Vanessa Beck

The gendered nature of apprenticeship: Employers’ and young people's perspectives

Purpose Gender segregation has been a persistent feature of apprenticeship programmes in countries around the world. In the UK, the Modern Apprenticeship was launched ten years ago as the government?s flagship initiative for training new entrants in a range of occupational sectors. One of its priorities was to increase male and female participation in ?non-traditional? occupations, that is, those normally practiced by just one sex. However, recent figures show that the programme has failed to achieve its aim and this has prompted an investigation by the Equal Opportunities Commission. The research reported in this paper is part of this investigation. Methodology/Approach This paper presents quantitative and qualitative evidence on the attitudes of young people (aged 14 and 15) and employers to non-traditional occupational choices. It also explores the factors affecting the decisions of young people to train in a non-traditional occupation and the recruitment decisions of employers from ?traditional sectors?, such as engineering, the construction trades and childcare. Findings The research provides evidence of the deeply entrenched nature of occupational stereotypes and the psychological and social barriers that have to be overcome if a more evenly balanced workforce is to be created. It also reveals that none of the institutions and organisations which act as gatekeepers between young people and employers is, as yet, taking responsibility for challenging their perceptions and decision-making processes. Policy implications The paper concludes by highlighting the implications of the research findings stakeholders and suggesting an holistic approach to tackling gender segregation.

Safety in stereotypes? The impact of gender and 'race' on young people's perceptions of their post-compulsory education and labour market opportunities

This paper examines the impact of gender and ?race? on young people?s perceptions of the educational and labour market opportunities available to them after they complete their compulsory schooling in England. Its findings are based on a study of the views of girls and boys about the government-supported ?Apprenticeships? programme, which, because it reflects labour market conditions, is highly gendered and also segregated by ethnicity. The research shows that young people receive very little practical information and guidance about the consequences of pursuing particular occupational pathways, and are not engaged in any formal opportunities to debate gender and ethnic stereotyping as related to the labour market. This is particularly worrying for females who populate apprenticeships in sectors with lower completion rates and levels of pay, and which create less opportunity for progression. In addition, the research reveals that young people from non-White backgrounds are more reliant on ?official? sources of guidance (as opposed to friends and families) for their labour market knowledge. The paper argues that, because good quality apprenticeships can provide a strong platform for lifelong learning and career progression, young people need much more detailed information about how to compare a work-based pathway with full-time education. At the same time, they also need to understand that apprenticeships (and jobs more generally) in some sectors may result in very limited opportunities for career advancement.

Employers’ use of older workers in the recession

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the degree to which there have been changes during the recession in the behaviour of employers with regards to their employment of older workers. The paper aims to show that there has been substantial change since the last recession and that there are, potentially, significant developments still occurring.Design/methodology/approach – A small group of employers from a range of sectors were interviewed twice, once at the outset of the (first) recession and once towards its end.Findings – The situation for older workers in employment is better than in previous recessions, mainly because employers are less likely to resort to redundancies for workers of all ages. Instead, a range of flexible working options are being utilised, including flexible retirement and adjustments to work processes. In the main the flexibility was instituted and controlled by the organisations. Employers are looking for alternative strategies to deal with a shift in control over the r...

Increasing risk in the scary world of work? Male and female resistance to crossing gender lines in apprenticeships in England and Wales

This paper is based on research conducted as part of the Equal Opportunities Commissions General Formal Investigation into gender segregation in the United Kingdom labour market. The project comprised a survey of and focus groups with 14/15 year‐olds in eight English schools in spring 2004 and a survey of 15/16 year‐olds in four Welsh schools in autumn 2004. The survey explored the process of young peoples career decision‐making, their attitudes to career choice and whether apprenticeship was seen as an option. Experiences and perceptions of respondents suggest that decisions about their future career options are based in part on risk avoidance strategies but also on a willingness to take risks where it will advance an individuals interests. By utilising Becks concept of risk, the authors reveal the dilemmas which young people face as they consider their post‐school futures. The data show that boys are less likely than girls to opt for a job traditionally held by the opposite sex. In addition, the paper examines the implications of the finding that access to and the quality of careers information and guidance remain very varied.

Employers’ views of learning and training for an ageing workforce

This article questions how employers view and evaluate the role of learning and training for older workers in light of the increasing number of older workers in the labour market. Learning and training opportunities could be utilised to respond to the ‘extending working lives’ agenda, but interviews with employers suggest that this is not being done. A small number of human resource professionals, managing directors and owners were interviewed to determine what learning opportunities were offered to their older workers and how these workers’ experience could be utilised better. Respondents implicitly accepted that there were few learning opportunities for older workers and suggested that they expected this group of workers to take on additional roles in making learning and experience available to younger colleagues. Dichotomies in employers’ views emerged in that they differentiated between groups of workers and their need for skills, experience and the ‘right’ attitudes.

