Sir Peter Lampl: What we can learn from the German way

Working for Siemens in Germany in the late Seventies I was struck by one stark difference with Britain: apprentices were as valued and valuable as university graduates. Culturally, they enjoyed the respect not only of employers, but of parents, students and teachers.

Revisiting Munich more recently, I met young apprentices — mainly preparing for white-collar careers — who were being taught all aspects of their company, training as skilled professionals. Most will work for the firm after three years learning the business and some will do a degree in company time.

The German system — and Austria and Switzerland take a similar approach — has a number of key features, according to a Boston Consulting Group report for the Sutton Trust. First, the apprenticeships are led firmly by employers, who maintain their quality. Second, they typically last three years and all are to a standard equivalent to our A levels, or higher. Third, apprenticeships are standardised so a strong common core is preserved, ensuring that an automotive engineer in Stuttgart can easily work for a rival carmaker in Munich.

To be fair to the government, the system here is getting better although we are still a long way behind most European countries. Employers are more in charge of setting standards though six in ten apprenticeships for young people are only to GCSE standard, and one to two years is the standard length.

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