Can England learn from Swiss apprenticeships?

English businesses would benefit from a Swiss-style apprenticeship system that starts earlier and lasts longer, a report authored by Swiss experts has found. But not all English businesses agree that apprenticeships are a good thing. Apprenticeships are a key part of the United Kingdom’s government’s plans to improve technical skills among young people and to ensure the country can meet labour market needs post-Brexit. Reforms include a new employer levy (see infobox), and the target is to create three million more apprenticeships by 2020. In contrast, Switzerland has a long tradition of apprenticeships. Two thirds of school leavers opt to take this route, and the system has been singled out as one of the best worldwide by the OECD and researchers at Harvard. + Why Swiss apprenticeships are seen as a model in the US “Apprenticeship training in England – an effective model for firms?” was published by the London-based Education Policy Institute (EPI), German think tank ...