How will we maximise the potential of all employers and staff within the Cardiff Capital Area? How can we develop the expertise of all age teams? And what half can apprenticeships play sooner or later expertise of Southeast Wales?
The Enterprise ‘Expertise Leaders Speaking’ sequence will get to the very coronary heart of the place we stand by way of the skillsets, employability, alternatives and potential now we have in our area – discovering the various dimensions of ‘The place Are We?’ and ‘What’s Subsequent?’ as we transfer into the fourth industrial age.
Grant Santos is CEO of Educ8 Coaching Group, the award-winning enterprise based by chairman Colin Tucker in 2004 to deal with expertise shortages throughout Wales – rising a 200-strong group that’s now certainly one of Wales’ main coaching suppliers. On this fascinating dialogue, we discover how the extremely numerous and wide-ranging apprenticeship programmes can construct sustainable success for employers and staff alike, in our area and past…
“After 25 years within the apprenticeship house, I can definitely say that these precious coaching and growth programmes are extra prevalent than they have been – and changing into extra extensively recognised for the benefits they bring about to each the learner and the worker.
“Right here in Wales, we’ve considerably elevated Stage 4 and 5 apprenticeships, which are sometimes a stepping-stone to a level. We’ve seen new sectors akin to Cyber, Fintech and Medtech evolve, serving to drive the expansion of versatile apprenticeships. And we’ve welcomed the Welsh Authorities’s emphasis on all-age apprenticeships, and the dedication to the Younger Particular person’s Assure for 16-24 yr olds. Many individuals don’t realise that apprenticeships are for everybody aged 16 and over. They’re not only for college leavers – and are excellent pathways for these already in a job position who need to enhance their expertise and data in a particular space.
“All of that’s vastly encouraging – however there’s loads of room for enchancment and scope to develop.
“Lower than 20% of employers interact in apprenticeships right here within the Cardiff Capital Area and – dare I say it – we nonetheless have a component of snobbery round an ‘Apprenticeship’ being one way or the other of lesser worth than a ‘Diploma’. We merely should cease pondering that approach, not least as a result of you are able to do each programmes beginning as an apprentice and when the time is best for you, progressing in the direction of a level. There are even many learners who research a level then upskill with an apprenticeship afterwards. All types of schooling are precious and needs to be equally celebrated.”
Why the apprenticeship journey is correct for therefore many individuals
“I began my very own profession in coaching on a Stage 4 apprenticeship earlier than happening to college. It’s extra vital than ever for individuals to get the alternatives and the coaching that’s proper for them at any specific time. Everybody’s pathway in life is completely different. Everybody’s progress is completely different. And that’s why apprenticeships are so proper for therefore many individuals. They provide a route that permits individuals to make the journey in a approach that fits them greatest.
“It’s tough to overestimate the worth of the training expertise gained by way of an apprenticeship. Every thing is contextualised since you’re studying on the job. Every thing is sensible as a result of the training displays your working actuality. It’s sensible, grounded and totally supported. You’re working with skilled individuals who have ‘been there’ and are capable of go on their knowledge and experience in a approach that’s related and helpful. You additionally receives a commission whilst you be taught, which may’t be ignored given the rising ranges of debt, college pupil loans and spiralling prices of residing in our society.
“To take advantage of the chance now we have in our area – to deliver as many individuals as doable into an awesome studying, incomes, working atmosphere – we want to ensure our apprenticeships are as inclusive as doable. We are able to’t afford to expend all our energies on simply the upper apprenticeships, at Stage 4 and 5. Somebody getting into trade at Stage 2 has each alternative to be working a group or a division in just a few years’ time – or just doing an awesome job. We have to assist individuals grasp all of these alternatives, in any respect ranges.
“Stage 2 Apprenticeships are notably vital to construct the expertise pipelines we want for Social Care and the Well being Sector. These are jobs that deliver dignity to tens of millions of people that want care – and fairly often change the lives of the individuals who practice to do the job. So all of our apprenticeships are as vital as one another and it’s good to see the Welsh Authorities decide to creating 125,000 all-age apprenticeships throughout this Senedd time period – a 25% improve. We should hold constructing the momentum that we’re starting to get behind these game-changing programmes.”
Listening to learners and employers to ‘get it proper’
“The pandemic catapulted by numerous years our potential to ship apprenticeships digitally, which is an actual optimistic. However the pandemic additionally delivered to the fore the significance of pastoral care – one thing now we have at all times been good at. We work in a number of completely different sectors and post-lockdown now we have embedded a number of the tech-enabled practices into our coaching – but it surely’s clear {that a} blended method is important.
“That human interplay of face-to-face coaching, one-to-one periods and group workshops is essential. So the following few years will probably be about getting the hybrid mix precisely proper: understanding the complete capabilities of expertise, listening to each our learners and buyer organisations about what’s greatest for them. We’ve at all times identified that one measurement doesn’t match all – and now now we have the chance to tailor it for everybody.
“This associate method of listening and studying is on the coronary heart of how we work with employers. It’s a really completely different dialog to the purely transactional. We perceive the place their companies are going, their foremost challenges for the following 12 months and the way we will greatest assist them.
“Which means being a real studying associate – working with employers in a two-way collaboration, taking away the ache, asking the questions which are basic to the success of their organisation. What are the issues holding them again? What do they need to get from the programmes? How can we tweak and modify an apprenticeship in order that it provides a aggressive benefit to them? If we get it proper, it’s transformational – creating an actual worth proposition.”
Going from ‘Good’ to ‘Nice’ by way of parity of alternative
“How good can we be if we totally embrace all the probabilities of apprenticeship provision? The potential is nearly infinite – and the method of realising that potential wants to begin at college, with academics and careers advisers understanding and explaining the complete menu of choices to be explored by everybody.
“If we do this, then we actually are effectively on the way in which to changing into the area we need to be by way of expertise and employment.”
Thanks Grant for sharing with us your ardour and real-world experiences. Look out for our additional Expertise Leaders Speaking options from key figures in our area – and to seek out out extra concerning the newest in Abilities & Expertise in Southeast Wales, go to: www.venturewales.org
