the process, having not taken any exams as a school-refusing teenager, but the course had some shortcomings when it came to material and delivery – my cohort on the course were almost universally disengaged.”

Hannah, who is in her 30s and lives in south-west England, dropped out of school aged 14, only returning sporadically. She was “in that category of Neet for quite a while”, turning to the apprenticeship after periods in college, cleaning part-time and picking up “little bits of work” in her 20s.

While she is encouraged by the government’s plans regarding technical learning and apprenticeships, she sounds a note of caution. Hannah saw several people unable to continue with their apprenticeship and believes more guided support would have helped, adding that some of the cohort “stru