I’m really proud of our work on higher and degree apprenticeships and as its National Apprenticeship Week I wanted to take the chance to highlight the fantastic feedback we get from the employers we are working with.
Degree apprenticeships give students a wonderful chance to work and earn money while studying. They also give businesses and organisations a chance to bring in new talent and up-skill their workforce.
We conducted an employer survey in December and out of the 20-plus respondents, every single one said they would recommend the University of Essex as a training provider for apprenticeships to others.
So what do they value from Essex’s approach to degree apprenticeship?
The comments are really helpful in understanding our strengths – “flexibility and understanding employer needs” was one piece of feedback. I’m also pleased that many commented on how friendly we are, how clear our communication is and how supportive we are. Perhaps one of my favourites said the Apprenticeship Hub team is “great”, but perhaps more importantly pointed out “the apprentices are very happy”.
But, what about the apprentices? The feedback from employers is equally positive. Degree apprentices have increased their knowledge and skills, increased their qualifications. Retention has increased. As one employer said: “Apprenticeships can play a significant role in delivering our people strategy - helping us to recruit to hard to fill roles. recruit, develop and retain talent, meet individual learning needs, support succession planning, aid staff retention and motivation and develop the professional qualifications of the workforce.”
Another employer said these are “fantastic development opportunities for existing staff” and pointed out they were now "growing our own" future workforce and talent. Others said they valued being able to train students to fulfil their specific requirements.
Another respondent told us: “It has enabled us to retain experienced and valued staff and offer increased development opportunities.”
All the feedback will help us to continue improving our services.
I thought it would be helpful to share some more comments from our degree apprenticeship partners to show what they get from offering these placements. We have achieved some great successes and built fantastic links, but I don’t think many businesses in Essex and the wider region realise what brilliant training opportunities are on offer on their doorstep.
North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT)
NELFT as an organisation are very passionate about developing their own staff and enabling them to work through the career pathway from level 3 apprentice to foundation degree to level 5 Nursing or AHP degree. We support those previously discouraged from a career in Nursing or AHP for financial reasons giving them an alternative route whilst remaining as an employee and being paid a wage for the duration of the course. These opportunities also boost the moral and opportunities of our existing health care support worker force who have a wealth of experience behind them. We take great pride in growing our own highly skilled and passionate work force to deliver high quality care to our service users.
The degree apprenticeship provides a flexible work-based approach where the learners can develop their skills and knowledge and unlike the traditional undergraduate route, they can put their newly acquired skills to use in a real-life setting immediately. At the end of the course, we get highly motivated and supported work force that results in better staff retention and quality care for our service users. Better motivated and supported staff in turn will improve the reputation of the trust and will attract other health care professionals to join our work force.
AHP Suffolk
On face value, when AHP Suffolk first started to consider an apprenticeship route to physiotherapy, we didn’t see the financial value in it. The cost of employment, tuition fees and supervision/mentoring time appeared significant, and not having the 100% guarantee that we would benefit from 1 new staff member at the end of it when compared to the traditional method of just employing a graduate from the BSc programme didn’t feel attractive. Wider thinking and the realisation of more hidden benefits has changed our mind.
The partnership working that we have done with other healthcare providers in the local area, together with the University of Essex has been fundamental to the success of this project. From initial concept conversations, to getting the first students registered and attending university has been done in around 18 months. Programme design, course accreditation, job descriptions, recruitment, interviewing and mentorship training have all been the result of effective collaborative working across the Suffolk & North East Essex (SNEE) Integrated Care System (ICS). This reflects in a positive light for our social enterprise and encompasses what can be achieved if we all work together.
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Developing career pathways is a priority for the Trust and apprenticeships offer a ready-made career pathway for all employees. Apprenticeships provide us with a greater opportunity to support our existing staff with career progression and development. Colleagues can see that apprenticeships offer a credible option to develop their own skills and that of their teams.
Supporting retention is another benefit. Almost all of our apprentices choose to stay with the Trust once they have completed their course and with the increased range of opportunities, we are able to carry on investing in them in the long term. Completing one apprenticeship can lead to another apprenticeship opportunity if that’s what a colleague wants.
Apprenticeships give us the opportunity to attract talent from within our local community. Employing and developing people from our local area is a great way to secure a talented workforce for the future
An apprentice can also bring a different perspective to the workforce. Teams have been resolutely keen to support their apprentices, helping them to learn and develop and in turn the apprentices have inspired other colleagues to look at how they may develop and progress in their careers.
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