End-Point Assessment taking a predominant place in this year’s #NationalApprenticeshipWeek

Around this time last year, the Government launched its #FireItUp campaign following on from a number of top firms, including Marks & Spencer and Lloyds Banking Group, who took on thousands of apprentices. Employers started to realise the benefits to their business of enrolling apprentices on to the Government’s new, higher quality apprenticeship programmes.

However, it’s common knowledge that apprenticeship starts have decreased by at least 26% since introducing the Apprenticeship Levy, but Prepare to Achieve are optimistic that this year employers, training providers and End-Point Assessment organisations (EPAO) will iron out the creases and work collaboratively to put apprenticeships back on the right track.

#LookBeyond is this year’s theme for National Apprenticeship Week. Young people are being called upon to ‘look beyond’ tradition routes into employment and explore career options in a range of different industries available through apprenticeships.

Meanwhile, employers are being urged to ‘look beyond’ traditional hiring routes and shout about the value and positive impact that they have already seen from hiring apprentices. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, parents and teachers are being asked to ‘look beyond’ old preconceptions around apprenticeships, building understanding of the true value they bring, and sharing this with young people.

Lee Evans, CEO of Prepare to Achieve said,

“As a business, we’ve always involved ourselves in National Apprenticeship Week in some shape or form, but this year it is even more important to join in the conversation and let our voice be heard throughout the week.

“Look beyond is the perfect theme, and Prepare to Achieve want to support employers and learners to look beyond the apprenticeship programme, and see the benefits of EPA and how we can support with this in a timely manner, without a fuss.”  

Showing their support for National Apprenticeship Week, Lee will be taking part in a question and answer session on Friday 7 February 2020 around EPA and how it will support apprentices to achieve a higher quality qualification, in comparison to the previous frameworks. Prepare to Achieve have also created resources that are available for employers to download from their website, including Top Tips for EPA assessment methods, and animations to explain these methods and how to prepare for each assessment, helping to place EPA on the map in this year’s National Apprenticeship Week.

Prepare to Achieve, a national EPAO, have already had over 100 apprentices through the EPA Gateway and are working closely with employers and training providers across the UK to ensure a simple, straight-forward approach to EPA.