All you need to know about Trailblazer apprenticeships
You may have heard the word ‘Trailblazer’ before when talking about apprenticeships, but what does it mean? QA are the apprenticeship experts – we’ll help you decipher what Trailblazers are, and why it’s an important move for the apprenticeship industry.
What are Trailblazers?
Some people call them Trailblazer apprenticeships, but officially, government call them apprenticeship standards. They are the new standards developed by government and employers to improve the quality of apprenticeships.
How did they come about?
To improve apprenticeship quality, Government decided apprenticeships should meet the needs of employers, their sector and the economy. To achieve this they worked with groups of employers – named ‘Trailblazer’ groups – to define what the new apprenticeship standards should look like. Employers defined the standards to ensure apprenticeships were aligned to the skills needed in each industry and for the relevant job roles. The new standards were designed to give apprentices’ industry-relevant training applicable to their job role and employers the skills they need in their sector.
What has changed?
- The new apprenticeship standards are aligned to specific job roles.
- The new model has a greater emphasis on apprentices developing and demonstrating full competence for their job role at the end of the apprenticeship.
- Apprentices are assessed on both technical competencies and the underpinning skills, attitudes and behaviours essential to their job.
- Apprentices record how they have practically applied their skills on real work projects in a summative portfolio.
- Apprentices also complete a synoptic project where they take a business-relevant project and build a finished solution in an assessment environment.
- Apprentices are externally assessed in an interview at the end of their apprenticeship. The interview is a holistic assessment based on their portfolio and synoptic project to ensure they have met the learning requirements of the programme.
- QA Technical Skills Coaches support apprentices throughout the programme – helping them develop the skills they need to successfully complete the apprenticeship, and develop their portfolio. They also provide expert and unrivalled pastoral care.
Why change to the new standard?
The framework gave apprentices the skills they needed for their jobs, right? And so does the new standard, so why change?
This is true, but the new standard extends and improves upon the previous approach. Apprentices do still get the skills they need for their job role, but there’s more.
They also get:
- Coaching and support from a qualified QA Technical Skills Coach.
- A more holistic approach to their training and development.
- An industry-validated programme ensuring they have the skills their industry needs.
- Skills in more current and up-to-date technologies that the industry demands.
All will change
In the end, all apprenticeship frameworks will move to the new standards. In October 2013, the first Trailblazer apprenticeships were launched. Now there are over 140 and counting, with over 350 in the process of being developed and delivered. The Government plan to move most, if not all apprenticeships to the new standards by 2017/18. So, all apprenticeships will eventually follow the new model.
Finally, and perhaps the most compelling reason for employers, is the value that comes from the new approach.
Trailblazer programmes come with a number of benefits already mentioned, such as workplace coaching, industry-validation and a more holistic approach to development. With QA you also get highly-skilled tutors, £1000’s of vendor qualifications, unrivalled learner support, top-notch candidates and Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ training.
So what about the costs? For every £1 employers spend on Trailblazer apprenticeship training, the Government pays £2. On top of that, there are incentive payments available from Government for employers using the new apprenticeship standards. With the Trailblazer model, when you take on new apprentices, you have the potential to claim back up to £21k for each apprentice. This can completely recover any initial investment, and can even mean by the end of the apprenticeship employers could claim back more than they put in.
What Next?
QA are the apprenticeships experts – we can help you understand how apprenticeships can work in your business.
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