Apprenticeships in Wales: Time for an Honest Conversation

Wales is rightly proud of its apprenticeship system. It has supported thousands of learners into meaningful careers and helped employers across our core sectors build the skills they need. But beneath that success, employers and training partners are increasingly clear: parts of the system feel dated, overly complex, and slow to adapt to what modern industry requires.

The system isn’t broken — but it is carrying legacy practices that make it easier than it needs to be. If it were a person, it might still be using a Nokia 3310 and insisting it’s “perfectly fine, actually.” There’s affection there… but also an unavoidable truth: it needs a refresh.

This piece explores where modernisation is most needed, why employers are calling for reform, and how Wales can build a more responsive, competence-led system.

1. Funding Models: Still Focused on Paper Over Performance

Current funding arrangements continue to prioritise the achievement of qualifications over the demonstration of real-world competence. That has created an environment where documentation is not just important — it’s the centre of gravity.

The result?
Learners, assessors and employers spend disproportionate time on assembling portfolios, cross-referencing units and meeting evidence requirements that often feel more bureaucratic than developmental. The quality of the portfolio can be immaculate… even when the learner still needs more time to develop practical confidence.

Wales can do better. Employers repeatedly tell us they want funding models that reward capability, not volume of paperwork.

What’s needed:

• Funding aligned to competence, not just qualification structure

• Clearer measures of workplace proficiency

• Simpler, smarter evidence expectations

2. Assessments: Increasingly Rigorous, Not Always Increasingly Useful

Assessment practices have improved consistency, but they have also drifted towards process-heavy exercises that prioritise box-ticking over workplace readiness.

Employers often ask three simple questions:

• Can the apprentice do the job?

• Are they safe, reliable and confident?

• Are they able to work independently in a real environment?

These questions are sometimes overshadowed by the need to evidence knowledge, skills and behaviours through lengthy documentation. Wales risks creating an assessment culture that values perfect paperwork over practical performance.

Where reform can help:

• Streamlined assessment methods

• A renewed focus on observable workplace competence

• Greater professional trust in assessors’ judgements

3. Employers: Central to the System… But Not Yet Driving It

We frequently say employers are “at the heart of the system”. In reality, many still feel like invited guests rather than co-designers.

Consultations, workshops and surveys exist — but employers tell us frameworks do not evolve at the speed or in the direction that industry requires. Skills needs are changing rapidly across advanced manufacturing, net zero, digital, and infrastructure. The frameworks supporting them must match that pace.

What employers want:

• Faster updates to occupational standards

• Removal of outdated or irrelevant units

• Greater alignment with real-world job roles

• Clearer pathways into emerging technologies

These are reasonable requests — and essential if Wales is to remain competitive.

4. Inclusivity and Excellence: Not Opposites, but Currently Misaligned

Wales has a strong commitment to ensuring apprenticeships are accessible to all. That principle should remain central. But inclusivity does not mean lowering expectations or reshaping frameworks to the point where excellence becomes harder to achieve.

Some apprenticeship pathways are demanding. Some require specific capabilities. And in many high-value sectors — aerospace, engineering, life sciences, energy — safety and precision matter.

We need a system that remains inclusive while still enabling learners to achieve genuine technical mastery. One does not undermine the other; in fact, clarity enhances the experience for everyone.

A better balance means:

• Matching learners to the right pathways

• Ensuring providers have flexibility to set appropriate expectations

• Maintaining clear progression routes for advanced learners

5. Framework Development: Too Slow for a Fast-Moving Economy

This is one of the most consistent pieces of feedback Industry Wales hears.

Technology evolves quickly. Industry shifts quickly. Apprenticeship frameworks… do not.

Updates can take 18–36 months to complete. By the time changes are approved, sectors like automotive, renewables, cyber and advanced manufacturing have already moved forward. Employers are left training to yesterday’s needs while competing in tomorrow’s market.

Wales needs a more agile model, one that updates frameworks in the same spirit as modern software: iterative, responsive, continuous.

6. A System Trying to Be Everything at Once

Apprenticeships in Wales are currently expected to deliver on multiple agendas simultaneously:

• social mobility

• skills development

• economic growth

• political priorities

• participation targets

These aims are individually valid. Together, they can pull the system in competing directions.

A clear national conversation is needed on the primary purpose of apprenticeships. Choosing a strategic focus — and aligning funding, frameworks and assessment accordingly — will result in a system that is stronger and more coherent.

Where Wales Goes Next

Reform doesn’t require tearing up what works. It requires being honest about what doesn’t — and being bold enough to modernise.

Industry Wales believes progress is possible through:

• Employer-driven framework development

• Competence-based funding models

• Assessment methods centred on workplace performance

• Streamlined evidence requirements

• Clearer expectations for learners and providers

• More agile update mechanisms

This is not about being critical for the sake of it. It’s about strengthening a system that is vital to Wales’ future workforce.

A Final Thought

If any of this made you nod, smile wryly, or recognise challenges you see every day, that’s a sign the conversation is overdue. The apprenticeship system in Wales has huge strengths — but also opportunities for meaningful improvement.

Honest discussion is not a threat. It’s an accelerator.

Wales deserves an apprenticeship system that is not only functional, but forward-looking, flexible, and truly fit for a dynamic economy.

This opinion piece is part of a series of thought-provoking article to be published by Industry Wales in the run up to the Senedd election in 2026. It is not the official position of Industry Wales, but merely serves to start a conversation about key areas in the Welsh manufacturing sector.

*Article produced with the assistance of AI services.