For too long apprenticeships have been undervalued with young people often guided to follow a single path – do A Levels, and then pack your bags for university.
It is one Tony Blair’s many legacies that have done more harm than good.
His blind push to get young people into university – regardless of quality – was short sighted.
We have all seen how this ends. Young people taking up three years of debt to on meaningless degrees which neither they, or the country, needs.
This is wasting their talent and they know it – drop out rates can also be unacceptably high for this reason. All the while we lack the coders, engineers or electricians that apprenticeships could bring.