South West Regional Skills Enterprise and Employment Analysis 2007/2008

Final Report

4.13 Participation and provision

4.13.6 Work-based Learning (WBL)

During the academic year 2005/06, there were 24,111 learners in WBL (average in learning). Of these, 65% were 16-18 and 35% were aged 19+. The vast majority of these WBL learners were engaged in Apprenticeships and 8% were learners on E2E (Entry to Employment programme). Of the apprentices, 36% were engaged on the Advanced Apprenticeship programme. (This is in contrast to England where 39% were on Advanced Apprenticeships).

There has been an overall reduction in the number of WBL learners of 7% over the previous year. This year-on-year reduction is larger than that for England as a whole of 5%.

Engagement in WBL is more common amongst males than females and has been so in the last three years.

The three most popular areas for WBL are engineering and manufacturing technologies (27.2%), retail and commercial enterprise (23.5%) and business administration and law (14.3%). Together, these account for 65% of all learners. Compared to England, the South West, as might be expected, has a significantly higher proportion of learners in agriculture, horticulture and animal care (4% in South West compared with 2.3% in England), in retail and commercial enterprises (23.5% in South West compared with 19.5%) and engineering and manufacturing technologies (27.2% in South West compared to 26% for England). The South West has a much lower proportion of young people on WBL in construction, planning and the built environment: 12.8% compared with 16.8% in England.