Survey to capture experiences of over 28,000 apprentices

Eva Osborne

The National Apprenticeship Office (NAO) has launched the first wide-scale survey of apprentices in five years, with over 28,000 apprentices across Ireland set to take part.

Apprentices will share their experiences of 77 national apprenticeship programmes.

The NAO said insights gathered from the survey will be used to shape the future of apprenticeships in Ireland and to ensure the apprenticeship system continues to meet the needs of apprentices and employers into the future.

The survey seeks to gather feedback from apprentices on their experiences in the workplace and in college. It went live on Monday and will close for responses on November 4th.

Each of the over 28,000 apprentices in training will receive an email with the survey link, inviting them to participate.

Director of the NAO, Dr Mary Liz Trant, said: “We are so pleased to launch today our national survey of apprentices, who are at the heart of our apprenticeship system.

"We would like every apprentice to take the 12 minutes or so to respond. The insights we gather will be key in shaping the experience of apprentices now and in the future.”

Statistics manager of the NAO, Dr Michelle Foley, said: “The national survey of apprentices provides a really important opportunity for apprentices to tell us about their experiences and to contribute towards a very valuable piece of research.

"It will inform training for our apprentice community and skilled workers. I encourage all apprentices across the 77 Generation Apprenticeship programmes to take the time to complete the survey and share their experience of training as an apprentice.”