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The Real Apprentice

Jon Manel follows seven candidates for a builder's apprenticeship in South Wales and explores the concept’s history. From 2011.

Seven unemployed men compete to win a builder's apprenticeship in South Wales.

Jon Manel follows their progress, and explores how our concept of apprenticeship has changed over centuries.

The charity Construction Youth Trust took its Real Apprentice scheme to Newport in the summer of 2010. Seven young people who weren't in education or employment were put to work on a building site, redeveloping two flats.

The best performer won an apprenticeship with Newport City Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔs. But what can the winner expect of his apprenticeship? And how does the experience of today's apprentices compare to that of their predecessors decades - even centuries - ago?

Jon meets a manager at Tata Steel - formerly British Steel - in Port Talbot, who is still with the company nearly 40 years after he joined as an apprentice.

Then we go back nearly 600 years to discover the story of a 15th century butcher's apprentice from Newbury, recorded in a document in the Berkshire Record Office.

Alison Fuller from Southampton University gives a potted history of how the lives of apprentices developed in the intervening years - for better and for worse.

Producer: Chris Ledguard

First broadcast on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 in May 2011.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Fri 4 Oct 2024 00:30

Broadcasts

  • Mon 2 May 2011 11:00
  • Wed 31 Aug 2011 21:30
  • Tue 10 Jan 2017 06:30
  • Tue 10 Jan 2017 13:30
  • Tue 10 Jan 2017 20:30
  • Wed 11 Jan 2017 01:30
  • Mon 30 Nov 2020 14:30
  • Tue 1 Dec 2020 02:30
  • Thu 3 Oct 2024 10:30
  • Thu 3 Oct 2024 16:30
  • Fri 4 Oct 2024 00:30