Anna Morrison, Director of Amazing Apprenticeships Ltd and Manager of the Beds & Herts Provider Network Receives Recognition in Birthday Honors List

A leading apprenticeship advocate has today been named CBE for services to the sector in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Anna Morrison CBE, has devoted herself to challenging negative perceptions around apprenticeships.

Regarded as one of the leading influencers of the apprenticeships agenda, Anna has helped challenge traditional thinking to reposition apprenticeships as a first choice for young people.

Anna’s contribution to the education sector spans 20 years and includes setting up Amazing Apprenticeships in 2015, an organisation that provides high quality apprenticeship resources to teachers.

In the past two years alone, Anna has supported nearly 4,000 secondary schools and over 700,000 students through the Apprenticeship Support & Knowledge for schools and colleges programme (ASK).

Anna Morrison CBE said:

“Apprenticeships are amazing. They bring huge opportunities to apprentices and employers alike and genuinely have the power to change lives for the better. I feel so privileged to have been recognised for working on something which I love.  

“I hope that through this award I will be able to inspire more parents, teachers, employers and young people about the benefits of apprenticeships.”

Anna’s dedication to boosting young people’s skills has involved considerable personal sacrifice, with countless hours of her own time spent speaking to individuals, schools, colleges and organisations about apprenticeships.

 In 2017, Anna helped the National Apprenticeship Service to launch the Young Apprentice Ambassador Network (YAAN), which gives young apprentices a platform to promote apprenticeships locally within schools and express their views with senior business people, ministers and MPs.

Nearly 1,000 young people have already joined the network and are being supported through the public speaking training programme.

“Although apprenticeship information in schools is better than it’s ever been, we still have so much more to do to ensure that every young person is given high quality, timely advice to help them with their future decisions.

“I would love to help the country reach a stage where we know, with absolute certainty, that teachers feel confident about the apprenticeship offer and will promote this as positively as they do full-time university.”

Mark Dawe, Chief Executive, Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said:

“While other careers guidance initiatives have stumbled by the wayside, Anna Morrison’s creation of ‘Amazing Apprenticeships’ and the Apprenticeship Champions Network in schools has been transformative.

“Anna was one of the first to recognise that sending real apprentices into schools would have a much more positive impact than some other programmes and we are now seeing members of the Young Apprentice Ambassador Network inspire young people to embark on successful careers using the apprenticeship route as a first choice.

“It is testament to Anna’s high standards and attention to detail that the Network members are regularly invited to speak at high profile events.