Youngsters will soon be able to opt out of conventional subjects to specialise in food manufacturing at GCSE level.
Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, has led the development of the first Young Apprenticeship certificate in Food and Drink Manufacturing, the equivalent of four GCSEs, aimed at 14-year-olds.
The two-year programme will allow students to spend two days a week combining study at college and work experience with local employers, with the rest of the week spent studying regular subjects in school.
Schools and further education colleges have joined forces with local employers to run the apprenticeships.
Three partnerships - at Nantwich in Cheshire, Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire and Ipswich in Suffolk - have been given the green light and government funding to introduce the course this year.
The chosen institutions will offer 80 places on the Young Apprenticeship in Food and Drink scheme to start in September 2006.
Improve said it would continue to support the partnerships in recruiting students and encouraging more local employers to become involved in order to ensure the skills delivered through the programme are relevant to the workplace.
Next year, the three partnerships will have an opportunity to bid for further funding to enable them to offer additional apprenticeships.
Derek Williams, Improve’s development director, said: “This is the first time young people of this age will be able to gain such a wide range of skills and knowledge relevant to food and drink manufacturing, which the Young Apprenticeship will provide.
“It is an opportunity for us to engage bright, young students and get them excited about pursuing a career in food and drink, helping to dispel the myth that our industry has few career opportunities and a low skills base. This initiative is vital to addressing the skills gaps and shortages which hold back productivity within the sector.”
