What levels do they come in?

You can now do Apprenticeships in a range of levels and at many stages in your career. For example, someone new to a role might do a Level 2 Apprenticeship but someone with more experience looking to develop their career might do a Higher or Degree level Apprenticeship. The illustration at the end of this article shows what levels are available in England.

Not every career area has an Apprenticeship at every level. In some cases, this is because Apprenticeships are being developed all the time as industry identifies a need. In other cases, it might be because the work-related skills change as a career develops: take Hairdressing or Barbering for example. You can do both of these as an Advanced (Level 3) Apprenticeship, by which time you will be a very skilled hairdresser. Your next step might then be to either become a Supervisor or start your own salon, in which case you might need Team Leading, Customer Service or Business qualifications at a higher level.

You can find out which Apprenticeships exist and at what levels by visiting the Institute for Apprenticeships website, www. instituteforapprenticeships.org, and browsing their ‘Standards’ page. It is regularly updated as new qualifications are written.

How do they qualify me?

As an apprentice, at least 20% of your working week will be spent in structured learning, working towards relevant qualifications.

As we have already mentioned, every Apprenticeship has nationally (and often internationally) recognised qualifications built into it. The new generation of Apprenticeships looks to existing industry qualifications to provide that recognition. For example, if you are doing an IT Apprenticeship, you might work towards a Google qualification, or if you are doing Accountancy, you might study for an AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) qualification. Some of the Degree and Higher-level qualifications include industry relevant degrees or Chartered professional status.

Most Apprentices will come out with at least two Certificates; one for their industry qualification and an Apprenticeship completion Certificate. It’s not uncommon for Apprentices to have collected three or four Certificates, as they complete the various component parts of their Apprenticeship.

How do I get one?

Every Apprenticeship requires three key players:

• The Apprentice – who is employed to work and study

• Their employer – who is responsible for employing the Apprentice and deciding the training route

• Their training provider – who is responsible for helping deliver the qualifications and to maintain quality (all Apprenticeship training providers are inspected by OFSTED).

If you want to be an Apprentice, you therefore have two potential routes to finding an Apprenticeship: you can either approach employers who offer jobs in the career you are interested in or you can talk to training providers who deliver the qualifications you want. In reality, of course, you should probably do both!

About 90% of all the 28,000 Apprenticeship vacancies advertised in England each year appear on the Find An Apprenticeship website so that is a great place to start: www.gov.uk/applyapprenticeship This website is free to use and you don’t have to create a login to browse.

The big difference between applying for an Apprenticeship and applying for a place at college or uni is that Apprenticeship vacancies are posted at any time during the year, as an employer chooses to recruit, so don’t just expect to find the right vacancy for you in the summer term.

Who does them?

Hundreds of employers, large and small, up and down the country and in many different sectors employ Apprentices. From some really big household names to the small business round the corner; you might even find that your school or college employs an Apprentice or two.

Who can do them?

Almost anyone can do an Apprenticeship. As long as you are old enough to leave school (16 years plus), an Apprenticeship is an alternative option to staying in full time education until you are 18. There is no upper age limit, as long as you are employed and your employer is willing to invest in your training. There are some limitations with regard to previous qualifications. For example, if you had already completed a Degree in Engineering as a student your employer would be unlikely to get funding to pay for you to complete a Degree Apprenticeship in Engineering. Instead, you may be able to do a Level 7 Apprenticeship in Engineering or a Degree Apprenticeship in a different skill area, such as Management.

Want to find out more?

There are lots of useful and interesting resources for young people, parents and teachers on the Amazing Apprenticeships website at: www.amazingapprenticeships.com