As UK youth unemployment hits one million, is it time to ditch degrees for apprenticeships? PETER SLEE reports.

DAN Peters had no idea what he wanted to do when he left school last year.

But one year on and he’s learning a trade as a joiner with an apprenticeship at a firm in Swansea.

“I can’t quite believe even now how it has all worked out, but I love it,” says Dan, 18, from Grovesend.

“I hadn’t given my future much thought but here I am with a brilliant job and I am well on the way to learning new skills which will sort me for life.”

As the 5th National Apprenticeship Week kicks off across the UK today, there are arguments too many school-leavers are still choosing to study for degrees instead of considering apprenticeships. There is also research suggesting growing numbers of graduates are in jobs that do not justify their degrees and that Britain may be producing too many graduates, or at least graduates with the wrong degrees.

One study has found as many as one in three UK graduates is in non-graduate work. So apprenticeships which help guide trainees from wannabe to worker are being increasingly seen as the way forward.

James Thomas from Bishopston gained a 2.1 degree after studying cellular and molecular biology and hoped to pursue a career in cancer research. But he struggled to land the type of work he wanted because he lacked practical experience.

He changed direction completely and now works in marketing but still has debts of £10,000 dating back to his days in university.

He believes he would have been better off taking vocational qualifications or going straight into work.

The 27-year-old says: “If I hadn’t gone to university, I’d be three years further on in my current career and would be in a more senior role by now.”

Record numbers of people have joined apprentice schemes in the past year. Figures from the National Audit Office show that The Apprenticeship Programme grew by 140 per cent between the 2006/07 and 2010/11 academic years. The most recent official figures show there are 3,360 apprentices in the Swansea Bay area. And by 2014-15, the coalition wants to see 400,000 apprenticeship start every year in the UK — up from last year’s figure of 279,900. To help achieve the target, the budget for apprenticeships is rising to £1.4 billion over the next 12 months. They are also easing red tape and offering thousands of pounds in incentives to encourage smaller firms, with fewer than 50 staff, to take on apprentices.

Yet there remains a stubborn snobbery, in almost every sector of British society, about starting work on the shop floor. It is sometimes hard to see why.

Nicky James, 26, from Townhill had been planning to go to university when she opted to take a year out to work in her father’s welding business, which employs eight people.

She caught the bug and decided to stay on after the year. But it was only when she started her formal apprenticeship training, backed by Gower College, that things really took off.

Nicky says: “My dad had been nagging me to take an apprenticeship and become qualified. I came around to the idea when I started working with customers more, and felt sometimes that they weren’t taking me seriously because I was a girl. I wanted to get my qualification to prove that I know what I’m talking about, and now over time, things have really changed.”

Nicola’s dad Ron, 53, says when she first started with him, it was hard to get companies to accept her.

But that has all changed now.

“I always wanted Nicky to complete the apprenticeship, and become a qualified tradesperson. She’s always been good at her job, but there’s a big difference between that and being trained to do things properly. Importantly she’ll be able to train other apprentices so the business can continue to grow.”

During the summer of 2010, one in ten school-leavers from South West Wales chose to begin their working lives as an apprentice. Many were helped by a new service providing training and employment advice called Careers Wales.

Ray Collier, chief executive of Careers Wales West, says the scheme is achieving good results “and we’d urge anyone who is keen to find out more to get in touch”.

Joiner Dan says his experience has been a positive one as well.

“Every day I do leave with a sense of achievement. Best of all maybe is the fact I haven’t got a massive student debt loan to pay off like so many of my friends!”