By offering City & Guilds qualifications and apprenticeships, London Underground, the UK’s busiest public transport network, is meeting its goals with highly trained and motivated staff.
City & Guilds qualifications have formed the basis of London Underground’s staff development programme since 2000. From that time, the two organisations have worked hard to develop bespoke training schemes that meet the needs of London Underground’s 3.4 million daily customers.
Iain Smith, Head of Skills at Transport
for London at time of writing, believes choosing City & Guilds qualifications for staff development initiatives has been key to the programme’s success: ‘City & Guilds is the first and only choice when it comes to awarding bodies. The City & Guilds brand inspires confidence and is instantly recognised as a stamp of approval. Our staff understand and appreciate this.’ In 2011, London Underground’s
apprenticeship programme produced one of the most successful young learners of the year. Shauni O’Neill left school after finishing her GCSEs and achieving A grades. On the advice of her father, a London Underground employee, she secured one of 15 London Underground apprenticeships. After two years of training and over 400 hours of her own-time learning, Shauni is now a Station Supervisor,
with responsibility for 11 stations. Her enthusiasm for the job is underpinned by a meticulous technical knowledge of her surroundings. Shauni’s apprenticeship included practical modules on train driving and learning to fix malfunctioning points safely – crucial hands-on skills. ‘I feel like my apprenticeship has given me an advantage because I’ve got such a rounded view of how the company works,’ she says. In 2011, Shauni was awarded
London Underground Apprentice of the Year, London Apprentice of the Year, National Apprentice of the Year and Newcomer of the Year at the National RailStaff Awards. With her combination of drive, talent and background of City & Guilds qualifications, Shauni has set her sights high: she aims to be Transport Commissioner for London.
‘The City & Guilds brand inspires confidence and is instantly recognised as a stamp of approval. Our staff understand and appreciate this’ Iain Smith, Head of Skills, Transport for London
Health matters
Barchester Healthcare, which provides specialist healthcare for over 110,000 people in the UK, is working with City & Guilds to improve levels of care.
There are many levels to successfully running a care home, and Barchester Healthcare’s apprenticeship scheme covers every aspect of the business. Standard nursing apprenticeships are on offer alongside cookery, hospitality, cleaning, gardening and maintenance work-based learning programmes. Contracts and Development Manager at Barchester Healthcare, Mark Kite, believes that apprenticeships are important for bringing fresh talent into the healthcare sector. ‘There is a common misconception that people cannot work in a care home until they are 18-years-old, but our apprenticeships dispel that myth,’ says Kite. ‘We are working hard to attract school leavers and demonstrate that apprenticeships are a viable and profitable alternative to university education.’ Kite continues: ‘City & Guilds is a name known and respected across the care sector. Our apprentices recognise this too and attach real value to their City & Guilds certificates.’ City & Guilds is continuing to work with Barchester Healthcare to ensure that the healthcare sector not only attracts bright new talent to its workforce, but that its existing workers are inspired to develop their skills during their employment.
Vital resources City & Guilds has delivered services such as textbooks, CDs and resource packs to 73% of training providers who are funded to deliver apprenticeships, to support their schemes