In an era of breathtakingly fast technological advancements and industry changes, a skilled, motivated, and adaptable workforce will be critical to every organisation’s sustained success.
Against this backdrop, technology has revolutionised learning, evolving from formal classroom structures to self-directed and social learning, using platforms that personalise and serve content in a way that few educators could have dreamt of a decade ago. However, there’s one ‘traditional’ development route that’s all too often overlooked or quickly ruled out; and that’s utilising apprenticeships to upskill existing employees.
Admittedly, some of the information (and administration) surrounding apprenticeships can be daunting, but arguably, a small price to pay given the potential benefits: –
Apprenticeships are not just for new entrants –
whilst successive Governments tend to focus on apprenticeships as a way for young people to ‘earn and learn’, they can be every bit as valuable for your established people at all levels of seniority. To provide meaningful development, it’s essential to match the right Apprenticeship Standard to the learner, setting them up for success by ensuring they’ll be able to apply and build new skills and knowledge in their role. And never underestimate the importance of getting line managers of the apprentices on board from the get-go.
Apprenticeships are more flexible than you might expect –
good apprenticeship providers will be keen to ensure training is co-designed in terms of the structure and content (although this is much more likely to be the case if you can enrol a group of learners). Whilst the list of knowledge, skills, and behaviours to meet the Standard must be achieved, there’s plenty of room for contextualisation. I’ve witnessed some brilliant examples of co-design, including live business briefs forming part of a leadership programme to bring relevance and value for the employer. A charity I worked with launched a content production apprenticeship for their comms and fundraising teams, embedding hugely valuable new skills like video and podcasting and transforming their working practices.
Apprenticeships can drive engagement, diversity and career mobility –
the latest Government statistics (See link below) from 20-21 show that even in a severely disrupted period, 42% of those surveyed who completed their apprenticeship achieved a promotion. The same data indicates that when compared to other formal qualifications, those achieving apprenticeships are more likely to stay with their current employer. And crucially, apprenticeships offer opportunity to those for whom University was not a viable option (it’s great to see the university admissions service UCAS now recognises this (see link below) and promotes apprenticeships alongside degrees).
You can access to Government Statistics here:
You can access new apprenticeship service here:
https://feweek.co.uk/ucas-launches-new-apprenticeship-service/
Apprenticeships take time. Undeniably, time investment is significant and there are no short cuts (the baseline is 6 hours per week), but apprenticeships create impact because they take time. Bear in mind too, that hours spent applying and developing skills in the workplace can count towards this requirement. Rather than the old term of ‘off the job’, some training providers describe this more appropriately as “dedicated development time’, doubtless inspired by Google and other enlightened employers who ringfence time for learning and innovation to take place.
And finally – apprenticeships represent great value for money – in simple terms, if you’re an employer who pays the apprenticeship levy, the cost of the training is covered, meaning you won’t need to dip into precious L&D budgets. And if you don’t pay the levy, the government still funds 95% of the training cost.
To be truly effective, apprenticeships require determination, time and effort from employers and learners, and a training provider with industry-immersed tutors and a ‘learner first’ philosophy. But they can engage, motivate, bridge skills gaps, and benefit both learner and business in a way that few other learning initiatives can rival. So before ruling the idea out, I’d urge any business leader to do some research, talk to other employers, training providers, and most importantly, apprentices themselves.
In the below links, Employers can find apprenticeship resources and a list of training providers and their official ratings
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/
https://www.gov.uk/employers-find-apprenticeship-training
About the Author
Genevieve Miller is a talent development and internal communications specialist, who is currently seeking her next role. She has a particular interest in apprenticeships, having become a Department for Education apprenticeship ambassador in 2021, and through her work at Bauer Academy, where apprenticeship training became a key element of Bauer Media’s EVP
