Tag: apprenticeship

  • Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Apprenticeship and Job Training

    Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Apprenticeship and Job Training

    President Trump issued an executive order last month instructing federal officials to “reach and surpass” a million new active apprenticeships. It was an ambitious target that apprenticeship advocates celebrated, anticipating new federal investments in more paid on-the-job training programs, in new industries and via a more efficient system.

    “After years of shuffling Americans through an economically unproductive postsecondary system, President Trump will refocus young Americans on career preparation,” federal officials wrote in a fact sheet on the order. They also emphasized that the federal government spends billions on the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act, or WIOA, and Career and Technical Education, but “neither of these programs are structured to promote apprenticeships or have incentives to meet workforce training needs.”

    Ryan Craig, author of the book Apprenticeship Nation, managing director of Achieve Partners, co-founder of Apprenticeships for America and an occasional contributor to Inside Higher Ed, said it was the first time a president set a goal for the number of apprentices in the U.S., as far as he’s aware.

    Apprenticeships are “one of the few, perhaps the only area of education, of workforce development, where this administration has said, ‘We want more of this,’” he said shortly after the executive order dropped.

    But the excitement for an expanded apprenticeship model in the U.S. might be short-lived. Craig and other apprenticeship advocates worry that Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 doesn’t reflect the executive order’s vision. The proposal doesn’t promise any significant new investments in apprenticeship and slashes workforce development spending over all.

    “The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing here,” Craig said. “It’s not the sea change that the executive order promised.”

    Mixed Signals

    Among many highlights for advocates, the order also calls for a workforce development strategy with a focus on scrutinizing workforce programs’ outcomes, which currently aren’t carefully tracked.

    Federal officials were given 90 days to review all federal workforce development programs and come out with a report on strategies to improve participants’ experiences, measure performance outcomes, identify valuable alternative credentials and reform or nix ineffective programs. The executive order also generally called for more transparent performance outcomes data, including earning and employment data, for such programs.

    Trump’s skinny budget makes good on his promise to consolidate workforce development spending and cut programs the administration deems ineffective, but it also offers apprenticeships a small slice of that shrinking pie.

    The proposal includes a $1.64 billion cut to workforce development funding under the Department of Labor and eliminates Job Corps, a free career training program for youth, and the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which offers job training and subsidized employment for low-income seniors. The administration also proposed a new program called Make America Skilled Again, or MASA. States would be required to spend 10 percent of their MASA grants on apprenticeships. Almost $3 billion, including WIOA funding, remains to fund the program, down from $4.6 billion, Work Shift reported.

    The budget promises to “give states and localities the flexibility to spend workforce dollars to best support their workers and economies, instead of funneling taxpayer dollars to progressive non-profits finding work for illegal immigrants or focusing on DEI.”

    Craig supports offering states more flexibility and cutting “train-and-pray programs that have little to no connection to employers or employment outcomes”—but he hoped money saved from those cuts would go toward apprenticeships, which are “by definition good jobs with career trajectories and built-in training.”

    He said a mere 10 percent of block grant funding directed to apprenticeships feels “inconsistent” with the bold goals laid out in the executive order. He had high hopes Trump would consider radically changing how apprenticeships are funded, moving away from time-limited, individual grants to a more robust federal funding structure. At the very least, he believes apprenticeships should get the “lion’s share” of workforce development funding.

    “My hope is it’s just the budget proposal and that things get worked out [to be] more consistent with the executive order,” he said, “but it was disappointing to see that.”

    Vinz Koller, vice president of the Center for Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning at Jobs for the Future, said he similarly felt hopeful about the executive order’s messaging, in particular its commitment to “further protect and strengthen” registered apprenticeships.

    The wording represented a shift in approach.

    During Trump’s previous term, the president sought to create industry-recognized apprenticeships, an entirely separate apprenticeship system to sidestep what he viewed as inefficiencies in the current system and excessive federal regulation. Koller was glad to see Trump interested in reforming and investing in the current system this time rather than making plans to “throw out the rule book.”

    But the proposed budget isn’t “backing it up,” he said.

    His organization recently put out a policy blueprint for expanding and improving apprenticeship—including calling for stronger incentives for employers and more investment in intermediary organizations that offer programs’ support—but those strategies aren’t possible without more federal funding, Koller said. The policy blueprint points out that in fiscal year 2024, the federal government spent at least $184.35 billion on higher education, while the Department of Labor’s apprenticeship budget was just $285 million.

