Growth in number of apprenticeships 'dilute their quality'

Ofsted will publish a report into apprenticeships later this week. Credit: PA

An increase in the number of apprenticeship has "diluted their quality", Ofsted has warned.

According to the education inspectorate, there are too many low-skilled jobs being defined as apprenticeships and many of them are not challenging employees or boosting their skills.

Its chief Sir Michael Wilshaw is expected to tell a CBI conference this week that employers offering poor-quality apprenticeships with tasks such as "making coffee and cleaning floors" are abusing the trust placed in them to deliver high quality training.

An Ofsted report to be published this week is expected to conclude that such schemes do not give sufficient training, stretch participants or provide them with the skills or knowledge employers are looking for - thereby devaluing "the apprenticeship brand".

The Ofsted report is expected to criticise the quality of some apprenticeships. Credit: PA

The government has pledged to deliver three million apprenticeships in the next five years in an effort to put vocational learning on a level footing with academic qualifications.