Academy may pave way for a brighter future

Leeds City College hopes a new apprenticeship-led academy would raise the profile of the qualification and help tackle unemployment among young people.

The proposed academy could open by 2013 serving the Leeds City Region.

The college is developing plans for an academy which would recruit students from school from the age of 14. It hopes to submit a formal bid to the Government early this year.

College bosses hope ministers will approve its idea which could act as a national pilot before being rolled out across the country.

The idea builds on the University Technical Colleges being launched across the country as 14-to-19 schools which combine study in core subjects with specialist teaching in particular vocational areas.

Leeds City College’s plan differs as it is proposing a school focused on teaching apprenticeships. It also aims to deliver education to young people up to the age of 24.

College bosses believe this will help tackle the number of young people classed as NEET (not in education, employment or training) in the region. The ambitious proposals also include the creation of an apprenticeship training agency which would act as the employer of young people receiving the training.

College principal Peter Roberts said: “One of the issues we have is that with the current economic situation for smaller and medium sized businesses the cost of taking on apprentices can be too expensive.

“To be an apprentice you need to be employed and the Apprenticeship Training Agency would give more security to everyone. It would allow businesses to work with apprentices where they otherwise wouldn’t and it means young people know they will be employed.”

The college is exploring how the Leeds-wide training agency would be funded but it is expected to need some contributions from employers.

The Government is currently promoting the creation of University Technical College’s (UTCs) as a way of raising the standard of vocational training.

UTCs need to have a university involved in their management and will be run as state-funded schools for pupils between the ages of 14- to-19.

The first UTC in Yorkshire is set to open in Sheffield later this year specialising in advanced engineering and creative and digital media.

The Sheffield UTC could receive as much as £10m from the Government and could cater for as many as 600 students many of whom will be taken out of mainstream schools after three years in order to receive a more technical education.

Ministers are also supporting the creation of 14-to-19 technical academies which will also be run as schools but which do not need a university as a partner. Leeds City College’s plan differs from these models because it would cater for students up to the age of 24. Leeds City College hopes ministers will see the plan as a local solution to youth unemployment.

Mr Roberts said the technical academy could specialise in jobs in retail development which he predicted would be a growth area in Leeds.

He said: “We are not talking about working on the shop floor here but preparing people for the all the jobs these kind of developments will create.”

The idea for a technical academy has been developed in talks with Leeds Council. A potential site for it has yet to identified. Mr Roberts also told the Yorkshire Post that having a large centre which concentrated only on apprenticeships would strengthen their appeal to young people.

He added: “I do think it will change the way people regard apprenticeships. Having an apprenticeship-led academy will raise their status.

“If you see how important apprenticeships are regarded as in other parts of the world that is what we are hoping to achieve here.” He said apprenticeships should be seen as an alternative to and a route to going to university.