UVAC is committed to supporting its members and the wider apprenticeship sector to respond to the government’s calls for improvement in the overall apprenticeship achievement rate. Which is why we are providing very practical long-term support through our involvement in the Apprenticeship Workforce Development (AWD) programme. ‘Funded by the Department for Education (DfE), the AWD programme is being delivered by the Education and Training Foundation in partnership with the Association of Colleges (AoC), Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), Strategic Development Network (SDN) all working alongside UVAC with the joint aim of supporting quality in delivery.

As practitioners in the apprenticeship field, the passion to help apprentices think about their personal and professional development needs and to plan a programme which meets their personal objectives (but which is also of relevance to their employer) is motivating. But what about managers, delivery staff, support staff, leaders and governors who steer the creation of apprenticeships in England and promote the benefits and value of this form of work-based learning, to such positive effect?

 The AWD programme is designed to offer managers, delivery staff, support staff, leaders and governors a highly curated offer of CPD. It represents a major opportunity, fully funded and endorsed by the DfE, for reassessing apprenticeship provision in the context of practitioners’ own skilling-up and to acquire new ideas and solutions to quality improvement in apprenticeship provision. Overall apprenticeship qualification achievement rates (QAR) dropped last year, leaving the sector even further away from the Government’s 67 per cent target. The QAR is one of a number of measures used by the DfE to hold apprenticeship training providers to account and it is an important one. By engaging with the live webinars and online resources as part of the AWD programme it is intended to reduce the likelihood of any provider being subject to enhanced performance management by the DfE/ESFA and, necessarily, additional levels of scrutiny and risk.

It is important to recognise the important drivers for this DfE funded programme of professional development. Ofsted have raised that one third of apprentices are enrolled with a provider that scores below a 50% achievement rate for their programme. While Ofsted recognises that low achievement rates don’t necessarily indicate a problem with the provider, Ofsted do expect managers, leaders and governors to know the reasons for low rates and be clear on any action taken to improve the QAR where possible. Very recent research into the quality of apprenticeship provision has highlighted numerous reasons for withdrawals. Alongside Ofsted views, AELP, the St Martin’s Group and DfE’s own research all cite the relevance and quality of support by both employer and provider as being a key determinant of retention and achievement in apprenticeships.

To register for AWD programme modules and resources, sign-up HERE.