National Apprenticeship Week 2015 Launches Today

National Apprenticeship Week kicks off today. We’ll be bringing you a series of informative, interesting and hopefully inspiring features and news stories to mark the occasion. But first: what is it all about?

National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) is designed to celebrate apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy.

This year NAW, co-ordinated by the National Apprenticeship Service, is all about:

- Getting more small businesses to take on apprentices

- Promoting the range and breadth of apprenticeships on offer, including at Higher level and in blue chip companies

- Celebrating apprenticeships and the level of success that learners can achieve

Here are some surprising facts about apprenticeships:

- 1,000 businesses are now involved in designing the new apprenticeship standards

- There are 1,500 different apprenticeships on offer in more than 170 industries

- The government invested £1.5bn in apprenticeships in 2013 to 2014

- Businesses see an increase in productivity by £214 a week when they hire apprentices

If you were impressed by any of those points then keep checking out our News section all week: we’ll be bringing you the essential edit for NAW 2015.

News

• UCAS Reveals World Cup Countries’ Favourite University Subjects
• Apprentice National Minimum Wage goes up by record amount
• Apprenticeship Graduation Ceremonies to Take Place
• School Leaver Blog: How to deal with rejection
• The civil service wants school leavers to work as apprentice economists
• EY Welcomes School Students across UK onto Their Smart Futures Programme
• More than 40% of the general public think they’d make a good teacher
• The most popular apprenticeships revealed
• Decisions at 18: specialist conference taking place
• Labour Party will Cut Tuition Fees by £3K if it Wins the Election