We know that helping your child make education and career choices is a huge responsibility. We also know that this can be made harder than it needs to be because information about different options is often hard to find and it isn’t always easy to understand either. But we’re here to change that when it comes to Apprenticeships.

If your child is still at school, you will know that the government wants to keep young people in education till they are older. This doesn’t mean they have to stay at school though and the good news is that an Apprenticeship is an acceptable learning programme for someone after GCSEs. There’s more on our 'Apprenticeships and Raising the Participation Age' (RPA) factsheet.

Two of the many reasons Apprenticeships are a great way for your child to start a new career;

Earn while they learn

Apprenticeships are the best way to get qualified while getting experience at the same time. And because Apprentices also get paid, they will also be earning a wage. No loans required either!

More choice than you might realise

Apprenticeships are available in a huge range of job roles and new qualifications are being developed all the time. And because more Apprentices can now lead towards qualification levels equivalent to university and graduate degrees, this is opening up new opportunities in areas such as accountancy, legal professions and high-tech industries. There is also a year-on-year increase in the number of local companies taking on Apprentices in Oxfordshire so the opportunities are ever-growing.

Our Apprenticeship Ambassadors have first hand experience of what it's like to be an Apprentice. In this film they share their thoughts and describe how and why they made an Apprenticeship their chosen career route...