This Guide is designed for policy-makers – governments and their training agencies, employers and their associations, trade unions and also training providers – who are involved in designing and developing such systems. It will enable them to gain a better understanding of the ways in which policy-makers in other countries have constructed their own apprenticeship systems. The ILO Toolkit for Quality Apprenticeships is a resource to improve the design and implementation of apprenticeship systems and programmes. It provides a comprehensive but concise set of key information, guidance and practical tools for policy-makers and practitioners who are engaged in designing and implementing Quality Apprenticeships.

The ILO Toolkit presents examples of good practice from ILO constituents around the world, and demonstrates how Quality Apprenticeship systems and programmes can be developed in practical terms. It consists of two volumes: Guide for Policy Makers (Volume 1, this publication); and Guide for Practitioners (Volume II).

This first volume, the Guide for Policy Makers, presents the defining features of the ILO approach to Quality Apprenticeship systems and aims to support policy-makers in their design and further development of these systems. The second volume, to be published later, focuses on the practicalities of developing Quality Apprenticeship programmes, and is intended to enable practitioners – human resource managers, trade union representatives, teachers and trainers from technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions and employees of local/sectoral coordination support services – to design, implement and monitor these programmes.