Foundation pathways will test traditional stereotypes
To learn and earn and get qualified faces a gender equality battle, says Diane Greenlees
Anna Manson’s career in aeronautical engineering is taking off thanks to her apprenticeship in Ayrshire. She’s following in her father and her uncle’s footsteps.
Kelsey Pexton has navigated through her automotive apprenticeship with Arnold Clark. And Sophie Turner carved out a career as an apprentice stonemason in Orkney. All three have a lot in common. They all chose to pursue an apprenticeship, to work, learn and earn – to get a job, get paid and get qualified.
They are all developing their careers through workbased learning, gaining skills, experience and qualifications that will last them a lifetime.
But for young women in science, technology, engineering and maths-based jobs, they are all the exception rather than the rule.
At Skills Development Scotland (SDS) we recognise that there are long-standing societal misconceptions about apprenticeships.
We know there are outdated perceptions about traditional job roles in the wider labour market that influence people’s employment and educational subject choices.
With new developments including Foundation Apprenticeships we aim to challenge traditional stereotypes, providing new and innovative pathways into a variety of high-skilled sectors for our young people.
We believe that we are seeing a shift in attitudes; SDS and others who are working hard to dispel gender myths are well-placed to be a catalyst for that change.
In Scotland the introduction of Foundation Apprenticeships will play a huge role in changing attitudes and, ultimately, improving outcomes for young people by supporting fair and equal work. Pupils can choose Foundation Apprenticeships at school – usually starting in fifth year – alongside their other subjects.
Foundation Apprenticeships will be available in more than 100 secondary schools this year and by 2019 there will be up to 5000 places across the country.
Pupils spend time out of school with a training provider such as a college, and with a local employer, completing key elements of the Foundation Apprenticeship. They offer the potential to get more young women involved in work-based learning earlier.
We know the battle for gender equality starts young. By the time most children reach primary school they’ll have formed ideas about what jobs they want to do by soaking up the world around them; they’re already seeing cues on what may or may not be ‘acceptable’ as a job for them.
SDS is already uniquely placed to support pupils to explore their career possibilities, with careers advisers working in every secondary school in the country.
Foundation Apprenticeships are building on that work, offering young women the chance to begin on their path to their dream career within the familiar environment of their school. By tackling gendered choices here, we increase choices and options in the world of work. ● Diane Greenlees is Skills Development Scotland’s Head of Foundation and Graduate Level Apprenticeships. For more about Foundation Apprenticeship go to www. apprenticeships.scot/foundation