    But Koller also doesn’t believe slashing higher ed spending is the answer, and he’s worried about the proposed cuts to workforce training and to higher ed in the administration’s proposal. He said the goal is to give learners “choice-filled pathways,” including apprenticeships and other forms of work-based learning, not to “rob Peter to pay Paul.”

    Grant consolidation and streamlining can be “positive,” he said, but “we just want to make sure that the support is there to actually do what is needed on the ground,” across program types. “We don’t want to dismantle the other aspects of a healthy educational workforce infrastructure as we build the new parts.”

    Kerry McKittrick, co-director of the Project on Workforce at Harvard University, said the budget poses a double threat to workforce development funding. Not only would the proposal cut more than a billion dollars, but the budget would also dole out the remaining funds in block grants to states, a funding structure that has been shown to lack oversight and generally decrease funding over time.

    The project’s research found “governors do want more flexibility,” she said. “At the same time, we continue to hear from them that the lack of resources is really the biggest problem with the workforce system and meeting workforce needs … There’s no way we’ll see an expansion in apprenticeship with such a massive cut.”

    Lingering Hopes

    Some apprenticeship proponents remain optimistic.

    John Colborn, executive director of Apprenticeships for America, agreed the skinny budget doesn’t seem like “a recipe for substantial growth of apprenticeship,” but he isn’t giving up on the possibility of bold changes just yet.

    He noted that the budget makes no mention of other possible funding sources for apprenticeship mentioned in the executive order fact sheet, such as career and technical education funds, so there may be plans for other funding streams in the works.

    The proposed budget also alludes to a “reallocation” of adult education funding struck from the Education Department to “better support the innovative, workforce-aligned, apprenticeship-focused activities the Department seeks to promote,” though it doesn’t go into further detail.

    He said, based on the executive order, federal officials still have time to draft a plan, and he’s going to wait until they do before arriving at any final conclusions about how apprenticeships will fare under a second Trump term.

    “It’s probably a mistake to look at the skinny budget as a blueprint for the funding of an apprenticeship growth initiative,” he said. He plans “to take it seriously, because it’s a statement of intent from the president, but to not look to it as a constraining document for how we might be thinking about growing apprenticeships going forward.”

    Shalin Jyotishi, managing director of the Future of Work and Innovation Economy Initiative at the left-wing think tank New America, emphasized that “any administration’s policy direction on apprenticeships should be judged on actions, not only words.”

    He pointed out that multiple executive orders, including a recent one on artificial intelligence education, have called for expanding apprenticeships, but some such programs have also undergone cuts under Trump. He wants to instead see renewed investments, like those Trump made in degree-connected apprenticeships during his first term, and argued the field is “ripe” for such efforts.

    “It’s heartening to see the administration emphasize the importance of registered apprenticeships,” Jyotishi wrote to Inside Higher Ed, “and education and workforce leaders will be looking for follow-through through actions, implementation, and resources.”

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  • Degree apprenticeship delivery needs strengthening to realise their potential

    Degree apprenticeship delivery needs strengthening to realise their potential

    Degree apprenticeships have, ten years from their introduction, stimulated innovative models of delivery and nurtured productive relationships between employers and education and training providers.

    Their rapid growth has, however, invited questions as to whether they are the right instrument for introducing young people to the workforce, or whether Apprenticeship Levy funding would be better spent elsewhere. To consider and evaluate degree apprenticeships, the Edge Foundation in collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of Bath, Huddersfield and Oxford, conducted nearly 100 interviews with large employers, SMEs, education and training providers, degree apprentices and policymakers.

    Our research confirmed degree apprenticeships represent a unique confluence of theoretical higher education and practical skills and promote both academic achievement and workplace competency. Our primary finding was, however, that there is considerable heterogeneity in delivery of these programmes. This flexibility is degree apprenticeships’ greatest asset; it simultaneously, however, increases their complexity.

    Aligning employer needs

    Our research found numerous examples of pragmatic, trusting partnerships between education and training providers and employers. As one education and training provider told us:

    I was able to bring my employer partners with me to the university […] So it’s been great to sit down and […] say “what is it that is missing?” […] And them saying “can you do this? Can you do that?” […] so I can truly say, from the heart, this is for the first time, we are truly, truly, employer-driven.

