Training scheme gets pass but watch those numbers

Simon Jervis, the 2000th modern apprentice, at work in Wellington yesterday watched by Michael Cullen. Picture / Mark Mitchell

The Government's modern apprenticeship scheme has won a pass mark from independent assessors, despite there being no clear data on how many trainees drop out.

The scheme is one of Labour's pledge card policies, and more than $70 million has been spent on it since its launch in 2000.

An independent evaluation released yesterday by Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen found that the programme has achieved its main goal of increasing the participation of young people in employment and apprenticeship-based training.

But the evaluation did not contain completion rate figures, and Dr Cullen has conceded that there are some concerns about the quality of information available about the programme.

The National Party's associate education spokesman, Colin King, said yesterday National had been trying for months to find out how many people actually completed the apprenticeships.

National claimed in Parliament earlier that the dropout rate for apprentices over the age of 20 could be as high as 70 per cent.

"What has Michael Cullen got to hide? His slippery silence suggests the number is high," Mr King said.

At the end of March this year there were just under 9000 modern apprentices, and Dr Cullen yesterday visited in Wellington the 2000th apprentice to complete his training.

Dr Cullen said the Tertiary Education Commission had now started collecting the right information, and expected to provide "robust data" on completion and retention rates next year.

It is understood that part of the problem with collecting data on retention rates stems from the regional nature of some figures. For example, if somebody in the scheme in Gisborne left his current employer and shifted to Wellington, he would likely fall out of the programme and then come back in as a new apprentice.

The independent evaluation of the scheme found that it had influenced employers to hire and train more young people in trades.

An increase in the participation of young people in employment and apprenticeship-based training could not, however, be put down solely to the programme.

Respondents to the evaluation survey suggested that labour shortages since the start of the programme had probably also played a part.

Some of the survey results:

* Sixty-three per cent of employers of modern apprentices said they would definitely recommend the programme to another employer; just 2 per cent said they definitely would not.

* Ninety-five per cent of employers said they would either definitely or probably recommend the programme to young staff, and 58 per cent said they either strongly agreed or agreed that the programme had encouraged their company to hire and train more young people

* Just 40 per cent of current apprentices said they would keep progressing in the industry they were in; 64 per cent of people who had completed modern apprentices said they would stay in the same industry.

* Of those spoken to who did not complete their apprenticeships, many dropped out because of the "natural life stage" they were at. For example, some wanted a break from studying.