Apprenticeships

Apprentice is a name which has changed in meaning greatly over the centuries. In the Northampton Mercury of 1770s a notice appeared for a runaway apprentice  who had fled his master in Huntingdon - and there was a dire warning of the consequences facing anyone caught harbouring the escapee.

In the 1970s the author of this story was apprenticed to Westminster Press under articles based on the print industry model, in which I agreed to “in all things conduct herself with all due obedience, competence, diligence, honesty, propriety and behave as a good and faithful articled pupil”. 

Some employers might think those qualities would be very welcome in young recruits today!

Well the good news is that Apprenticeships are back, big time.

Getting young people into jobs backed up by professional training is a key priority of the Coalition Government. As a country we need young people to help us work our way out the current financial black hole, as business you need skilled staff to meet the demands of next few years

Recognising the commitment and investment made by employers when taking on a trainee, the new Government is keeping in place many benefits and some funding to put people in place for apprenticeships.

Of course, as a private sector wealth creating business  we know you are too busy to work through all the paperwork and fill in the all forms - let alone make sense of the red tape. And if you are in the public sector you may not be sure where you next funding is coming from.

Which is where Bedford College’s business development team can help. Organisations which need to grow their own talent to support the services they provide to clients and customers can pick up the phone and talk to one of our people. We will come along and have a chat and walk you through apprenticeships  and how they work today. We can even advise what funding is available to cover part of the apprenticeship.

There is no doubt that employing apprentices helps in the long run. A survey by the Learning and Skills Council recently showed that more than 80% of businesses said that employing apprentices improved productivity*

We would welcome the opportunity to visit your company to discuss our apprenticeship service.  To arrange a free, no obligation visit call our Business Development Team on 01234 291747.

*Apprenticeships, survey conducted by Populus on behalf of the Learning and Skills Council, February 2009.

NEWS FLASH:

With over 140,000 people needed to fill IT jobs over the next few years, Bedford College is preparing young people with the right skills for the workplace

A fast track apprenticeship programme is offered in partnership with NITP (National IT Partnership). The aim is to create the next generation of qualified IT Support Technicians to meet the demand for such professionals.

Computer enthusiasts aged 16-18 years have a unique opportunity to join this training programme that links college study directly with high profile companies.  Focusing intensively on developing skills and rotating between study and work over a period of 7 months, apprentices will learn from ‘day one’ what it means to be employed in the fast moving IT sector.