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Gender stereotypes still exist around certain types of apprenticeship, despite efforts to get applicants from both genders into traditionally male or female dominated roles.
A survey conducted by matching service GetMyFirstJob in time for Apprenticeship Week this week found that 91% of male applicants registered on its site were interested in construction roles as opposed to only 9% of females. For engineering, 90% of the interested candidates were male.
Popular apprenticeship choices amongst female candidates, meanwhile, were roles within childcare (87%) and hairdressing (87%), compared to only 13% of male candidates for the same positions.
The most popular apprenticeships overall on the site were found to be in more white-collar roles, particularly financial services and accountancy. On average, there were 54 applications for every vacancy in financial services and 36 applications for every accountancy vacancy over the past year, GetMyFirstJob found.
Roles in business administration closely followed with 10 applications on average for every business administration training programme.
Founder and managing director David Allison said of the research: “Whilst attitudes towards apprenticeships have become more positive and the increase of higher and degree level apprenticeships make them the right choice for many more people, it is clear from our data that there are some significant gender differences in perception and aspiration.”
A separate study, by youth charity Central YMCA, found that there continues to be a worrying link between those from low-income backgrounds and failing to succeed in mainstream education.
Its research of more than 1,600 16 to 25 year olds found that over a third of boys on free school meals who are in the top 10% of performers at the age of 11, have fallen outside the top 25% of pupils by the age of 16.
It also found that, on average, highly able children from poorer families achieve half a grade less than other pupils of equivalent ability. They are also less likely to take GCSEs in core subjects such as history, geography, triple sciences or a language.
Rosi Prescott, CEO of Central YMCA said: “It’s a distressing but true fact that today’s youngsters are facing the worst economic prospects for several generations. Young people are crying out for more learning development opportunities, so now it’s up to those working with them to guide them through their options.
“Apprenticeships can be a great option, and I welcome the increased focus being placed on them – it’s crucial that now we remember we must focus on quality of apprenticeships, not quantity.”
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