In recognition of National Apprenticeship Week, we are joined by four guests:
- Yvette Witcombe – Business Development Executive at Northampton College
- Jon Goodman – Head of Academy at MK Dons
- Caroline Indge – Head of Partnerships and innovation at Milton Keynes college
- Kirsty Lancaster – Projects and Continuous Improvement Coordinator at Travis Perkins plc
Apprenticeships, blended programmes, and the skills gap
Our guests speak to us about how apprenticeships can be a great stepping stone for young people who aren’t sure what they want to do but know that they don’t want to go into higher education. Apprenticeships give young people an opportunity to assess different career routes while also building transferable skills.
There’s been a huge shift in how many people are taking up later life apprenticeships due to the pandemic. The pandemic has forced an older generation to re-evaluate their current career paths and retrain in a new direction resulting in an uptake in later life apprenticeships. This has forced colleges to adapt their delivery to cater to the older generation as apprenticeships were more directed towards 16-25 year olds in learning styles.
The dynamic of these blended age groups has improved the learning environment within the classroom.
Our guests also speak about how their respective colleges moved to blended programmes to pull through the pandemic. The introduction of ‘standards’ which are role job-specific and not as vague as previous frameworks has now given a more professional badge to apprenticeships.
In addition to that, this episode discusses the emerging problem that employers are facing with the skills gap and whether apprenticeships can be the answer for this.
