A creativity training gap? - Employers’ perceptions of apprentices’ creativity and contributions to the creative and cultural workplace

Abstract

To address skills and diversity challenges, the UK Government has introduced a range of apprenticeships for the creative sector. These have been problematic for various reasons and the ways in which apprentices support creative practice in such creative workplaces is unknown. The purpose of this research is to share employers’ insights into apprentices’ creativity and their contributions to the creative and cultural workplace. Drawing on existing literature, a symbiotic framework is designed to explore and analyse experiences. The findings suggest that apprentices’ curiosity, openness, flexibility, and adaptability contribute to their creativity and that employers facilitate motivational and empowering environments. Creative employers emphasise the benefits of co-location and most perceive that their physical environments are inspiring. Outside of these physical environments, insights suggest that apprentices’ youth play a vital role in fostering engagement between creative employers and their audiences, as well as facilitating their expansion with new audiences through digital and social media. Moreover, employers’ altruistic values provide a nurturing ethos to support apprentices’ creativity, but the research found that no systematic processes were employed to develop apprentices’ creativity. These altruistic values, however, suggest that employers are well-placed to develop apprentices’ creativity, which in turn supports the sustainability of creative talent. These insights have implications for informing the implementation of training initiatives and shaping future policy directions. Further limitations arise from the participant sample.