NHS to give the attendees context to be able to pass on to their students. SUN also delivered guidance on supporting a student with an application and highlighted the barriers researched and included in the online CPD session which is a subject area SUN could give specialist insight into.
The attendees came from a range of schools, colleges and other organisations and all attendees had a career related role. 14 out of 24 participants filled in the post-event survey.
Understanding Apprenticeships Summary
These sessions are designed for both pre-16 and post 16 groups in schools, to be delivered by one member of the delivery team within a 50-minute session. As part of this workshop, students explore the different apprenticeship levels, with the comparison of other progression choices to highlight the equivalent qualifications at each level. This aims the dispel the common myth that apprenticeships are a lower-level qualification for students. Following this, the session explains more about the components of completing an apprenticeship detailing the meaning of“ work, earn, learn” to guide students through this. Once this has been explained, the session covers how to apply for an apprenticeship with interactive activities to hep the students stay engaged throughout the session. Another common misconception about apprenticeships the session tries to dispel is that apprenticeships are only for trades or beauticians, the variety of available apprenticeships is showcased in the session to demonstrate that they can be a great option for students looking to gain valuable work experience while earning their qualification in many sectors. Although the session does highlight how competitive the apprenticeship market is to ensure that students understand the importance of a comprehensive application.
Resources
In order to support students learning about apprenticeships and to compliment SUN ' s delivery offer, a resource that had been produced by GROWS( another Uni Connect partnership) was adapted for use in the SUN region. The existing resource had relevant and up to date information that would benefit our students, so it was decided that we would update the regional information to best support our young people in the SUN region. The information provided in this resource covers higher and degree apprenticeship information, apprenticeship levels, decision making, finding and applying for apprenticeships with interactive activities for students to use. This resource was printed as physical copies for distribution during in person delivery but is also available as an online resource to ensure it is accessible to young people across the region even if they have not engaged in our in-person activity.
In June 2021 SUN created an interactive online course for students in years 7 through to 13 to help develop key skills that would support them in applying to apprenticeships and working as an apprentice. This was created in collaboration with the University of Portsmouth and Alphi. This online course was still relevant for this project so the SUN communications team worked to update the content and move this over to our new website so that SUN would have the ability to make updates when necessary to the resource and re distribute this to the SUN ' s network. The online content was divided into five modules that were created with the respective target audience in mind. This included introducing soft skills to year 7 and 8 students, developing these skills for 9 / 10s, interview skills for year 11 students, confidence and resilience in job searches for post 16 students and a further module for all students on communication skills and body language for recruitment. These skills are developed on the online courses through interactive activities like word sorting and quizzes, as well as video content and written information to create an informative and engaging activity for students taking part.
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