Delivering NEET policy packages? A decade of NEET policy in England

This article explores the way in which government policy shapes the lives of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). In particular it examines how the concept of NEETs is set within a specific infrastructure and discourse for managing and supporting young people. The article provides a brief history of the NEET concept and NEET initiatives, before moving on to scrutinise the policies of the Coalition Government. A key distinction is made between those policies and practices that seek to prevent young people becoming NEET from those that seek to re-engage those who are NEET. It is argued that the Coalition has drawn on a similar active labour market toolkit to the previous Labour administration, but that this has been implemented with fewer resources and less co-ordination. It concludes that there is little reason to believe that Coalition policy will be any more successful than that of the previous government, and some reason to be concerned that it will lead to young people becoming more entrenched within NEET.

Resilience and unemployment: A case study of East German women

Unemployment is one of the key issues in German politics today. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the former East Germany. This paper examines the impact that this exceptionally high unemployment in the new German states has had on East German women since reunification. It reflects, in particular, on the potential influence of their experience of life in the GDR in developing coping strategies to deal with the effects of unemployment, an ongoing resistance to unemployment and, most significantly, to a male-breadwinner ethos.

Learning providers’ work with NEET young people

This article investigates the impact of the relationship between learning providers and young people who have experienced Not being in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) on the latters’ agency development. Agency is defined as not only bounded but generated by intra-action with relations of force, including learning providers themselves. Providers facilitate the development of individual agency in the form of self-esteem and motivation. However, they also support activation into the labour market and, in doing so, add barriers and challenges to established institutional structures and personal boundaries. Emotional labour strategies utilised by learning providers reveal the potentially negative impact of their values, backgrounds and experiences.

Older and Younger Workers: The Equalling Effects of Health.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the statistical evidence on the effects that ill health has on labour market participation and opportunities for younger and older workers in the East Midlands (UK).Design/methodology/approach – A statistical analysis of Labour Force Survey data was undertaken to demonstrate that health issues affect older and younger workers alike. This has an equalling effect on labour market opportunities, which should reduce any potential for intergenerational conflict within the workforce.Findings – Although health problems that limit activities and affect the amount and kind of work an individual can undertake increase with age, there are high levels of ill health of these kinds within all age groups, including the youngest workers.Research limitations/implications – The regional statistical analysis can only provide indications, and further research is required to differentiate which groups of younger and older workers suffer from which types of illnesses, as this ...

Work, employment and society sans frontières: extending and deepening our reach

Work, employment and society (WES ) was launched in 1987 in a period in which a number of features of British society were changing rapidly. The vibrancy and the optimism of the 1960s looked increasingly remote and sociology and the study of work reflected the more straitened times that came with the social transformations wrought by Thatcherism. The early 1980s had seen savage deflation, a consequent sharp contraction of the manufacturing industry and a series of set piece confrontations with unions (in the print and steel industries and on the docks) culminating in the defeat of the miners’ union after a year-long strike (1984–5). A further result was rapid contraction of the numbers of trade union members and the demoralization of those that remained. One focus of industrial sociology, shopfloor trade unionism epitomized by Beynon’s (1984) study of Ford’s Halewood plant, became difficult if not impossible to repeat. The differences to and implications for the current sociology of work are discussed in the recent WES book review symposium of Beynon’s study. Richard Brown’s editorial introduction to the first issue drew upon these societal developments to explain the rationale for the journal. Reviewing the sociology of work he noted that it had traditionally focused on male, manual workers in manufacturing industries and to a lesser extent on those who supervised and managed them, exactly the constituency hit hardest by the ongoing changes. The limitations of the focus on one gender, in one predominantly UK-based sector, became obvious with the relative and absolute decline in UK manufacturing and the new international division of labour; the growth of unemployment; the increase in women’s employment; and employer attempts to establish more flexible patterns of employment. The limitations of more traditional approaches were also heightened by developments in other areas of social science with broader concerns. The persistence of unemployment and the increasing North–South divide, along with entrenched patterns of low pay, had expanded interest in labour markets; discrimination against women and minorities was made more visible; and, following the impact of Braverman’s Labor and 613747WES0010.1177/0950017015613747Work, employment and societyEditorial research-article2015