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Our Employers Guide to working with apprentices

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What should you expect from your apprentice?

For school/college leavers, this is likely to be their first full-time job so please allow them some time to adjust to the differences between the education system and the workplace such as:

• Understanding appropriate business dress, attitudes and behaviours

• Having flexibility to deliver a number of tasks over a longer period at their own prioritising rather than a more structured, timetabled kind of day

• Not knowing what to do when they finish a task or project

• Lack of confidence in the workplace

• Not knowing health and safety welfare arrangements in the workplace

It’s also important to remember that your approach may need to be adapted for mature apprentices or existing employees taking on an apprenticeship eg they may have challenges around balancing coursework with daily workplace projects/tasks.

All apprentices learn and adapt at different rates, so it’s important to understand and support their needs right from the start of their learning journey.

Whether you are hiring new talent to grow within your business, or are upskilling an existing employee to help reach their full potential and perhaps take on greater responsibilities – we will work closely with you to get to know your operation and support you every step of the way to ensure a successful outcome for all.

We’ve produced this guide to provide you with some background as to how an apprenticeship programme works. As an experienced training provider, we have also included some useful tips to help you successfully manage your apprentice throughout their professional development.

Our clients gain real-time value from the fresh ideas that apprentices studying within the workplace can bring to their organisation. We would encourage managers to promote an interactive culture, support innovative thinking and the sharing of knowledge to maximise the potential of an apprenticeship programme for both parties involved.

Whether you are responsible for school/college leavers, or an established member of the team, as a line manager, you can make all the difference to your apprentice, their success and their engagement with the programme.

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We feel strongly that building and supporting a good relationship with yourselves and your apprentice is vital. Our aim is to ensure both the apprentice and the employer feel fully supported throughout the apprenticeship programme to ensure a successful outcome for all.

Delivery Team

Our delivery team consists of Pathway Planners (PPs) & Trainers who are all DBS checked. These are qualified IT specialists in the new apprentice standards, working as coaches & mentors with the apprentice to ensure successful completion of the apprenticeship.

Pathway Planner (PP)

Each apprentice will have their own Pathway Planner (PP) as their single point of contact throughout their apprenticeship to answer any questions your employee has whilst on programme.

They provide advice and guidance around everything from adjusting to the workplace and balancing studies with workload, to safeguarding and the government’s Prevent agenda.

Pathway Planners are also there to provide support for line managers. They help balance training with workplace activities and work closely with you to provide beneficial workplace projects for both the apprentice and the team they are working with.

Progress reviews

In addition, our PPs will provide regular updates on your apprentice’s progress and organise to meet regularly to conduct these meeting onsite with you, wherever possible, to build a strong supportive relationship where activities can be developed to achieve both business and apprentice goals.

Typically involves:-

First meeting within two weeks of learner allocation to pathway planner.

• Set quality SMART targets covering knowledgemodules, portfolio, professional attitudes,behaviours and personal development isessential to continued progress.

• Ensure that all stakeholders are aware of thetargets, and that plans have been agreed tosupport the learner in reaching the targets.

Subsequent meetings then follow every 8 weeks.

Remote meetings

Remote meetings also take place between progress reviews and are vital to keep a constant flow of information between the apprentice and pathway planner. The apprentice is encouraged to take ownership of their targets and their online-based meetings to discuss progress against targets and to raise any questions, concerns or suggestions. A brief overview of the meeting is added to the learners contact diary on Learning Assistant.

Touchpoint calls

After placing a candidate our resource team will also make follow-up calls periodically just to check on how they are feeling in general about their apprenticeship. This is another chance for them to feedback any concerns around any aspects of the programme.

Apprentice support

As experienced practitioners we embrace the many differences in individual learning styles and abilities and reflect that in the variety of additional support we provide to apprentices.

CognAssist is a simple online assessment tool we use that supports apprentices by identifying often previously unidentified learning needs. It then supports them further with a range of engaging learning support resources.

What support should you expect from Intequal? ?

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SafeguardingSafeguarding relates to the action taken to promote welfare and protect young adults from harm. The potential harm that could affect learners at Intequal include, but are not limited to; bullying, inappropriate supervision and unsafe workplaces or working practices. Safeguarding is therefore essential in assuring the development and well-being of young people and adults alike.

