The week from 3rd – 7th March sees the seventh annual National Apprenticeship Week taking place, which celebrates how apprenticeships can change the lives of young people positively, particularly those that may not be academically orientated and, at the same time, benefit businesses and the economy.
National Apprenticeship week focuses on four themes, which are the main motivators for taking up Apprenticeships and defines a new era for them. For employers, they are:
• Quality – Apprenticeships are of a high standard and quality assured
• Growth – Apprenticeships create sustainable growth
• Pride – Where Apprenticeships engage in national awards and competitions they reward success
• Value – New funding and financial incentives are available for those organisations who take on apprentices
For young people, they are:
• Quality – Apprenticeships lead to excellent careers that have real progression pathways.
• Growth – Apprenticeships offer genuine personal development with over 250 skills and industries to choose from.
• Pride – Where Apprenticeships engage in national awards and competitions apprentices are recognised and rewarded for their success.
• Value – Apprentices get paid whilst attaining nationally recognised qualifications and work experience.
To assist teachers in drawing their students’ attention to National Apprenticeship Week and to apprenticeships in general, Teaching Resources UK have a number of lesson and assembly resources that teachers can use. These include:
• Work-related learning- these are a large collection of key stage 3 and 4 lesson resources highlighting a myriad of different aspects of the working and the workplace including titles such as:
o KS4 Behaviour in the workplace
o KS3 Work and wages
o KS4 How businesses work
• Enterprise - these are another large range of excellent lesson and assembly plans focusing on the concepts of success and failure of entrepreneurial ides. Titles include:
o KS3 What is enterprise?
o KS3 Economic ideas
o KS4 Financial risks in business
All these resources can assist educators in giving students a better idea of different aspects of the world of work and with the added focus of National Apprenticeship Week they will prove helpful and equip students with the information that will allow them to consider what areas of industry or business that they may wish to develop their careers in and what pathways they may wish to follow into those respective careers.