We’ve just had a new kitchen fitted. One of the fitters, John, was 19 and just out of his two-year joinery apprenticeship. He was a determined young man who’d enjoyed his apprenticeship because he’d been taken under the wing of an experienced carpenter who’d showed him the ropes. Reg, the gaffer, was in his sixties. A seven-year time-served apprentice, full of stories, he chuckled as he remembered his apprenticeship mentor giving him lots of advice, including, memorably: ‘Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut!’ His apprenticeship included two years learning French polishing, and a month on how to load a van. Both men left school with nothing except their memory of having been told by teachers that they would never get on, would never ‘make anything of myself’. Both had undergone a rigorous apprenticeship, learning alongside and from skilled older workers. For them, the key to their success was their determination to succeed, a positive attitude from their employer and the support of colleagues. This was underlined time and again by employers interviewed as part of a piece of work NIACE carried out in partnership with the Chambers of Commerce: ‘As long as the attitude is right we can teach them the rest, and they will succeed.’

Part of this work has been to talk to employers about the basic or life skills needs of those entering an apprenticeship – and by ‘basic skills’ we mean more than literacy and numeracy – and how they address them. Overwhelmingly, employers felt that young people and adults came to work without adequate literacy and numeracy skills, and, in particular, communication skills, and without what they called ‘work skills’ – being able to make eye contact, talk on the telephone, address customers politely, good time-keeping. But as long as the employee arrived with the right attitude to work, all the rest could be picked up by working alongside experienced people – ‘sitting next to Nellie’, as one owner of a packing firm called it. As Reg said, ‘If I took on an apprentice, qualifications wouldn’t matter – all that would matter is their willingness to learn’.

Learning that transforms lives

What motivates most adult apprentices is a desire for a second chance – once they get it, the impact can be seen in every aspect of their lives, writes CAROL TAYLOR

In Adult Learners’ Week last year there

was a first-time national award, sponsored by Pearson, for the Adult Apprentice of the Year. There were 81 nominees from across the age range and from a multitude of jobs. We in NIACE were keen to find out more about their stories so we analysed their nominations, asked for more information and interviewed a number of the nominees. What we found may not be representative, but it’s certainly interesting.

4 ADULTS LEARNING SPRING 2012

Photo: Ed Melia