Apprenticeship students are a very important part of the University and we recognise that being on an apprenticeship is hard work as you are juggling a full time job, your life and your studies. You'll get to know your fellow students through teaching activities, and the programme leader and your employer liaison tutor will be really important members of staff for you as you make your way through your apprenticeship. Every apprenticeship is different and the programme leader will give you all the information you need about sessions you need to attend, what you need to do in terms of independent study and how to manage your priorities. You also have access to all the same support facilities that are open to non-apprenticeship students, and you have additional support associated with connecting your university learning with your work based learning. This is a defining characteristic of an apprenticeship, so there will be a lot of time spent reflecting on the knowledge, skills and behaviours you are developing at work. You'll be collecting your reflections, examples and evidence of achievement throughout your apprenticeship, usually in an e-Portfolio and you'll get support from the University in how to do this.

Supporting you through Progress Review Meetings

The success of apprenticeships relies on a successful three-way relationship between employer, apprentice and university. In practice, the collaborative working between you, your workplace mentor or line manager and your university employer liaison tutor are key to the success of this collaborative approach to supporting your learning. Your university employer liaison tutor will meet with you and your workplace mentor or line manager on a regular basis for Progress Review Meetings to ensure that you are making appropriate progress towards achieving your apprenticeship, and it is a great opportunity to discuss any support that you need.

Support from your Workplace Mentor

Precise details of the support you can expect will vary between workplaces, and could be provided by your line manager, but in general terms the workplace mentor will:

Provide induction and orientation
Set workplace expectations of professional behaviour
Develop professional and corporate identity
Proactively facilitate learning within and outside of the workplace
Initiate and engage in support networks
Support achievement of the Apprenticeship Standard

Support from the University

The structure of the support you receive from the university will also vary between programmes but in general terms your programme team will:

Introduce you to the programme aims and learning outcomes and the support you can expect to achieve them.
Point you towards other support services offered by the university.
Support your learning on each module through appropriate teaching and learning activities.
Provide you with feedback on your work and on how to continue to improve it.
Assist you in drawing together the evidence that you meet the knowledge, skills and behaviour needed for your final end-point assessment.

Working out who to speak to

Starting your apprenticeship and your University experience is an exciting experience but we also realise that you will get a lot of information in a short space of time. Your first points of contact if you have any questions will be your programme leader, or your employer liaison tutor, and if it is about the teaching or assessment you should speak with the and the module leaders. You'll get their contact details once you start, and please do reach out and contact them whenever you need to.