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The learning landscape has changed rapidly in just a few weeks since Aspire held our Apprentice and Training fair as part of #NAW2020.
We, like all businesses, have had to operationally change the way we communicate with customers, (in our case employers and learners) to maintain and then hopefully grow their businesses, all the while safeguarding staff and managing their home use of equipment, looking after family and helping out within our local communities. Schools have had to dramatically change the way our children are educated and so have learning providers who are working hard to ensure that aspiring apprentices succeed.
Everyone is doing their bit to keep going and maintain business as usual and, whilst we are all worried, we know that this crisis will end at some point so it is important to ensure that after family, we look at the future assessing both our own needs as well as our businesses and employees.
The Institute of Apprentices and Technical Education published guidance on the 23rd March suggesting that all efforts should be made to ensure that apprentices can continue with their apprenticeship and be assessed in accordance with current End-Point Assessment plans and External Quality Assurance. The guidance refers to permissible on-line submissions and approvals.
If you furlough your apprentice, their learning does not need to stop and it should not stop. When things get back to normal, neither you nor your apprentice should be concerned about catching up on course work so it is important that they know that they can still learn and they should be encouraged to. Your training provider will have set up remote solutions to ensure this happens. Remember that you have invested time and money into your apprentice and their future so delaying their learning or stopping it entirely could set both of you back quite considerably.
Companies are taking advantage of the digital era which we live in and are still keen to employ an apprentice and, with some help from us at Aspire, are taking part in online interviews to ensure that, when the time comes, they will have an apprentice ready to take those first steps on the career path.
Lifelong-learning is still a focus of apprenticeship funding, so for those companies, Aspire to Learn are still providing online resource and training so you can continue to upskill key staff. We are also updating employers and learners as we receive new information on our news page.
We don't have a crystal ball; however, we are doing our bit to help companies look forward and prepare for returning to business as usual. We are running a series of 'snapshots' of selected training courses and the first of these will be in Operational Management and Leadership. These will be 1:1 and will be delivered online. More details to follow, but if you are interested to know more, please get in touch with us here.
Finally, some positive ‘Aspiring Apprentice’ feedback on their new ways of learning …
Laura – Business Admin Level 3
‘I love working with Zoom. It’s allowed me to see my work and still communicate with you effectively about my work and get answers to my questions’
Jessie – Business Admin Level 3
‘I find your online learning useful because you can show us the PowerPoint via your camera and talk us through it and it’s good because we can see you on camera and ask you questions. I understand better when it’s face to face on camera rather than on text’
09 Apr 2020
