Professor Tom Bewick recently attended the inaugural international conference on delivery and policy of degree and higher apprenticeships. The following article is based on the speech he gave, held at Staffordshire University on 22nd June 2023.
In 1562, the English Parliament passed the world’s first recognised national apprenticeship legislation.
The Statute of Artificers Act saw the transfer of power to regulate the supply of labour to the economy (mainly an agricultural society back then), from feudal guilds to the Elizabethan state.
It feels like this country has been in a constant dialogue about the role and purpose of apprenticeship ever since.
Whatever the century, at the heart of apprenticeship policy, you’ll find a real concern about how best to support the individual, who is in productive terms, still a novice.