Safeguarding is at the heart of everything Intequal do, this is evidenced through our daily operations including carefully recruiting staff and selecting the employers we work with. This helps ensure we keep our learners safe. We also have a specially recruited pastoral care team who regularly communicate with our learners and appointed safeguarding leads. These staff are readily available to discuss any concerns you may have whilst training with Intequal.

Full policy details can be found on our website https://intequal.co.uk/safeguarding-policy-v1-3/

PreventPrevent is one of the four P’s of the Governments Counter Terrorism Strategy (CONTEST), with the others being Pursue, Prepare and Protect. The aim of CONTEST is to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism.

Here at Intequal we have a duty in relation to Prevent, safeguarding our learners from radicalisation and extremism which can lead to the participation in acts of terrorism. We look for signs and vulnerabilities displayed by young adults at risk of being radicalised.

Full policy details can be found on our website https://intequal.co.uk/prevent-policy-v1-2/

Equality & DiversityIntequal aim to create a working environment that respects the dignity and rights of all employees and learners, creating a learning environment where individuals have the opportunity to realise their full potential https://intequal.co.uk/equality-and-diversity-policy-v1-2/

NB full details of our policies can be found on our website https://intequal.co.uk

Other regulatory information

Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)

The ESFA brings together the former responsibilities of the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to create a single agency accountable for funding education and skills for children, young people and adults. ESFA is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Education whom we work closely with to obtain funding for apprenticeship programmes on behalf of employers. More information about this organisation can be found https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/education-and-skills-funding-agency. Any funding queries please contact your Intequal Business Development Manager direct, email info@intequal.co.uk and we will happy to clarify any queries. You can also find funding information on our website www.intequal.co.uk

Ofsted

Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. They inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills for learners of all ages. Ofsted conduct regular visits and review all aspects of our training provision, talking directly to apprentices, employers and Intequal staff as part of the review process. Any queries regarding Ofsted review activities please contact us on info@intequal.co.uk.

What support should you expect from Intequal?

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Done correctly, developing and nurturing talent is time-consuming. No getting away from that fact but the rewards from your invested time both for you personally and your business are plentiful. This is an exciting opportunity to support the future of your business but dedicating your time to this programme is vital for it’s success.

We are committed to supporting the development of your apprentices into productive, valuable, knowledgeable and well-rounded professional employees.

The guidance that your employee receives in the workplace from yourself as a line manager andother colleagues is vital to their career and skills development.

Giving your apprentices as many opportunities as possible to apply their apprenticeship training to real workplace situations is also highly beneficial - both for them to reinforce their studies with applied learning and for your teams to gain their support in practical situations.

Our tips

Get off to a good start

We recommend you run an induction in the first 2-3 weeks of the programme to share expectations from you and the business, as well as outlining your employee’s role within the workplace. If your apprentice is a new external hire, onboarding them successfully into your team is essential to orientate your apprentice and develop their understanding of your company’s products and services and feel welcome from the start.

Dedicate time – it’s worth the investment

This is key throughout the learning but especially at the outset to fully understand the apprenticeship programme aims by reviewing our full course programme.

Get to know us

Ensure you know who your Intequal Pathway Planner is, how you can contact them, diarise visits and attend meetings to gain progress reports with essential and discuss activities.

Get to know your apprentice

Hold monthly one-to-one’s dedicated to discussing the apprenticeship. Understand progress made and any challenges they might be facing so you can provide support or highlight issues to your pathway planner.

Share your thoughts

Provide positive feedback on their achievements and constructive criticism where improvements can be made and discuss to support with any key areas for improvement.

Manage your apprentice’s time together effectively

Please ensure your apprentice is able to complete the government mandated 20% off-the-job-learning (*explained in full on pg 7).

Consider opportunities

Look for opportunities within your organisation to develop your apprentice’s skills and celebrate their achievements.

End-Point-Assessment (EPA)

It’s important to discuss the EPA requirements with your Pathway Planner. Look at evidence that your apprentice has gathered and support them to plan their portfolio with examples of how they’ve met the learning outcomes of the programme. You will also need to provide support/mentoring throughout the synoptic project and help your apprentice to prepare effectively for their important EPA interview.

Your supporting role is key

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A good mentor will be invaluable to your apprentice’s development. This does not necessarily need to be you as their Line Manager – in fact, it helps the apprentice to have another point of contact in the organisation to help with both technical questions, and any other advice they need. You could nominate another member of your team to be your apprentice’s mentor throughout the programme.

