Things had obviously changed by the 80's
I was trained at Halton 1970 -72 (craft apprentice rigger)
Our training was first class - not much padding involved !
I was a 'professional' J/T for some years before I bothered with promotion exams,less than 2 years after leaving Halton I had an 'oversigning chit' due to a shortage of JNCO's LOL.
The depth of training given on the Halton apprenticeships potentially gave Halton Brats a large advantage in overall knowledge and understanding of aircraft systems etc etc