APPRENTICESHIP FOCUS
BMF RAMPS UP APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMME
To meet its pledge of 15,000 new sector apprentices by 2030, the BMF is refocusing on the apprenticeship programme and the courses it offers.
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here’s a lot of publicity around the benefits of apprenticeships for young people, something that will ramp up as the exam and post-exam seasons draw close. However, apprenticeships also bring serious benefits for businesses. Marianna Peet has joined the BMF’s learning and development team to spearhead the relaunch of the organisation’s apprenticeships, in order to help the organisation to meet its pledge target of 15,000 apprentices’ recruitments by 2030. The apprenticeship courses will be provided by the external organisations LEAP and Multiverse. The LEAP course is sector specific curse run by sector experts while the Multiverse programmes focus on data a digital. Peet says she is focusing on an initial 15 courses, with a further 40 to be relaunched later. “The main reason I am so passionate about apprenticeships is that they bring serious business benefits. We have an aging population, as people start to retire and leave the industr. We need to work out a way of how can we fill those vacancies and how we can upskill our teams to accommodate people who might want to move into those vacancies. What an apprenticeship programme gives a business
is a way of building a talent pipeline,” she says. Research with young people and with the organisation Youth Employment UK, reveals, Peet says, that young people are looking for career paths and succession plans, and structured career paths. “When we share with them the statistics that you are more likely be promoted having been on an apprenticeship that really draws them in, and helps them to understand the opportunities, the visibility, and the networking opportunities that you get when you go through an apprenticeship programme,” she says.
“When companies invest in training employees, those people then feel that the company is investing in them on a personal level, spending the money and time in their development. When that happens, most of those people will want to give back.” At the moment, there is a Back-to-Basics series being developed, Peet says. “We’re working with others in the BMF to release information on apprenticeships, and how they all work, including details on all the benefits, the eligibility criteria, what all the levels are and what they mean, how the apprenticeships levy works, and the programme overview as well.”
Peet explains that all apprenticeships, no matter which industry or sector are based on government standards. “The government provide you with a list of knowledge and skills that you have to acquire whilst on the programme, subsequently you need to demonstrate that you have those skills, that you can apply them and can live the behaviours that are taught within the programme. All the standards are published within the guidance that the apprenticeship provider sets, then the student is assessed on these at the end of the programme.
“All are broken down into modules, and they are spelt into four or five sections, and all contain a mixture or webinars, coursework, and practical training. The expectation is that apprentices will spend six hours a week on the programme, the first three hours are pre- work and coursework, the remaining three are importing this learning into the day job. There is also an element of off-the-job learning, which is natural development that is learned outside of the set tasks.”
The programmes are delivered virtually through Teams or Zoom then all the course work is submitted via the online training portals. BMJ
NMBS’ APPRENTICE DRIVE LEAPS FORWARD
To highlight March’s National Apprenticeship Week, NMBS reiterated its call to the builder’s merchant sector to take advantage of available government funding to re-skill staff and bring in new talent through apprenticeships.
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uying group the National Merchant Buying Society is working with construction specialist LEAP and the Builders Merchants Federation to train scores of builder’s merchant apprentices to help address the skills gap in the construction sector. The apprentices are distributed across NMBS member companies.
The apprenticeships offered by NMBS, LEAP and the BMF cover more than 20 roles across a range of disciplines including driving, fitted furniture design, sales and marketing, warehousing and supply chain management,
accountancy and finance, IT and data literacy, human resources, and senior leadership and management.
More than 60 apprentices have been recruited by NMBS members across the country since the programme started last year. Dean Hayward, head of sales and marketing at NMBS, said: “As we face what is expected to be an uncertain year for the construction industry, we believe independent merchants are vital to supporting recovery at a local level, and they are investing in even better customer service and efficiencies in all working practices.
“A skilled workforce is essential to deliver this, and we’re delighted that a growing number of our members are taking part in our apprenticeship recruitment drive, which will improve service delivery to their local markets and also help to plug the skills shortage in the construction industry.
“We’re calling on the builders’ merchants’ sector to raise awareness of the varied and exciting roles available through the apprenticeships programme, which can lead to long and fulfilling careers as well as help address the skills shortages we face.”
BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net April 2024
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