Reports have been published this week that recommended changes to apprenticeships and technical education for hair and beauty, including a recommendation that there be a standalone new apprenticeship for barbering.
These follow ‘route reviews’ that look into whether apprenticeships, T Levels and other technical education training is high-quality and fully up to date.
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute) has published reports summarising results from the latest route reviews.
The first of these is for hair and beauty. It includes the hair professional apprenticeship, which was approved before the Institute launched in 2017 and will now be updated. Interestingly there is a recommendation that there be a standalone new apprenticeship for barbering.
The other report covers highlight findings from our review of 15 apprenticeships for the creative and design sectors. This includes a recommendation for TV, radio, public relations and corporate communications options to be included incorporated into the existing junior journalist apprenticeship.
Jennifer Coupland, chief executive at the Institute, said:
“This has been a really challenging time for these sectors, but these route reviews have provided a fantastic opportunity to gather feedback about what is working and where things need to improve with apprenticeships and technical education. I would like to thank everyone who has taken the trouble to contribute amid deeply difficult circumstances with COVID-19. We place huge value on the impressive level of employer engagement through our trailblazer groups, route panels and wider external consultation.
“I am delighted to be able to present these summaries of the route reviews’ recommendations. We will come out of the pandemic and these reviews will ensure that the right apprenticeships will be in place to support that recovery and serve their sectors’ skills needs for many years to come.”
The reports also set out:
- What occupations are being added, removed and prioritised for the development of further training options
- Institute commitments to supporting technical education for hair and beauty and creative and design
- Our planned next steps.
The Institute has stressed that they recognise that COVID-19 continues to impact heavily on employers and has considered the most appropriate time to reveal the findings of these reviews.
They expect to publish full reports later this year that further reflect on the impact of COVID-19 and longer-term sector changes.
The hair and beauty summary reports can be downloaded here.