Above : Sheffield Hallam University ’ s first occupational therapy apprentices , with Petra ( seated centre )
A number of apprenticeship programmes have been approved by HCPC and RCOT since the apprenticeship standard was officially established in December 2018 .
A very different way of learning and teaching
It is fair to say that not just the apprentices learned during their apprenticeship – employers , practice educators and university staff have all learned about how to combine work and study .
For staff within the university , teaching apprentices is very different to teaching on our other routes . As these learners bring real-life situations and scenarios to the classroom , learning becomes aligned to the real world .
Equally , apprenticeship learners are expected to practise learned skills and behaviours in the workplace and explore newly-gained knowledge . Since all of them brought prior knowledge and skills relevant to their area of practice , rich peer learning in the classroom took place , allowing tutors to become facilitators and collaborators as part of teaching sessions .
Staff have had to adapt and ensure that teaching is relevant to the work environment . Not in the least to ensure learners are able to manage the combination of work and study . This has not been without its challenges and is something that we continue to learn about and adapt to .
The placement experience
Like other learners , apprentices complete a range of placements to ensure they develop a holistic understanding of the profession .
Placements allow them to practise and develop their knowledge , skills and behaviours in areas outside of their work environment . This creates a rich tapestry of learning and allows them to really develop an understanding of the impact a range of individuals experience in relation to their occupational performance .
Of course , COVID-19 brought challenges to their placements . During the early summer of 2020 , this cohort supported a range of organisations on their role emerging placement with occupation focused interventions appropriate to the COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time . In other words , many developed online occupation focused interventions .
Existing and previous experience of working in health and social care environments enabled apprentices to step into practice placements with skills around professional behaviours and communication at a more advanced level than traditional learners .
This allowed them to develop further and at a faster pace than we had come to expect from our traditional learners . When we recently asked our practice placement educators for feedback about apprentices on placement , they told us they ‘ found the combination of transferable skills from their substantive role and knowledge from university [ means ] they are far ahead of where a traditional route student may have been at the same point in time ’ and that they were ‘ proud to have apprentices on placement ’ and they wanted ‘ more of them ’.
Workplace mentoring
Within the workplace , each apprentice works alongside a work-based mentor . The mentors are instrumental in
24 OTnews January 2022