In November 2023, we (Dr Sue Elmer and Katie Simpson) presented our research at the National Universities Vocational Awards Council (UVAC) conference. We discussed the difference that apprenticeships have made for our graduates on a personal and professional level, in acquiring skills for life, particularly in terms of personal confidence and professional capability.

Apprenticeships in the School of Children, Young People and Families at Leeds Trinity University shape and create highly skilled practitioners and managers of staff teams who complete Higher level Apprenticeships (HLA4 or HLA5).

The apprentices seek to understand their jobs, their working relationships and themselves better.

Our session showcased the work of two apprentices, Kodi Bruce and Becci Hirst, who both work in children’s services in family support roles. Both learners saw the apprenticeship as the start of a learning journey that they had not previously been on and the outcome of their experiences as learners is that their apprenticeships have changed their lives. The advice they offer to anyone considering this route would be to ‘just go for it’. They have not looked back.

Having successfully completed the Higher Level Apprenticeship for Children’s Services Practitioners they discovered a love of learning and completed their Foundation Degree with excellent results. They are now nearing completion of the Level 6 Professional Practice top up. Kodi has recently received an academic prize for her results, and we are looking forward to watching them Graduate in July 2024.

The session drew on Kodi and Becci’s experience and focused on our recent study as researchers with professional backgrounds in Children’s Services. The objective of the research was to establish key themes emerging from case studies of apprentices who write about their experiences of applying learning in the workplace whilst supporting children and families, or, in the case of HLA5 apprentices, managing and supporting staff in children's services.

The research critically reflected on ways in which apprentices themselves are motivated to apply their learning, to change the way they work with children and families or practitioners they supervise and to introduce new ways of working that directly benefit employers.

We were surprised by the feedback we received from graduating apprentices about the confidence they had developed and a sense of better understanding their practice.  Steve (HLA5 apprentice), for example, reported: “It is highly relevant to my work practice”.

Another apprentice commented that she “confidently challenged the way an organisation was going to carry out an evaluation.’’

In terms of what applicants might want to consider before applying, higher level apprenticeships require a commitment to off the job training, from both themselves and their employers, a key part of the apprentice learning journey together with exploring funding for non-levy payers, and perhaps just as importantly the sense of excitement that apprentices feel on completing their end point assessment and achieving their apprenticeship.

Dr Sue Elmer is an Associate Professor (Professional Practice) and Programme Leader for HLA5  

work based learning (for Children’s Services Managers) at Leeds Trinity University. She is a registered social worker and her current research interests include the application of learning in practice to find workplace solutions that benefit both apprentices and their employers. Sue supervises PhD students who also work as lecturers on these apprenticeship programmes.

Katie Simpson is an experienced practitioner and academic and is Programme Leader for HLA4 work based learning for Children’s Services practitioners at Leeds Trinity University. She is also Programme Leader for Working with Children, Young People and Families. Alongside this she remains a practitioner and teaches parenting and emotional resilience courses. 

For more information about apprenticeships at Leeds Trinity University, please visit the website.