Identifying Gender Bias in Spending Allocations: the case of Scottish Modern Apprenticeships

Emily Thomson

Economic Studies and International Business

Glasgow Caledonian University

Email – Emily.Thomson@gcu.ac.uk

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Modern Apprenticeships

• Publicly funded training programme

• Target group is 16-19 year olds

• SVQ/work based qualification

• Traditional and non-traditional frameworks

• Key labour market entry point

• ‘Flagship’ policy in intermediate skills

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MA delivery/responsibilities

• Funding - Scottish Government/Skills Development Scotland (SDS set up in 2008)

• Marketing/promotion and development of frameworks – SDS/Sector Skills Councils

• Accreditation – Scottish Qualification Authority

• Delivery – Training providers/FE colleges/employers

• Public Sector Duties to promote equality

Gender and MAs

• SWBG 2002 – low participation of women and occupational segregation

• EOC launches UK Gender Formal Investigation (GFI) in September 2003

• GFI Scotland reports February 2005

• 5 sectors – childcare (EYC&E), ICT, construction, engineering and plumbing

• Occupational segregation found to be severe

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Female Participation

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Occupational Segregation 1

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Occupation

% female 2005

% female 2010

% change

Construction 0.7% 1.6% +0.9%

Early Years Care and Education

98.5% 97.9% -0.6%

Engineering 2.4% 2.6% +0.2%

Plumbing 0.4% 0.9% +0.5%

ICT 49.7% 20.7% -29%

Occupational Segregation 2

Traditional versus non-traditional -

• McIntosh (2007) – average wage increase for construction MA 32%, retail MAs have no effect on wages (England)

• Walker and Zhu (2007) – men can expect an wage increase of just over 20%, women can expect just under 10%, after completion of MA

• Fong and Phelps (2008) – 21% gender pay gap in English apprenticeships

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GFI Recommendations

• Relevant data should be in the public domain

• Positive action on promoting industries to ‘a-typical’ candidates

• Actions to promote desegregation – collective responsibility of all stakeholders

• ‘Business case’ to be made by Local Enterprise Companies and Sector Skills Councils/Bodies

• NATIONAL STRATEGY

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Action?

• Scottish Executive set up Cross Directorate Occupational Segregation Working Group - no recommendations made on MAs

• SDS - Equality Impact Assessment of National Training Programmes November 2010

• Apprenticeship Summits 2009 (no mention of gender) and 2011 (v little discussion of gender)

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Equality Impact Assessment

• National Training Programmes: Equality Impact Assessment & Action Plan (November 2010)

• 3 equalities groups (BME, disabled, women)

• Literature review does not consider GFI although their consultation makes similar observations

• Key elements of strategy and action plan – employer engagement, workplace support and mentoring, promotion of NTPs and equalities training for providers, partners and SDS staff

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Resource Allocation

• In 2010 SDS spent £57.6m on MAs

• Research suggests gender bias in spending between traditional and non-traditional frameworks and between ‘young’ and ‘adult’ Modern Apprentices (Campbell et al 2009)

• Customer service £3000, engineering and gas £9000 (16 -19 years)

• Construction 16-19 years £7500, 20+ years £3500

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Funding Commitments

• Scottish Government suspends funding for adult MAs (new starts) from 2008 except in construction and engineering

• 'Adopt/Safeguard/Invest in An Apprentice'

• ‘Refreshed’ Skills Strategy 2010 – 20,000 new MAs (5000 all-age) to be funded in 2010-11

• Draft Budget 2010 - 25,000 Modern Apprenticeships in 2011-12

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Issues to consider...

• Methodology – Rake (2000) identifying the target group and beneficiaries??

• Lack of publically available data

• Economic context – recession, spending restraint

• Policy context - increasing numbers of apprentices but little emphasis on outcomes

• Accrediting existing skills is not value added, gender audit can help to address this

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Conclusions

• Modern Apprenticeships could be a force for positive change

• Large evidence base in terms of gender

• Lack of available data on funding and MA pay rates

• Example of policy where lack of action has meant investment of public funds biased towards men

• Alternative investment in women’s skills???

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References

Campbell J, Gillespie M, McKay A and Meikle A (2009) ‘Jobs for the Boys and the Girls: Promoting a Smart Successful Scotland three years on’, Scottish Affairs 66, Winter 2009.

Fong B and A Phelps (2008) ‘Apprenticeship Pay: 2007 Survey of Earnings by Sector’ DUIS Research Report 08 05

McIntosh S (2007) ‘A Cost Benefit Analysis of Apprenticeship and Other Vocational Qualifications’ DfES Research Report RR834

Rake, K (2000) ‘Into the mainstream? Why gender audit is an essential tool for policymakers’, New Economy, Vol. 7 No. 2

Walker, I and Y Zhu (2007) ‘The Labour Market Effects of Qualifications’ Glasgow: Futureskills Scotland

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