Social Mobility and Degree Apprenticeship – Policy should be Based on Facts
There has been a fair bit of commentary on how Degree Apprenticeship aren’t supporting social mobility and are in fact subject to a middle class land grab.
A recent detailed study of individuals taking Degree Apprenticeships at Middlesex University paints a rather different picture.
The Middlesex University Move on Up survey, released at the start of National Apprenticeship Week, found:
- 66% of Middlesex apprentices come from low higher education participation backgrounds
- 49% of respondents reported that their parents/guardians had ‘qualifications below degree level’ and 17% reported that their parents/guardians had ‘no formal qualifications’, which totals 66%
- Up to 63% of apprentices may be from non-professional backgrounds
- Only 37% of respondents reported that the highest income earners in their household were employed as ‘managers, directors and senior officials’ ‘professionals’, or ‘associate professionals’
- 53% of Middlesex apprentices are female, 47% are from BAME groups and 72% are aged over 25 years
- Retention rates are also high – 93% overall, 97% for Middlesex Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship programmes
