ABSTRACT
The normal length of apprenticeship is now five years, after it had for many centuries been seven years. 1 When the Ministry of Labour made its sample enquiry into apprenticeship in the mid-nineteen twenties, the seven-year term was on its way out. In 1925–26, ‘the period most frequently served [was] five years, nearly twice as many boys serving for this period as for seven years …’ 2 The shortening by two years of the former seven-year term takes place at the beginning: connected with the raising of the school-leaving age, apprenticeship starts later than formerly—it is not completed at an earlier age. The age of completion is the terminus ad quem for fixing the age of entry into apprenticeship.
