GCSE students urged to consider degree apprenticeships
BBCTeenagers across the country are getting their GCSE results today and their thoughts may well be turning to what comes next in life.
For Dominic Bates, taking on a degree apprenticeship worked for him, after studying for A-levels during the Covid pandemic and leaving after not getting the results he wanted.
"I like working with my hands," the 25-year-old said. "When I did [the apprenticeship], I did feel like it was more my speed.
"It helped a lot with finding my bearings, finding what I like doing... it did cement it for me."
Competition for degree apprenticeships - which offer a paid-for university degree along with a salary - in England has quadrupled over the past three years, the BBC has found, and the government has ambitions to deliver 50,000 more youth apprenticeships.
For Bates, from Birmingham, he decided on a Level 3 advanced engineering apprenticeship with Midland Group Training Services, which took place at Dennis Eagle, in Warwick, which manufactures refuse collection vehicles.
He has now finished his apprenticeship and works at the company.
Describing the years when he left school, he said: "Apprenticeships weren't really explored as an option, there's hundreds of options out there but I had to find out on my own."
Bates added that he would be supporting new apprentices as they came in to the company this year.
Dennis Eagle plans to welcome about 20 young people through the scheme.
"We have young apprentices here, a lot of them look to the older apprentices or the ex-apprentices for guidance," Bates added.
"We have that experience… we can tell them what we did."
"It took me a while to discover apprenticeships, but once I did... that piqued my interest - so I applied at a college and they found me a place here. That was 20 years ago now," said Andy McKinlay, quality manager at the firm.
After leaving school, he said he knew he preferred to learn in a more hands-on way.
"There wasn't as many opportunities for apprenticeships then, and it was restricted to certain fields - whereas I think now you can get an apprenticeship in almost any career that you're interested in," he said.
"Mine isn't a lone story, we have many, many apprentices that come through here that stay here for upwards of 30 years.
"It builds their network, their confidence, their abilities, their skill set, while providing an education at the same time, and gets them on the first step of the career ladder."
Simone Bayley, learning development coordinator at the company, said speaking to young people at careers fairs showed to her that apprentices were a popular choice.
"We found that that decision was really about cost, the cost of going to university and the appeal of being able to blend academic learning, but also workplace learning as well," she said.
Apprenticeships were important to the company, she added, and helped support the development of future talent and secure leaders of the future.
"There's a real focus and there's a real need for apprenticeships," she said.
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