Changing political narratives on apprenticeship

Purpose

This paper aims to consider the political rhetoric surrounding apprenticeships in England since 2012 in the light of publicly available data on the implementation of apprenticeship policy.

Design/methodology/approach

A series of key speeches made by skills ministers have been analysed using political discourse analysis (van Dijk, 2008), identifying the key messages for different stakeholders and the potential reasons behind these messages. From this, a narrative policy analysis is used to consider any key changes since 2014 to the dominant narrative about apprenticeships. This narrative is compared to the adoption of key changes to the apprenticeship system – the levy, the development of standards and the role of assessment and qualifications – and their implementation using publicly available data.

Findings

The paper finds that there is one dominant narrative focused towards employers, highlighting the value of apprenticeships to fill skills gaps and provide well-trained staff (including progressing existing staff) for employers. When speaking to training providers and employers, politicians focus more on apprenticeships at all ages and on quality, in addition to employer-led apprenticeships.

Originality/value

This paper uses methods from political analysis in the context of apprenticeship policy, establishing how narrative can be similar to or detached from policy implementation. This paper considers the extent to which the development of this policy is affected by the political narrative and the individual Skills Ministers.