Research
CDA is a self-funded research & think-tank network. We aim to secure the best conditions for sustainable degree apprenticeships through research and analyses. Early research findings suggest that the sustainable implementation of degree apprenticeships (DAs) requires:
- Strong institutional leadership is essential including clarity that DAs are ‘core business’
- That DAs are developed from the ground up as apprenticeship programmes
- Better, more effective, sustained and systematic collaboration with employers
- A specific focus on systems and practices that enable recruitment and progression
- An effective learning culture in the workplace
- The workplace as the source of learning not just a site for its application
- Effective and comprehensive integration of on and off-the-job learning
- Authentic assessment that reflects working practices and work-integrated pedagogies
- Quality assurance approaches that maintain professional and academic standards but also accommodate the contribution of multiple stakeholders
Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning
CDA is linked to UVAC’s peer reviewed journal, Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning (HESWBL).
HESWBL’s editorial team:
- Professor Tony Wall, Editor-in-Chief – previously Deputy Editor of the journal
- Mandy Crawford Lee, Associate Editor – Director of Policy & Operations at University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC)
- Dr Ali Rostron, Associate Editor – senior academic at the University of Liverpool Management School
- Dr Steve Lambert, Associate Editor – senior academic at University of Chester
Forthcoming Special Issues
- Transforming the perception of apprenticeships in England: professional careers in the public sector – Guest Editors Prof Darryll Bravenboer (Middlesex University) and Mandy Crawford-Lee (UVAC)
- Equality-diversity-inclusion in apprenticeships and work-based learning – Guest Editor Gilmar Queiros (University of Hertfordshire)
- Lifelong learning, skills and value – Guest Editors Kirstie Donnelly MBE (City & Guilds Group) and Mandy Crawford-Lee (UVAC)
- International practices of work-based learning – Guest Editor Dr Jon Talbot (University of Chester)