The Black Apprentice Network – Apprentice Stories

A new collaboration between Amazing Apprenticeships and the Black Apprentice Network was created to tackle the underrepresentation of individuals who are of African and the Caribbean descent. We want to help more individuals to access apprenticeships and inspire a future generation to consider apprenticeships as one of their options.

In the 21/22 academic year, non-white apprenticeship starts made up less than 2 in 10 apprentices at all ages (14.7%), yet we know that awareness of apprenticeships is rising and that schools and colleges are doing more to inform their students about apprenticeships as a credible option. So why aren’t we seeing greater uptake?

There are a number of reasons that we are seeing low take-up of apprenticeships by those of African and the Caribbean descent, and through our partnership we want to focus on making impact in three main areas.

• We want to inspire young people to understand the wide range of opportunities that are available through apprenticeships by sharing positive stories featuring inspirational role models through the Black Apprentice Network.
• We want to increase parental understanding and confidence in apprenticeships, helping parents and carers to realise the benefits that apprenticeships could bring their child and how to access different opportunities to progress their careers.
• We want to support employers to attract and retain talented individuals onto their apprenticeship programmes, and help them to understand the support structures and considerations they may need to implement to ensure success.