Two videos released on International Women’s Day highlight the record numbers of women developing careers through apprenticeship

Launched to coincide with International Women’s Day 2024, the National Apprenticeship Office has today, Friday, 08 March 2024, released two videos which highlight the record number of women building careers with apprenticeship, celebrating their strength and resilience and showcasing the growth of female participation in apprenticeships.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science; Simon Harris TD commented on the record levels of growth and expansion, with 73 apprenticeship programmes now available and 22 more in development: “The population of apprentices in training is on course to hit 30,000 with almost 9,000 new apprentices registering for training last year. A really positive development recently has been the growth in women choosing apprenticeships to develop their careers. Women now make up almost 10% apprentices, compared to just 2% in 2018. We are going in the right direction and the stigma over “earn and learn” is fading away.

A priority in 2024 is to drive forward on progressing towards a single apprenticeship system, this project is at the heart of the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025. Moving from what is currently a dual system to a single, cohesive model is a key transformation to embed the apprenticeship route in our third level sector and future-proof the quality and integrity of our apprenticeship system for current and future generations.”

A second video released by the National Apprenticeship Office highlights the growing number of female craft apprentices who are changing the face of construction and contributing their skills in a male-dominated field, featuring the story of Toolmaking apprentice Julie Coleman. Ireland’s female craft apprentices are women of all ages, abilities, backgrounds and skills. Commenting on her journey as an apprentice this International Women’s Day, Julie tells women across Ireland: “I hope when I qualify I am competing with lots of other women who are trying to get a job from me because that’s what we want to see.” Julie is among an inspiring and talented community of 2,000+ female apprentices currently training in Ireland and many more who are graduates and who have great careers across a diverse range of industries.

Creating access to careers for everyone is at the heart of a modern, progressive national apprenticeship system. Mary-Liz Trant, Director of the National Apprenticeship Office, said: “Women’s experience and stories play a vital role in driving the increase in participation of women in apprenticeship careers. The videos we have released today spotlight the diverse career pathways that women are pursuing. The growth is accelerating. The number of female craft apprentices has doubled in the last two years. Women now have significant footholds in industry areas such as Tech, Biopharma, Financial Services, Manufacturing and Engineering. Only 37 women registered as apprentices in 2016 and we marked a milestone when Cork City Council’s Zoe Fitzgerald became the 1,000th woman apprentice training in Ireland in 2021. With now well over 2,000 women apprentices completing training we have that vital critical mass of women demonstrating what a great career and qualifications choice apprenticeships provide.”

Two videos released highlighting the record numbers of women developing careers through apprenticeship available here:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7171811535315537921
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7171806253139087360

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Michael McDonnell Managing Editor of Irish Construction Industry Magazine & Plan Magazine

Email: michael@irishconstruction.com    WWW.MCDMEDIA.IE         WWW.IRISHCONSTRUCTION.COM