The New Age of Apprenticeships – Where to Start?

The levy is around the corner, government updates are flying in, new trailblazer apprenticeship standards are being launched daily and the challenge for many HR and training professionals is knowing where to start.

Following many conversations with clients to help them digest the new age of trailblazer apprenticeships, we thought it would be useful to share a starting point to progress from.

To help you give a clear budget to work from, it is important to firstly calculate your indicative levy tax so that you have some clear financial limits to work with.

Once you know ‘how much’, the next question to explore is ‘what’ to invest in.  Given that new standards have been launched for numerous disciplines and industries, not all of them will be relevant.  It is recommended that you review the current list of new apprenticeship standards available to evaluate and prioritise which are relevant to your business.  Next, determine the business benefit of developing apprenticeship competence within each priority standard.

In clarifying ‘who’ should access this development, some organisations are recruiting external apprentices whilst others are promoting from within whilst evaluating their ‘management and leadership pipeline’ of talent.  Therefore, if you are a growing organisation, how fluid is your pipeline of successors and talent?  Do you have people ready to step up when the business needs new managers/ talent.

Once you have a clear picture of your levy spend and know which apprenticeship standards will add more value to your business, the final step is to find a reputable provider via the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers to collaborate with.  Ahead of meeting potential providers, here are a few questions that may help you to determine which provider is the right fit for your business:

• Who is their end point assessment partner?  Experience of working together?
• What is the percentage of on and off the job learning?
• What learning methodologies are integrated?
• How can they help you engage line managers to support on-the-job assessment and learning?
• What tools, templates, proformas etc. are made available to support the assessment process?
• Are qualifications integrated into the programme?  If so, how are these delivered, assessed and managed?
• What level of support is available for learners throughout their development?

To find out more about the Trailblazer Management Apprenticeship Programme that Adalta offer, click here to arrange a free consultation.