Apprenticeships at 14

Thousands of teenagers could start learning a trade as young as 14 under plans announced by senior ministers today.

Headteachers welcomed the new apprenticeship plan, unveiled by Chancellor Gordon Brown and Education Secretary Charles Clarke.

But they warned that the scheme would "sink or swim" on the quality of training offered by businesses. Too much work experience offered by employers at present, they said, was a waste of time.

Ministers acknowledged that concern, launching a major advertising campaign aimed at persuading more employers to offer high-quality training, creating apprenticeships which served their needs and offered real opportunities.

Today's launch of the new Young Apprenticeships scheme builds on the successful Modern Apprenticeships which are being taken up by more than 250,000 older teenagers.

In the first phase from this September, 1,000 14-year-olds will spend two days a week in the workplace learning a trade, while continuing to study the core subjects of the National Curriculum in the remaining three days at school.

Fourteen-year-olds who complete the new two-year apprenticeship courses will be able to go on to job-related training equivalent to GCSE and A-level, creating a new pathway of vocational qualifications which could lead on to higher education.

The first opportunities will be available in the engineering, automotive and creative industries, business administration, logistics and the arts. Ministers expect half of those who started young apprenticeships will continue studying after 16 and achieve good vocational qualifications.

But the Government is also creating new "pre-apprenticeship" courses for those with "potential" who may be " disengaged or disenfranchised from learning".