Mentoring provides a great development opportunity for staff in your business – and although takes some time for the mentor – it will give potential managers the chance to enhance their skill set and get hands-on experience supervising others. Dedicated mentoring and support in the workplace for your apprentices will also bring significant efficiency benefits by accelerating their development

Mentoring and support in the workplace

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During their apprenticeship, learners are required to be given 20% of their contracted working hours by their employer for off-the-job training. Off-the-job training is defined by the government as:

“…learning which is undertaken outside of the normal day-to-day working environment and leads towards the achievement of an apprenticeship. This can include training that is delivered at the apprentice’s normal place of work but must not be delivered as part of their normal working duties.”

Examples of off-the-job training include:

• Teaching of theory: lectures, role playing, simulation exercises, online learning or manufacturer training

• Practical training: shadowing, mentoring, industry visits and attendance at competitions

• Learning support and time spent writing assessments/assignments.

The apprentice and their pathway planner are tasked to record these hours in a diary help on our Learning Assistant system. This is an on-line learning portal that enables learners and line managers to engage with learning content, tracking study progress and learning outcomes.

As some activities take place in the workplace, we also require that learners complete regular contact diary entries noting any relevant off-the-job training activities they have undertaken away from us. If completed in this way the contact diary entries can be very useful when forming the portfolio. It is important to note:-

• Off-the-job training time is a mandatory requirement of all standards-based apprenticeship programmes.

• It constituents 20% of contracted hours and therefore the exact requirements will differ for each learner. For example, if a learner is contracted for 40 hours per week, then they should have 8 hours per week for off-the-job training activities.

• All off-the-job training activities should be logged in Learning Assistant.

• Pathway Planners log details of all meetings, except progress reviews, in Learning Assistant.

• Trainers send learners an entry to add at the end of each training course.

• Learners add their own entries noting the activities they have completed away from us.

• Pathway Planners keep track of off-the-job training hours regularly, and report on this during each progress review.

• Details for learners and businesses on off-the-job training requirements and how to log via Learning Assistant are included in all programme guides.

Off-the-job-training 20% of contracted working hours

Apprenticeship off-the-job training, policy background and examples from the Department for Education - June 2017

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeships-off-the -job-training

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Key contacts

Pathway Planner

Each apprentice is assigned an Intequal Pathway Planner whose role is to guide them through the various elements of the apprenticeship and be the apprentices first point of contact for any questions, suggestions or concerns. The Pathway Planner will also conduct regular progress review meetings with the employer. On a level 3 programme, these meetings will be around every 8 weeks.

Safeguarding Officer

Your Pathway Planner will always be happy to discuss any issues that you or your apprentice have, or you may prefer to contact someone else. In this case, you should contact our Safeguarding Officer, Rod Harris by sending an email to rod.harris@intequal.co.uk.

FeedbackAs a matrix-accredited organisation, our client feedback influences the design and development of our programmes and services. We also conduct various activities throughout our programmes to ensure we understand and address any issues identified and capture the learning for our own continues development purposes as a training provider.

If you have any comments you would like to make about our programmes or services or indeed suggestions about programme delivery improvement, onboarding or end point assessment stages please do get in contact with us via https://intequal.co.uk/contact/ as we would really value your thoughts.

Complaints ProcedureAt Intequal, we are committed to providing high quality services for all our learners and employers, taking account of users’ views, and using the findings to promote and develop capacity for sustainable improvement. However, should you not be satisfied with our service for any reason please let us know by following the procedure here or https://intequal.co.uk/complaints-form-2/

We will respond promptly to any complaints, with a first response within 24 hours. The full complaints procedure will be provided in the apprentice’s portfolio or can be sent on request.

Also details can be found on our website https://intequal.co.uk/complaints-policy-2/

Here to support you and your apprentice

info@intequal.co.ukINTEQUALINTEQUALLTDINTEQUAL

Please contact our team at Intequal for further information

Birmingham

The Colmore Building, 20 Colmore Circus Queensway, Birmingham, B4 6AT

Employers and other enquiries: microsoft.apprentice@intequal.co.uk

0121 262 4117

Havant

31a, Basepoint Business Centre, Harts Farm Way, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 1HS

Employers and other enquiries: microsoft.apprentice@intequal.co.uk

0239 244 9727