National Apprenticeship Week 2021
Where on earth has that year gone, we can’t quite believe it was National Apprenticeship Week again last week! This past year has been a turbulent one for all business and industries, and with the introduction of furlough this has had a real impact on apprentices. With reduced budgets for training and hiring staff, a study by FE News concluded that UK apprenticeships have seen a huge 50% decline due to Coronavirus.
As universities become more and more expensive to attend, and the job market becoming competitive in the current climate, apprenticeships are a great career alternative. The best thing about being an apprentice is that you don’t have to be of a certain age. We have talked quite a lot about reskilling yourself during lockdown, particularly with Assessors, in order to help make them more employable. The same applies for apprentices. By working within an organisation that provides apprenticeship training, it is a great opportunity to boost your skills and employability – vital during this ongoing pandemic.
Challenging Times For Us All
During the last year or so, employers and apprentices have both faced huge challenges, and have had to adapt to remote working very quickly. This has meant that some flexibilities have had to be introduced with End-Point Assessments to allow apprentices to complete their qualifications.
This adaptation has only helped strengthen those businesses who have had new apprentices join them during the pandemic though. If an employer can take a new apprentice on during these challenging times, there will be a heightened level of appreciation from the apprentice which will motivate them to work harder.
Investing In Skills
This past year has given people lots of time to think and really reflect on their career decisions. Many have decided to pursue a career that won’t stop in a pandemic, such as becoming a qualified Assessor. With people having more time to complete training, there has never been a better time to invest in your skills to ensure you can succeed in a very unstable business environment.
The main advantage of becoming an Assessor is that qualifications and apprenticeships will always exist, so there will always be a need for people to assess them! Gaining the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA) will give you all the skills and knowledge you need in order to assess learners both in the workplace and in their learning environments (once the COVID regulations are relaxed).
Removing The Myths Around Apprenticeships
National Apprenticeship Week is an excellent opportunity for people to think about the next steps in their career, as well as to raise awareness for employers, apprentices and training providers. The common misconception surrounding apprenticeships is that they are aimed at the younger generation, particularly school leavers. People also tend to think that they are primarily focused on jobs within the trade industries, but this really is not the case anymore. Apprenticeships are available to people of all ages, and within a wide variety of sectors including accountancy, marketing and many more. Apprenticeships provide a great route into professions – combining studying with work and training at the same time.
If you would like to know more about apprenticeships or assessing apprenticeships, the team at Brooks and Kirk are here to help. Give us a call on 01205 805155 or alternatively email training@brooksandkirk.co.uk.
Steve is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
He provides Educational Consultancy to the 19+ sector as well as being an Assessor, IQA, EPA and Digital Marketing Professional. When not doing any of these he finds time, every now and then, to write blogs and articles.