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National Apprenticeship Week 2022 – The Open University celebrates the transformative role of apprenticeships

The Open University (OU) is marking National Apprenticeship Week with new insights on how employers value apprenticeships and the benefits they offer in diversifying the workforce.

The OU has partnered with The 5% Club, a dynamic movement of employer-members working to create a shared prosperity across the UK by driving ‘earn and learn’ skills training opportunities.

A survey has been commissioned of more than 600 employers who hire, or have hired apprentices.

Key findings include:

  • Almost 7 in 10 (69%) of employers are seeing the transformative impact taking an apprenticeship can have on the learner.
  • Almost 9 in 10 employers of apprentices plan to maintain or increase the number they take on in the next 12 months
  • Apprenticeships are seen as an effective tool to open up opportunities for under-represented groups in the workplace, but this is not matched by firm plans to recruit from these groups.

Insights discussed by expert panel

The findings were discussed by a panel of experts brought together by the OU and The 5% Club. The panel comprised of:

Find out more and Watch on demand 

New survey launched

Attendees to the webinar received the Build the Future Apprenticeship Survey report. The report looks at the survey results in further depth and provides a range of useful insights to help with your learning and development strategy.

The picture from employers as reported in this survey is encouragingly optimistic, with 88% of employers planning to maintain or increase the number of apprentices they hire in the next 12 months. And reassuringly, this is true across all sectors and in all regions. This very much echoes what we are seeing and hearing from our membership who want to make a massive difference in creating earn and learn opportunities across the workforce.

Mark Cameron OBE
Chief Executive, The 5% Club


Download report 

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