Traineeships make a difference to young people, with research showing participants are more likely to be in a positive destination like an apprenticeship or further learning. They consist of things you’d expect in a good education and training programme, like work preparation and experience. We’ve shown how occupational traineeships at Hartlepool College and Intertrain have helped young people prepare for jobs in construction and rail.
On the face of it, then, isn’t it a mistake to end traineeships as a national programme? Yes, the government has missed its targets to treble numbers and returned unspent money to the Treasury. But isn’t the answer to better promote traineeships and provide more incentives and support to employers and young people, particularly given better funded programmes like Kickstart will have affected take-up?
As it happens, I think the government is right. To understand why, we need to step back to first principles.
What are we trying to achieve? Our aim is to reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training. This stands at around 700,000, down since the pandemic but still too high.
