Degree Apprenticeships in Architecture: (Early) lessons learnt

UK architectural education has a global reputation for excellence and labour mobility, which has been widely emulated in other countries. Yet, until relatively recently, this has largely remained unchanged since the RIBA’s 1958 Oxford Conference which introduced the ubiquitous five-year degree system comprising Parts 1, 2 and 3. This decision to educate future architects almost exclusively at university-level institutions through full-time recognised courses, interspersed with minimal periods of office-based training represented a step-change from earlier vocational routes whether through a pupillage or an apprenticeship.

Contemporary debates about architectural training and education remain rooted in historical questions of vocational identity and purpose. Innovative changes to degree apprenticeships in England – in response to the Richard Review of Apprenticeships in 2012 and subsequent establishment of the Apprenticeship Levy in 2017 – afforded an opportunity for the revival of architecture apprenticeships. This was seen to improve the link between practice and academia, and for learners to acquire a more balanced body of knowledge than either academic or vocational routes. These alternative routes also intended to address rising student debts and widen access to the profession.

The response from early career architects, especially at Level 7, has been positive with 870 starts over the past six years and the first cohorts having now qualified. This milestone, first reached in 2021/22, permitted an opportunity to capture apprentice’s experiences across the country, as well as those of employers and academics delivering architecture apprenticeships in the UK. This paper presents research findings from a recent series of surveys that invited apprentices, employers, and training providers to share their experiences and views on architecture apprenticeships. It discusses the strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results of this route to qualification. The paper offers (early) lessons learnt, including pedagogic, mental health and wellbeing, and diversity dimensions, supported by developed apprentice case studies, with the intention to learn from the feedback and to develop a community that can better support apprentices on their journeys.

There is reason to believe that the apprenticeship route is here to stay, with 230 starts in 2023/24 alone and graduates already among the most sought-after of their generation by industry. Architecture apprenticeships, and various emulating models, are integral to renewed ARB and RIBA frameworks for educating future architects and are therefore part of the conversation around the future of architectural pedagogy.