EDA Report
Chris Gibson with EDA Learning Achievement Award winners
buying groups, they’re the advocates of it and they really do publicise it even within the organisation. We also really want to push around the education. For the young learners,
we have an awards after our annual dinner, and we think it’s really important that we shout from the rooftops about who’s exceeded expectations and who should be proud of what they’ve done. For me, it’s definitely one of the best events of the year.
How were the workbooks developed? There are 12 workbooks which are going to be refreshed every 18-24 months. The important message is that they’re all written to a high standard by people within the industry. Similar to our work with ETIM, we had small committees based around the categories and experts from different manufacturers and wholesalers working on writing those modules. It’s very relevant information, and it’s something that the individual can refer back to, too. So once they’ve completed it, if they do get stuck on a question during the day, it’s something they can count on. The other part of the development and training is around the
apprenticeships. Obviously, it’s a huge focus of the EDA’S to drive our partnership with the EDA Apprenticeships Plus. We’ve been working with these guys for a while now, and since 2011 we’ve seen more than 960 apprenticeships complete the training.
How does National Apprentice week tie in to the EDA’s training ambitions and projects? National Apprentice week is a government initiative in England. Each of the four devolved nations have their own apprenticeship landscape, but for England it’s the National Apprenticeship Service. This year was the 12th National Apprenticeship Week, which fortuitously falls in March every year. It’s very handy that it ties in with our two celebrations; the annual dinner
where we celebrate managers who have championed the EDA training and apprenticeship, who have either put people on the modules or they’ve recruited and trained people through our apprentice programme – or both. The next day we reward the outstanding apprentices and those who have delivered outstanding results in their product knowledge training. Having these events as part of the National Apprenticeship Week gives us some extra leverage, because there are channels of promotion that the National Apprenticeship Service offer to us. It gives us an edge and something more to talk about and to celebrate, but it is a national event for everybody – every UK business and training provider – to jump on that bandwagon. The government wants businesses to open their doors to new talent
through apprenticeships and to also train the people they already have through apprenticeship funding, which they can do now. It’ll be the 13th National Apprentice Week next year, and we have already set the date four our annual dinner – the 5th of March. And whilst it’s called National Apprenticeship Week, people tend to celebrate through all of March until it becomes National Apprenticeship Month!
How much of a part do the EDA volunteer ambassadors play in this? How do they “up-skill” the sector? The ambassadors are absolutely the link between the tools that we’re creating, their quality, and then taking that information and advertising it throughout the membership, as well as getting feedback the other way. They’re the ones taking that back and driving it within their own businesses. So, obviously the larger members have direct representation and the buying groups also have bespoke representation that takes it back in towards the business. Unless you advertise them and make the membership aware, the tools are
going to sit there unused. I can’t stress enough that the ambassadors, the work that they do, as advocates pushing that within the membership is huge. They get together every quarter to take feedback – so we need feedback the other way, too, from our vendors!
The EDA now offers training for a range of roles across the sector – what was the launch point for this idea? I think they probably existed already in certain formats. By the EDA professionalising them, raising the standard and the quality, it’s allowed everybody the same level of opportunity to develop their people. I can’t stress enough that the quality really does stand out. That sets the bar with the young people and the people actually undertaking the modules. They understand the quality of the content, but also the quality of the publication and the fact that people from within the industry recognise that others from similar positions have written and created them.
Can you speak some more about the EDA’s partnership with the EDA Apprenticeships Plus I think we’ve done just over 960 apprentices with Apprenticeship Plus. We started the relationship in 2011. It’s important to say that traditionally, the focus was more on the wholesaler than the membership, but over the past few year there’s been more and more affiliates seeing the benefits of tapping into that. So the wider affiliate membership and the manufacturers are starting to see the benefits of it.
Find out more at:
eda.org.uk
At the EDA, we’re a trade body; independent companies will make their own commercial decisions. If we can share common information to raise people’s awareness, that’s absolutely critical for us.
ewnews.co.uk August 2019 electrical wholesaler | 17
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