Have you thought about what it’s like for young people trying to navigate to their first “real job” in this rapidly changing world? As the head of a nonprofit that sits at the intersection of education and the economy, this is something I think about a lot. That’s why I’ve been on loan to the OECD for the last few months and travelling around the world to learn about how several countries approach this challenge. My goal is to better understand the policies and strategies provided to support young people transitioning from education to employment. I want to examine whether the steps countries are taking are paying off and open a dialogue across borders about to how to learn from each other.
I have already written about some of my initial reflections from Australia and New Zealand here. This blog focuses on Scotland, where I learned about an approach called Foundation Apprenticeships (FA).
Prior to 2015, school students in Scotland generally had to choose between one of two options after completing compulsory schooling (typically at age 18): a general, academic path via higher education or a vocational path via a specific job. The latter is called a Modern Apprenticeship (MA), a Vocational Education and Training path where students get paid, and start working on a qualification that prepares them to enter the labour market. In some sectors, they can build on this MA with a Graduate Apprenticeship to get additional training.
However, there is a tension. The general education path often lacks real world experience, while the vocational path can be so narrow in its training that graduates are vulnerable if the job they’ve trained for changes or goes away. While policymakers are planning to expand the training in their MAs to mitigate this, Scotland has developed a third way called Foundation Apprenticeships (FA) for those still in secondary school. This hybrid model allows students to pursue the courses needed to apply for vocational routes and to university while also having a meaningful work-based learning experience.
