Improve tries to revive apprenticeships

Apprenticeships in food and drink manufacturing and meat and poultry processing have been overhauled from this month to make them more relevant for workers and more convenient for employers.

Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, wanted to boost the take-up and completion rates for the new advanced apprenticeships by making them more practical and tailored to workers' needs, with less time in the classroom and more time learning on the job.

Terry Fennell, Improve's learning and frameworks manager, said: "The old frameworks were aimed more at the technical side and more for those people wanting to go into the scientific aspect of food development. But we were worried because, while take-up for the level-two foundation apprenticeships was on the rise, very few learners progressed on to the advanced apprenticeships because they were seen as too technical."

The new frameworks include a production pathway, giving production workers the option to gain a production management qualification, which is taught mainly on the job and marked by continuous assessment rather than exams.

The frameworks offered more progression routes and did not alienate people who wished to progress in less-technical areas, said Fennell. "There won't be extended periods of off-the-job learning, to minimise disruption to the employer," he added.

The new frameworks also opened up the market for independent training providers.The old system had only two training colleges.

Meanwhile, Improve has completed the third stage in its creation of a Sector Skills Agreement, mapping out skills needed and their provision. It said that of 118,000 new people needed by 2014, 59,000 were senior managers, 40,000 technical operators, 29,000 in craft skill roles and 29,000 machine operators.