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Young Apprenticeship Engineers
Programme Description
Many young people have little idea what direction to take when they leave school. They may have an career in mind but no idea what the job involves or what it may be like working in that field. The Young Apprenticeship Programme aims to give students considering engineering as a career the opportunity to gain hands on experience of studying the subject and gain work experience in engineering companies.
The Young Apprenticeship Programme allows motivated and able students to study for vocational qualifications in college, with training providers and in the work place whilst studying for their GCSE's. Students are based in school, and follow the core National Curriculum subjects, but for an extended half day a week, they also work towards nationally recognised vocational qualifications (Performing Engineering Operations) delivered by their local Young Apprenticeships Partnership. Throughout the programme students will complete a work placement project within an engineering company on two separate occasions for two weeks on each occasion. The students work in groups of three or four on the work placement project using and developing their design, problem solving, fabrication, and presentation skills. Students also benefit from mentoring support from engineers at their work placement company throughout the programme duration.
The programme takes students from participating schools who are taking Double Award GCSE Engineering or GNVQ Intermediate Engineering. They will have achieved a level 5 in Maths, English and Science at Key Stage 3 SATs and will be capable of achieving at least a Grade C at GCSE English and Maths.
Performing Engineering Operations
The vocational qualification to be attained by the Young Apprentices at the colleges will be a minimum of 4 units of Performing Engineering Operations at NVQ Level 2 from the following:
Mandatory Units
- Working safely in an engineering environment
- Developing yourself and working with others on engineering activities
- Using and communicating technical information
Group A
- Identifying and selecting engineering materials
- Marking out for engineering activities
Group B
- Fitting using hand skills
- Machining engineering materials
- Producing plate work components and assemblies
Mentoring
In order to introduce the students to the full range of skills they will need to develop as they pursue a career in engineering each student is allocated a mentor from the work placement company. Each student is expected to meet up with their mentor throughout years 10 and years 11 to discuss their GCSE or GNVQ projects. They will also work closely with their mentor through the work placement projects and may use this relationship further to develop their skills and engineering careers. These sessions aim to increase the students' confidence when presenting ideas to an audience and develop their interpersonal skills. They will also develop and increase their analytical skills through learning to review their work, reflect on progress and problems encountered and benchmark outcomes against their own set targets.
All students on this programme will have regular review sessions with a representative from TDR to ensure they are settling into the course and to help them overcome any difficulties they may encounter. This generally occurs at 6 weekly intervals throughout the course.
Progression Routes
After completing the Young Apprenticeship Programme students will have a qualification equivalent to two GCSE passes plus an NVQ level 2 in Performing Engineering Operations. This gives them the option to continue their studies within a school or college and gaining A-Level or BTEC qualifications and then attending University or going into an apprenticeship or continuing straight from school onto an Apprenticeship Programme.
If students opt for an apprenticeship they will need to complete further technical skills but they will already have six practical units from their NVQ Performing Engineering Operations. They need to complete a further two units of PEO to have completed the requirements for a 1st year Apprenticeship. Then students can gain practical skills and become a Skilled Craftsman or undertake further technical training and become a Skilled Technician. These outcomes are usually dependant on the employing companies' requirements.
At any point the students can still join a University course and gain further qualifications and employment opportunities. Many employers have further development programmes and apprentices often have opportunities later on to study for a degree part-time whilst working or even gaining full sponsorship to go to university.
The Engineering Institutes generally require a degree qualification or equivalent study to enable people to gain Chartered Engineer status.
Young Apprenticeship Work Experience
Five Young Apprenticeship students from Longbenton Community College spent their two weeks work experience in June 2005, at Siemens Power Generation in Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne. The students worked in various areas on the shop floor at Siemens, finding out what being an engineer was really like and learning about manufacturing a real product. They were able to experience the day to day running of a modern factory and see the skills, they have been learning during their time in college, being put into use to solve real engineering problems.
One student said "I did two week's work experience at Siemens and it was fantastic. I thought engineering was all about getting your hands dirty and doing the same thing every day but now I"ve realised it isn’t”.
Siemens commented “they’re getting a unique opportunity with hands-on experience in a modern factory. The students were very keen to learn and showed an excellent attitude throughout the work placement”.