It's broader, to be honest, than just engineering.
Schools are, inevitably, populated by staff who have degrees - and thus think that the only worthwhile jobs are those that go to people with degrees. Even from my position of having two of the things, I can clearly see that's b****x, but who are kids to believe if not their teachers?
Any profession that was traditionally entered by some form of apprenticeship, therefore gets regarded by the teachers as second rate. And so over the last 30 odd years, companies have increasingly been seeing only the drop-outs applying for apprenticeships: given that, it's hardly surprising is it that apprenticeships have become more and more scarce.
So we have young Engineers who should be doing apprenticeships, studying for degrees that they can't handle, young cooks who should be apprenticed in a good kitchen going to catering college instead, student nurses doing nursing degrees instead of learning on the wards from experienced nurses.
So, to an extent, we've now come full circle. Many companies have created "graduate training schemes", which are essentially apprenticeships - for graduates! Whilst I'm sure that we'd all agree that anybody getting on in this, or many other industries, needs both education and training - doing a degree (with the massive debt that goes with it now) simply to be allowed to start doing genuine practical training is frankly barking. Once upon a time there were night schools and day-release colleges, with the few who could really use the further education progressing from their apprenticeships to degrees and senior posts.
G