National Apprenticeship Week 2021 has done much to highlight the skills and energy that apprentices bring to the workplace. So to help send this year’s week off in style, we’ve collected some of the most interesting and inspiring #NAW2021 stories all in one place…
Skills for Business
Let’s start at the top with this article from the Department for Education and Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Gillian Keegan. With the multiple challenges facing the UK economy in 2021, this is your point-by-point guide to how apprenticeships can help the country to #BuildBackBetter.
One of our favourite stats from the week comes from a poll by the Open University:
“The number of organisations planning to increase their apprenticeship intake over the next twelve months has seen an 11% increase, with nearly three quarters (72%) now planning on hiring more apprentices over the next year”.
This poll forms part of a report commissioned by the Open University and The 5% Club. Read more about it right here.
Skills for People
On Wednesday, the CMI published three “inspiring stories of apprentices“, an article featuring short interviews with apprentices past and present. It’s a good reminder that an apprenticeship can be the first step towards great things.
But apprenticeships are not just for people at the start of their career.
Ryan’s apprenticeship helped him to switch industries and move into the career he really wanted. His apprenticeship success story, from Capel Manor College, is a good reminder that you don’t have to be fresh out of school or college to make the most of an apprenticeship.
And if you need any more convincing on why apprenticeships are a good thing, read this interview with the BAME Apprentice of the Year 2020, Kimmy Kimani.
Kimmy sets out five good reasons for doing an apprenticeship, and we can’t disagree with any of them.
Finally, one of the coolest things we’ve seen this week was this short interview with Dan, an Armoury apprentice at the Royal Opera House. This was not a job we knew about before, but now we do, it’s one we want…
❓ ‘Being an apprentice meant that I was allowed to ask every question’
It’s National Apprenticeship Week and we are celebrating some of the talented people working at our theatre 🎭
Dan, Armoury apprentice, tells his story…@apprenticeships #NAW2021 #BuildTheFuture pic.twitter.com/nDPP4ob9II
— Royal Opera House (@RoyalOperaHouse) February 11, 2021
Instructus Skills for Apprenticeships
ICYMI, here’s a quick reminder of the stories we’ve run for National Apprenticeship Week 2021:
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- Recognising the Right Education: Instructus CEO Andrew Hammond outlines how apprenticeships can fit into the training hierarchy.
- Achieving Training Excellence: Lorraine Bunyard of Davidson Training tells us how the training provider has adapted for our remote working world.
- The Real-Life Apprenticeship Experience: Three freshly-qualified apprentices tell us why they chose an apprenticeship and how it’s prepared them for the future.
- A Flexible, Robust EPAO: We speak to our End Point Assessor Stewart Findlay and IQA Officer Larisa Puk about EPA and putting the apprentice first.
The content we’ve featured above only scratches the surface. This week has seen a ton of great stories about apprenticeships posted across the web and social media.
What we would love to do is feature more of the apprentices that our work directly affects.
Whether we certificate your apprenticeships, work as your End Point Assessment Organisation or maintain your National Occupational Standards, we would love to feature your apprenticeship success stories.
Contact us at campaigns@instructus.org to share your apprenticeship story.
