The Creative Apprenticeships event looked at how arts and cultural organisations can capture and nuture a new generation of talented individuals through apprenticeships. This is the keynote presentation from the event by Pauline Tambling, Joint CEO, Creative and Cultural Skills and Managing Director, National Skill Academy for Creative and Cultural

1. Pauline Tambling
Joint CEO, Creative & Cultural Skills
Managing Director, National Skills Academy for
Creative & Cultural

2. Apprenticeships - the challenge for our sector

3. Apprenticeships - the challenge for our sector
• Why apprenticeships?
• Why now?
• Do apprenticeships work in our
sector?
• Why is it all so complicated?
• Why can’t people give me a straight
answer about funding
apprenticeships?
3

4. Sector Skills Councils
• Work with employers, education and Government to make sure that
their sectors can recruit people with the right skills for the job market.
• Produce Labour Market Intelligence, support qualifications
development and engage with employers.
• Funded and licensed by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills
(UKCES) and working closely with the Department of Business,
Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Skills Funding Agency.

5. Creative & Cultural Skills
• Our sectors are craft, cultural heritage, design,
literature, music, performing arts and visual arts.
• Our goal is to enable the creative and cultural
industries to reach their economic potential
through relevant skills and training.
• We work in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland
and Wales.
• We run a Careers Programme, Industry
Partnerships, Education Partnerships, Research.

6. Definitions
‘a system of training a new generation of
practitioners of a skill. Most training is
done while working for an employer who
helps the apprentice learn their trade in
exchange for their continuing labour for
an agreed period of time after they
become skilled. Theoretical education
may also be involved either in the
workplace or through attending a college
whilst being paid by the employer’.

7. Employers employ
Apprentices work Colleges train

8. ‘Approved’ Apprenticeships
• Underpinning qualifications
• Functional skills
• Employment rights and responsibilities
• Personal Learning and Thinking Skills
Training funded by government
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9. Current Government Policy
‘The Government has urged employers to
help create 100,000 more apprentices by the
year 2014. Business Secretary Vince Cable
marked the start of Apprenticeship Week by
underlining the Government’s commitment
to increase the budget for apprenticeships to
over £1,400m in 2011-12. He urged
employers to follow the lead of firms such as
British Airways, British Gas, BT, Superdrug,
Jaguar Land Rover and Procter & Gamble,
which are offering thousands of places to
budding apprentices……’
9

10. Jobs in the creative industries...

11. Apprenticeships for our sector?
• Over-supply of performers and artists but
skills shortages in other parts of the industry
• Workforce profile
• Culture of ‘over-qualified/under-skilled’
recruits
• Not all jobs are graduate jobs
• Creative Apprenticeships new to Further and
Higher Education
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12. The Creative Industries
• 66,900 businesses, 85% of which employ fewer than 5 people.
• Highly qualified: 54% of workers educated to level 4 or above.
• Far more qualified than the UK economy as a whole, where only 34% are
educated to this level.
• The average worker earns £8.60 an hour, compared with the total
economy, where the average hourly wage is £8.69.

13. The creative and cultural sector in England - 694,700 workers
Qualifications level:
No qualifications: 5% in the
creative and cultural sector (8%
in the UK economy as a whole)
L1: 3% (5%)
L2: 14% (25%)
L3: 18% (20%)
L4 or above: 54% (33%)

14. Research and analysis
www.creative-blueprint.co.uk

15. Creative Apprenticeships
Creative & Cultural Skills has developed new apprenticeships with creative and
cultural sector employers in the following areas at both level 2 and level 3:
• Live Events & Promotion
• Music Business
• Technical Theatre
• Costume & Wardrobe
• Cultural Heritage
• Community Arts
• Design
• Jewellery, Silversmithing & Allied Trades

16. Other Apprenticeships
• Business & Administration
• Facilities Manager
• Web Designer
• Customer Services
• Sales & Telesales
• Software Developer
• Accounts
• Marketing
• Set crafts
• Electrician
For a full list, see
www.apprenticeships.org.uk

17. Number of Creative Apprentices in the creative sector
1000
923
800
600
582
466
400
236
200
135
58
0 0
-200
Number of Creative Apprentices Poly. (Number of Creative Apprentices)

18. The basics
• The Apprenticeship National Minimum
Wage is £2.60 p/h
• Apprentices must be employed for the
length of time it takes to complete all the
qualifications on the framework
• Apprentices can move onto the next level
apprenticeship
• Apprenticeships are jobs - and linked to
any available framework

19. Some Apprenticeship Myths
• Apprenticeships are expensive
• Apprenticeships are only for large businesses
• I’d have to allocate so much money to train an apprentice
• I’d be better off with a graduate intern
• I’d have to get all my staff CRB checked
• All my jobs are graduate jobs
• An apprentice would be too immature for the workplace
• The whole process is bureaucracy-heavy

20. Challenges (1)
There are 21,620 creative businesses in London
• 88% employer fewer than 5 people.
• 93% employer fewer than 50 people
The sector is dependent on freelancers
Visual Arts (81%), Literary Arts (65%), Music (59%), Performing Arts (56%), Craft
(53%), Design (48%) and Cultural Heritage (6%).

21. Challenges (2)
• No history of non-graduate
recruitment
• No profile for technical and ‘non-
arts’ jobs
• No traditional relationship with
the Further Education sector
• No approved Creative
Apprenticeship Frameworks until
March 2008
• Limited number of frameworks
• London has low take up of
Apprenticeships

22. Current Government Policy
‘THE Government has urged employers
to help create 100,000 more
apprentices by the year 2014.Business
Secretary Vince Cable marked the start
of Apprenticeship Week by underlining
the Government’s commitment to
increase the budget for apprenticeships
to over £1,400m in 2011-12.He urged
employers to follow the lead of firms
such as British Airways, British Gas, BT,
Superdrug, Jaguar Land Rover and
Procter & Gamble, which are offering
thousands of places to budding
apprentices……’
22

23. National Skills Academy
Founder College Network
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24. Why it can seem complicated
• Different timescales (1-4 years)
• Intermediate/Advanced and Higher
levels
• Skills Funding Agency support for
training is linked to age (100% for 16-
19 years ; 50% for 19 – 24 years ; no
training funding for 24years +)
• Different frameworks, different
funding levels
• Existing staff can be apprentices and
claim the training funding

25. Group Training Associations
• Clusters of employers working
together
• Delivering training in-house
• Can share apprentices
• Can access training funding
• Colleges take the role of
assessors and contract holders

26. Sector Skills Councils
• Develop and approve National Occupational Standards (NOS)
• Operate as an ‘Issuing Authority’ for apprenticeships
• Develop and issue apprenticeship frameworks
• Ensure apprenticeships are relevant and fit for purpose
• ‘Quality assure’ apprenticeship frameworks.

27. Industry-endorsed careers advice and guidance
www.getintotheatre.org

28. Supporting progression in the sector
www.creative-choices.co.uk

29. Apprenticeship Statistics
• The latest cohort of 200 apprentices is
expected to deliver a net gain of c£2.4m to
the UK economy.
• 79% of employers feel that apprentices
make a significant contribution to their
business.
• 78% felt that Creative Apprentices were
more effective in the workplace as a result
of their training.
• Nearly 6 in 10 apprentices remain with
their employer post-completion.

30. Further Information
pauline.tambling@ccskills.org.uk
www.twitter.com/NSACreative
www.nsa-ccskills.co.uk
www.ccskills.org.uk