Apprenticeships – coming soon to a school near you

Schools across the UK see an increase in apprentices after the government introduced new schemes, and a levy to fund them, which came into effect last month. “Good apprenticeships with high quality training can be an enormously valuable employment opportunity,” commented UNISON national officer Joanne Parry. As part of the shake-up in England, apprenticeships are available as an option for all workers, not just young people. Under the scheme, they must be for a real job and take at least 12 months. They can be full-time or part-time, with at least 20% of the time committed to off-the-job training. The new schemes will include a teaching assistant apprenticeship, which UNISON is proud to be involved in developing. The union is the only one involved in developing the new standard. Like all the new apprenticeship standards – which replace what used to be called apprenticeship frameworks under the previous system – this has been designed by a group led by employers. That involved a coalition of schools working with vocational education provider City and Guilds, as well as UNISON. The group has proposed that apprentices should be required complete a level 3 ‘supporting teaching and learning’ qualification as part of the apprenticeship. The government has not yet agreed that this should be mandatory, but the apprenticeship standard will including it as a recommendation at least. UNISON has also been involved in developing a new apprenticeship standard for school bu...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: Article apprentices Apprenticeship Levy apprenticeships education education services schools Source Type: news