‘A huge learning curve’: apprentices on the benefits and pitfalls of vocational training

An apprentice engineer works on an aircraft interior in an aerospace engineering factory. Photograph: Monty Rakusen/Getty Images

The crisis in the youth employment market, with almost a million young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) across the UK, has placed fresh emphasis on ways of getting employees into the workforce.

The government hopes to increase focus on technical and vocational learning in England from the age of 14. In parallel, there is an ambition to create thousands more apprenticeships.