Apprenticeships in Ireland have become very popular and are continuing to attract more Irish students. In 2024, there are over 27,000 students currently completing one of the 70 apprenticeship courses on offer.
Apprenticeships lead to award levels that are, depending on the course, between 5-10 on the National Framework Qualification (NFQ ). Apprenticeships have become known for producing highly skilled, work ready apprentices.
Apprentices in many cases also have the option to go on and complete a degree or a masters after they graduate. Many apprentice graduates walk into permanent employment upon graduation and are happy to continue to develop their skillset with on the job learning. Apprenticeships vary in length from two to four years in duration, but guarantee that 50 per cent of that time includes on the job learning. Apprenticeships have flexible delivery with a mixture of online, blended and off-the-job learning. The major advantage of completing an apprenticeship is that you ‘earn while you learn’, and apprentices are offered a formal employment contract by their employer.
More than 9,000 Irish employers are now using apprenticeships as a talent pipeline. These employers are based all over the country and range from small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s ), to large multinationals such as the ESB, Analog Devices, M&S, Baxter and Public Jobs. All of these employers are listed on the www.apprenticeships.ie website.
The National Apprenticeship Office also has a free helpline (1800 794 487 ) which provides free apprenticeship advice for anyone who may be interested in enrolling in an apprenticeship.
World Skills Event
Every year the National Apprenticeship Office (NAO ) runs the World skills event in the RDS in September.
The World skills showcases all of the apprenticeships on offer and gives potential students insights into the on the job and off the job training of the apprenticeships. The World skills event also has apprentice, employer and apprentice educator panels where potential students can ask any questions on apprenticeships that they may have.
I would highly recommend attending the World skills event to anyone thinking of enrolling for an apprenticeship.
Craft apprenticeships
Apprenticeships offer students of all ages so much choice and flexibility. For craft apprenticeships, generally, you will complete your study or off the job training as part of your craft apprenticeship in an Education and Training Board (ETB ), and then you will go onto complete the other part of the off the job training in a Technological University.
The traditional craft apprenticeships include carpentry, plumbing, motor and electrical mechanic apprenticeships. New apprenticeships are set by SOLAS, employers and trade unions and include apprenticeships in ICT (Information and Communications Technology ), finance, hospitality, farming, software development, farm management and digital marketing. All of the Information regarding these apprenticeships is available on the apprenticeships.ie website.
For most apprenticeships, apprentices don’t pay fees unless they have off the job training in a Technological University and the registration fee is generally based on the amount of time spent in the Technological University.
Unfortunately, apprentices are not eligible for the student grant. Apprentices will receive wages or payment, exactly like those in employment. For apprenticeship courses developed before 2016, apprentices receive a weekly allowance from their ETB, while those who are completing apprenticeships developed after 2016, will be paid by the employer and this rate of pay is agreed by the apprentice and the employer.
Many school leavers and mature students opt to complete apprenticeships for various reasons. Some opt to complete an apprenticeship because they want to become very specialised in a certain craft or industry, some enrol in apprenticeships because they do not feel that they would be suited to complete a university degree. Some students find apprenticeships attractive because they can complete their apprenticeship locally, and others like that they can ‘earn and learn’ while completing an apprenticeship.
There are now so many apprenticeships on offer, and there really is something to suit everyone across a variety of industries. As a result, I would advise checking out the www.apprenticeships.ie website to research the exciting and diverse range of apprenticeships available all over the country.
