At Locomotivation, Apprenticeships are an important part of what we are trying to achieve for learners and employers in the leisure, travel and tourism sector. Apprenticeships form a key part of employers' training and development strategy and provide learners with the opportunity to develop new skills and qualifications.

A number of our learners use Apprenticeships as a spring board into the industry. The programme enables them to gain valuable qualifications and life skills that will support future career opportunities. Many employers like to take on Apprentices at an early age so they can identify possible managers of the future. I've seen this work very well in a number of our sectors.

Businesses interested in delivering Apprenticeship programmes can do so very easily with the support of training providers. Locomotivation offers a start up meeting where potential employers can ask key questions and learn how they can make Apprenticeships work for them, by supporting the training needs of their business. Employers can now also use the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) to post vacancies for Apprenticeship jobs. This is starting to work well for some of the employers we work with.

We have had many successes with our employers and learners over the past 10 years. We often hear of learners receiving either a promotion at work or future employment opportunities following their Apprenticeship. Employers also report discovering fresh talent through apprenticeships to push their business forward. Apprenticeships really are a winning combination for all.

Locomotivation continues to go from strength to strength using Apprenticeships as the back bone of our delivery of good quality training provision. We expect Apprenticeship programmes will play an even bigger role in future as more individuals look to retrain and educate themselves in different vocational sectors.

Matt Williams
Operations Director
Locomotivation

Apprentices provide enthusiastic future workforce for SR Education

SR Education is a training provider. We deliver apprenticeship programmes nationally. We also recently established a sports coaching company to deliver coaching services to local schools, communities and beyond. These are headed up by a first class group of enthusiastic young coaches.

Providing 'the best of both worlds' for apprentices

We deliver an apprenticeship framework focusing on sports coaching sessions to our own employees as well as those of other organisations we work with. We believe in giving our apprentices the best of both worlds so the technical content is a robust academic qualification, the BTEC suite of sports qualifications.

Our apprenticeship programme blends practical skills development with work experience and a solid academic qualification.

Apprentices 'live and breathe company values'

Established in 2006, our company is relatively young. Apprenticeships allow the company to grow organically with staff coming up 'through the ranks' so to speak. This means they live and breathe the company values. Our apprentices are fully involved in the development of our coaching services, particularly when they progress onto the advanced apprenticeship.

Learners flourish in workplace setting

Some of the young people that join our programme have not progressed well in traditional educational settings such as school or college. However, once they join the apprenticeship programme they flourish, developing confidence and the desire to learn. This means we have a bunch of very effective staff who pass on their enthusiasm for learning and skills development to our customers. This is excellent for our reputation.

Apprenticeships -the way of the future

At SR Education and SR Coaching, we want to increase our capacity to deliver services. An effective way of doing this is to increase staff numbers through the apprenticeship route. Apprenticeships are an outstanding method of developing staff who fully endorse our company mission. It also enables us to give many young people an opportunity to progress their lives in a very positive direction.

Chris Bradley
Head of Data and Quality
SR Education

Jemma Turner - 9/2/2011

Some of Britain's 2012 Olympics hopefuls have graduated from the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence programme (AASE), preparing themselves for a career after sport.

One hundred and two athletes from the world of swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming graduated from the unique apprenticeship in late 2010. They included British Disability Swimming athletes Eleni Papadopoulos (City of Manchester Aquatics) and Louise Watkin (City of Salford SC), both of whom competed at the IPC World Championships late last year. Watkin clinched a gold medal ahead of Paralympic legend Natalie Du Toit.

SkillsActive, the sector skills council for sport and active leisure, developed AASE in conjunction with national governing bodies of sport. It provides elite athletes with the skills to secure employment at the end of their sporting career by combining a flexible education programme with a structured national training and development route across all sports.

ASA's Apprenticeship Manager Michelle Shillabeer said: "We are excited that a number of our apprentices are already well on the way to London 2012 and delighted that so many have been able to stay involved in the sport they love as well as building skills for a future career."

The graduation ceremony, which was held at Colwick Hall in Nottingham and hosted by bronze Olympic medalist and BBC commentator Steve Parry, also saw the Advanced Apprentice of the Year crowned for the five disciplines. The winners were Kathryn Fowler (water polo), Yvetter Baker (synchronised swimming), Catherine Johnson (diving), Louise Watkin (disability swimming), Adam John, (swimming).

Adam John said the award for disability swimming came as a pleasant surprise after a challenging year: "I put in a lot of hard work, met the deadlines and went through some tough times last year trying to get over Athlete Immune Depression. That stopped me swimming a lot."

Louise Watkin was honoured to receive an award given the talented pool of nominees: "Being part of AASE has been a really good opportunity to develop my skills both in and out of the water. I have been able to use lessons on subjects like nutrition and apply them to improve my training and recovery time."

Learn more about AASE

Find out how Locomotivation - Approved Training Provider - got involved with apprenticeships

Employers key to Apprenticeship framework development

Apprenticeships in our sector have doubled over the past few years and that is mostly down to our good working relationship with employers.

Employer input at every stage

As an employer led organisation, every piece of work we do relates to employer and industry needs and recommendations. Employers provide valuable input into our sector research. As members of our various employer and steering groups, they also participate in our technical work - guiding the development and review of national occupational standards in our sectors.

The SkillsActive Group consults employers on Apprenticeship framework content during development to ensure they are suitable for their apprentices. We, in turn, ensure employers have access to the right qualifications to keep their workforce appropriately trained.

Apprentices learn while they earn

Frameworks are government funded programmes based on a set of qualifications. They provide apprentices with the opportunity to gain valuable work experience, build their industry knowledge and skills, gain qualifications and earn money - all at the same time. Frameworks in our sectors consist of a competence qualification, a selection of vocational knowledge qualifications depending on the apprentices' job roles, and key skills or functional skills.

Apprenticeships in our sectors work in a variety of career pathways including coaching, fitness instructing, playwork, spectator safety and activity leadership. They can then progress onto advanced level programmes in sports development, leisure management playwork, instructing physical activity and exercise, coaching and outdoor programmes.

New apprenticeship learning frameworks

Historically, we have had one large framework covering all of the different pathways in our sectors. However, we are now developing individual frameworks for each pathway. We hope to have these ready for delivery in April 2011.

We are confident these changes will provide more defined and functional frameworks for our apprenticeships as well as clearer progression routes and development opportunities for apprentices.

Click here for more information on the current consultations and our frameworks

Find out how SR Education - Approved Training Provider - got involved with apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are much simpler to manage than you may think, with the flexibility to work around your business needs.

The first step is to decide on the right apprenticeship programme for your staff and your business.

If you have a promising employee who could benefit from further training, we can help identify what Apprenticeship funding they are eligible for and will support you with organising their training.

Apprenticeships are usually delivered through a partnership between an employer and a training provider.

Once we fully understand what you wish to gain from this apprenticeship, the National Skills Academy will put you in touch with an approved training provider, who will work closely with you to deliver the necessary training and ensure the programme meets your requirements.

You will be able to negotiate with the apprentice and the training provider, how much time your apprentice spends training off-site. As an employer, your role is to employ the apprentice for a minimum of 16 hours a week at a salary which is not below the national minimum wage.

* The minimum wage varies depending on age, more information on this can be found at Direct.gov.uk