Can my child do an apprenticeship after A levels or BTECs?
A person can progress to an apprenticeship at any age at a level to suit their needs and experience. Young people have free full time education until they are 18 and then many do progress onto an apprenticeship. If they want to do an apprenticeship after a degree they may be able to get funding from an employer or do an apprenticeship in a new vocational area, which could be free.
You can see all qualifications by level in a table by following this link to Careerpilot.
After A Levels or a Level 3 vocational qualification, a young person can do an Intermediate Apprenticeship (Level 2) an Advanced Apprenticeship (Level 3) or a Higher/Degree Apprenticeship (Level 4 and above). If they do not have relevant previous experience in the job sector, even though they already have a Level 3 qualification, they might need to do an Intermediate Apprenticeship [level 2] or an Advanced Apprenticeship (Level 3) to build up the knowledge and skills required for the job.
For example, if a young person with A Levels or a Level 3 BTEC has relevant previous experience, for example they have done a Business Studies course and they would like to apply for an apprenticeship in Office Management, then their previous experience could contribute to the apprenticeship, so they might be considered for a Higher Apprenticeship (Level 4 and above). These are quite competitive and there is a limited supply. However, if a young person wants to do an engineering apprenticeship, for example, and they have no previous experience of this job area then they are likely to have to start at the Advanced Apprenticeship (Level 3) level to gain the specific job sector skills.
See the question 'What is an apprenticeship?' for more information about what's involved.
More information
Careerpilot has a whole section about apprenticeships which explain what they are, the levels, pay, how to find one, etc. You can see the apprenticeship section here.
Careerpilot has an apprenticeship vacancy list tool
Gov.uk has a 'Find an Apprenticeship' tool which shows vacancies and allows students to set up alerts
Amazing Apprenticeships also has a good apprenticeship guide