    However, it remains challenging to engage the full spectrum of employers. Employers engage in these initiatives primarily out of a concern for workforce development, striving to support employees’ professional growth while addressing existing or upcoming skills shortages. However, despite their significance in the UK economy, engagement with SMEs remains challenging.

    Trailblazers, for example, that design apprenticeship standards, have struggled to engage and represent the needs of SMEs. Resource-poor businesses like SMEs often struggle to realise an immediate return on investment for their input. The process is resource intensive, and even with employer and input from regulatory bodies and sector-specific organisations, there is tension in whether professional body requirements can keep pace with modern workplace practices.

    Diversity in delivery structures

    The delivery of degree apprenticeships varies widely even within the same sector, with different patterns of block study, virtual or face-to-face sessions, workplace experiences, placement rotations, and assessments. We heard from apprentices whose learning environment was entirely virtual, featuring asynchronous methods such as recorded lectures and digital resources, to fully in-person models with collaborative project work.

    Concerns about coordinating theoretical elements with workplace roles remain a high priority, with regular communication between employers and tutoring staff viewed as essential. Nonetheless, there is some evidence of excellent integration of learning with workplace practice and, as one education and training provider told us:

    we have huge amounts of anecdotal discussions from employers about the very real, not just skills and talent impact, but the business benefits that students are bringing.

    Positively, degree apprentices experienced learning outcomes and developed skills that surpassed typical undergraduate levels, and many apprentices and employers recognised they had significant advantages in employment for their present and future careers.

    Support systems for apprentices

    Employer mentors’ relationships with apprentices are varied, with providers offering different types of mentorship, from personal tutors to skills coaches. The coordination of tripartite reviews – involving apprentices, employers, and education and training providers – acts as a critical connection among all stakeholders. Apprentices also frequently reported they had formed important and supportive relationships with other apprentices, particularly those who were attached to large employers, where structured support networks were often in place – another area of divergence between the apprentices’ experiences of large and smaller employers. Nevertheless, despite apprentices with SMEs being less likely to have access to similar collegial groups of apprentices at similar career levels, they often praised their employers and team members for offering a supportive and nurturing environment for their development.

    Repeatedly throughout our evidence, stakeholders of all types stressed the importance of effective communication as key for helping learners to see the connections between their work and their academic study. But this could be highly resource intensive, and we found ETPs were not confident in the sustainability of their provision. Education and training providers report that much of their activity around degree apprenticeships is compliance-driven, often overwhelmed by complex auditing and reporting processes that intersect with internal monitoring mechanisms, requiring considerable additional resources, administrative structures and staff. These multiple bodies can sometimes measure quality in incompatible ways. These burdens were significant enough that some education and training providers questioned the feasibility of continuing to offer degree apprenticeships.

    The long-standing challenge of work-related learning, that features throughout vocational programmes, is ensuring the on- and off-the-job training work seamlessly together. Degree apprenticeships certainly exhibit instances of good practice here. But our research also highlighted the great deal of variability in delivery of degree apprenticeships. The linchpin of the quality of learning on a degree apprenticeship programme is directly related to the quality of collaboration between employers, education and training providers, and apprentices.

    Employers and education and training providers in particular should work together to share and implement best practice and ensure that the content of the taught elements and the apprentice’s learning on the job connect and relate to each other as regularly and deeply as possible. Likewise, allowing increased flexibility in the apprenticeship standards, as we have seen in places such as the Netherlands, would allow degree apprenticeships to keep better pace with the rapidly changing economy and workplace practices.

    Finally, we have learned that despite degree apprenticeships offering brilliant opportunities for people to both begin and develop their careers, their success rests on enough opportunities being available in the first place. This requires reducing barriers that hinder the engagement of education and training providers, employers and apprentices. Notably we have found the administrative burdens in relation to accountability on the part of education and training providers, and the management of DAs, as well as the ability to transfer levy funds, on the part of employers, are all persistent barriers to wider engagement.

    With degree apprenticeships coming under scrutiny following the government’s announcement to broaden the Apprenticeship Levy into a Growth and Skills Levy, articulating their strengths and identifying where challenges lie is key to securing their sustainability and ongoing success.

    You can read the full research findings from Degree apprenticeships in England here or sign up to attend the online launch event 10.00-11.30am UK time on Tuesday 28 January.

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