TRAINING needs to be inspected under a new set of criteria recognising the realities of the workplace, the new chairman of the Association of Learning Providers (ALP) has said.
Dave Rogers is taking over from Hugh Pitman, who is standing down after three years, during which time the association has become recognised as a leading voice of private and voluntary-sector training providers.
Mr Rogers, a founder member of the ALP’s board, is chief executive of JTL, a training provider for the building engineering services industry, which has trained 20,000 young electricians since 1989.
He completed an electrical apprenticeship in 1969 and went on to set up an electrical business, going on to a career in trade unionism, with responsibility for training.
He said: “If there is a downturn in the economy, then employers go bankrupt and apprentices lose jobs and this is a negative lever in terms of how we are assessed.
“We simply don’t have control over retention in the way they do in the further education sector.”
“Hospitality is another area where turnover of staff is high. We need to look at the distance travelled by the apprentice, which still stands if the apprentice leaves for another employer, and we are discussing with the Adult Learning Inspectorate how this might happen.”
The ALI says more than half of workplace training providers are inadequate. However, employers complain that the importance placed on completing the standard four-year modern apprenticeship is unfair. They argue that apprentices who move on for more money or even promotion have often gained more from their training than ALI’s inspection criteria suggest.
Mr Rogers said: “There are employers out there who don’t offer training, but are able to poach someone who has done three of their four years as an apprentice.
“This might not be ideal in terms of producing fully-qualified plumbers and electricians, but that is what happens.”
