WORK PLACEMENTS OPEN DOORS TO HEALTHCARE AND MEDICAL CAREERS


Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust works closely with local education and training providers to deliver apprenticeships and higher education. Gail Richards reports.


In January 2015 we launched the Health & Care Academy with support from Health Education England. This academy is available to Petroc College’s health and social care students who are interested in a career in health care. If successful at interview they will work at our trust for 10 weeks. For one day a week, students will spend time working on wards, in operating theatres and in other areas such as radiology, research and development, and physiotherapy. We are adapting this model in line with T Levels, including offering longer industry placements.


Most students then either choose to do an apprenticeship with us or go into higher education, perhaps to study nursing. The academy is recognised by Health Education England as being a model of good practice for developing a sustainable and highly skilled health and social care workforce. Since 2008 we have been offering


apprenticeship training positions. During this time many of those apprentices have developed further within our trust into more senior positions. Our partnership with Petroc continues with those apprentices we employ. The college provides teaching in areas such as employability skills, and our staff teach on the technical aspects of the apprenticeships at our sites and at the college. The academy and our apprenticeships allow our organisation to showcase the variety of roles available within the NHS as well as sustaining our future workforce. Building on the success of the academy, the trust started the Medics Academy in 2016. This is targeted at A Level students at Petroc aspiring to become doctors.


Gail Richards is training manager and apprentice lead for the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust. For video information go to YouTube and search for Petroc Health & Care Academy.


CASE STUDY HOW OUTSTANDING APPRENTICES ARE ‘MADE IN THE ROYAL NAVY’


By Commander Allan Youp The Royal Navy (RN) comprises a diverse, global workforce of 30,000 sailors, submariners, aircrew, Royal Marines Commando and Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The ability of the RN to ‘protect the nation’s interests worldwide’ is predicated on the success of its apprenticeship strategy, which aims to develop individuals with the skills required by a modern, high-tech navy. After the foundations are laid during initial training, RN personnel are enrolled on a Level 2 intermediate apprenticeship suitable to their chosen trade. As a ‘Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer’ (2017), the RN offers more than 20 apprenticeships across six occupational sectors and has the second highest achievement rates in the UK at 87 per cent – that’s 20 per cent above the national average. Annually there are more than 3,000 apprentices (10 per cent of the workforce) on an apprenticeship, the majority being Level 2 but with an increasing number starting an apprenticeship Levels 3-7. Progression is key and 20,000 qualifications were awarded last year across a wide spectrum (e.g. GCSE, A Level, Apprenticeships, NVQ, Royal Yachting Association, Degrees, Masters). We are also developing a broader range of advanced and higher apprenticeships, with a degree apprenticeships offer being scoped to attract potential engineering officers – a skills shortage area. Apprenticeships are fully mapped to an individual’s job role, ensuring learners


are operationally competent and achieve formal recognition of an apprenticeship. Quality and assessment is managed collaboratively with the sub-contractor, Babcock Flagship Ltd (BFL). Apprentice progression is reviewed about every 10-12 weeks, and progress is further consolidated when apprentices are at sea by maintaining a Career Development Journal or Task Book. A teach-coach-mentor ethos is integrated across the RN. This initiative also helps trainers, who are selected from their RN trades and trained as trainers, to continually improve and gain teaching experience, allowing them to identify and utilise new teaching skills. In support of the broader L&D offer, the RN Learning & Development Organisation, whose strapline is Learn | Develop | Inspire, was formed in January 2018 to ensure policy, provision and accreditation of our training is vertically and horizontally integrated, thus improving coherence. This is supported by 18 learning and development centres across the UK and Gibraltar, and a small L&D team provides support to deployed personnel. Learning difficulties are further supported by qualified staff. The Royal Navy’s Apprenticeship Programme, including its L&D provision, supported by BFL, was judged outstanding by Ofsted in March 2018.


Commander Allan Youp is head of Learning & Development Organisation and the Apprenticeship Programme for the Royal Navy. More information at www.royalnavy.mod.uk/navyleaRN and www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/ apprenticeships. Read the full article at ETF online.


inTUITIONTECHNICAL TEACHING • AUTUMN 2018 11


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16