Apprenticeship 2014

The Modern Apprenticeship Deception:
When Training Becomes Exploitation

The word “apprentice” conjures images of medieval, Victorian or even twentieth Century craftsmen learning their trade through years of dedicated mentorship with existing craftsmen. Today’s reality tells a different story entirely.

The Traditional Promise vs. Modern Reality

An apprentice, by definition, is someone learning a trade from a skilled employer, agreeing to work for a fixed period at reduced wages in exchange for valuable training and the promise of future employment. This model worked when applied to genuine trades requiring years of skill development – blacksmithing, carpentry, or electrical work.

But something has gone fundamentally wrong when we’re told that basic administrative tasks – work that was once taught in secondary schools – now constitutes a “trade” requiring years of supervised learning at below-market wages.

The Great Administrative Con

Consider what we’re being asked to accept: that filing documents, answering phones, or basic data entry requires the same apprenticeship model as learning to wire a house or craft furniture. These administrative “apprentices” aren’t learning complex skills that take years to master. They’re being sent on the employment equivalent of fetching a “long stand” or searching for a “glass hammer” – classic workplace pranks that waste time while making the victim look foolish.

The harsh reality is that most administrative work can be learned in weeks, not years. Yet we’ve created a system where employers can hire capable workers, pay them apprentice wages, and maintain this arrangement for extended periods.

The Numbers Game

A 2014 recruitment notice tells the story clearly: seven new apprentices sought for roles in Business Administration, IT, Customer Service, Teaching Assistance, and Youth Work. Notice the pattern? These aren’t specialized trades requiring years of mentorship. They’re entry-level positions that any reasonably educated person could perform competently within months.

What happens when these apprenticeships end? Often, nothing. No permanent position materializes. Instead, a fresh batch of “apprentices” arrives, ready to work for reduced wages while the cycle continues.

The True Motivation

Strip away the rhetoric about “skills development” and “training opportunities,” and the real aim becomes clear: employing administrative workers at below-market rates who can be easily dismissed when their fixed-term arrangements conclude. It’s a system that provides employers with a rotating workforce of motivated, low-cost labor while offering workers the illusion of career development.

The Broader Impact

This misuse of the apprenticeship model undermines legitimate training programs and devalues both the concept of apprenticeship and administrative work itself. It suggests that basic office skills are so complex they require years of supervised learning, while simultaneously treating those same skills as expendable and easily replaced.

Real apprenticeships create genuine career pathways and develop expertise that benefits both employer and employee long-term. What we’re seeing in many administrative “apprenticeships” is neither genuine training nor sustainable employment – it’s exploitation dressed up in the language of opportunity.

A Call for Honesty

Perhaps it’s time for employers to be honest about what they’re offering. If you need administrative staff, hire administrative staff at proper wages. If you want to provide genuine training opportunities, create meaningful programs that lead to permanent employment and career advancement.

The apprenticeship model has value when applied appropriately. But when it becomes a vehicle for cheap labor dressed up as training, it serves no one’s interests except those seeking to minimize their wage bills while maximizing their workforce flexibility.

The real question isn’t whether we need apprenticeships – it’s whether we’re prepared to distinguish between genuine skill development and sophisticated wage suppression. Until we do, we’ll continue to see qualified workers accepting “apprentice” wages for work they could do competently from day one.

16/9/2014

apprentice

əˈprɛntɪs/

noun

noun: apprentice; plural noun: apprentices

An apprentice is a person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer, having agreed to work for a fixed period at low wages.

We’re told that simple admin work that used to be learnt in school is a trade, it needs the student to shadow a qualified admin trades person for a number of years on a low wage.

It’s a fraud; these apprentices have been hired to go for a long stand, a bucket of steam, the glass hammer.

The outcome is the employment of admin workers on low pay for a fixed period with no guarantee of permanent employment. When the fixed period ends further “apprentices” can be employed.

The real aim is to employ admin workers on a low rate of pay that can be dispensed with easily.

August 2014 Apprenticeship Recruitment

We are recruiting 7 new apprentices to start in September/October 2014. The opportunities include work and training in:

• Business Administration

• IT

• Customer Service

• Education Teaching Assistance 

• Assistant Group Leadership (youth activities work)

The apprenticeship roles will be located across the Council and in local schools.