Jenny Foster, Youth Work BA (Hons) and Level 6-degree apprenticeship course leader at the University of Central Lancashire, is passionate about building the capacity of professional youth workers in the Northwest.
Breaking down barriers to Higher Education
The popularity of the new degree apprenticeship at UCLan, particularly amongst an older demographic, bodes well for the course which launched with 40 apprentices in September 2023.
Jenny explained: “No one is going to do a full time BA (Hons) if they’re working full time. Our learners on the apprenticeship are often mature students that have got families and can’t afford to go back to uni.
“Also, if you already got a degree and you’re thinking of a career change, you’re not eligible for student finance.”
Jenny acknowledges that many of the students have progressed into youth work as they’d experienced it themselves as young people and didn’t set out to go to university.
Jenny Foster, Youth Work course leader at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)
“For some people who weren’t confident at school or didn’t have good experiences in education this is a much more accessible way to get a professional qualification. And not getting into student debt if you choose the apprenticeship, is a huge benefit.”
“Many of my apprentices started as volunteers, who then progressed to youth support workers, then became a youth worker. Getting a degree was not something they’d ever envisioned for themselves.”
Community of Practice
Jenny’s witnessed a thriving community of practice among the apprentices, which is improving the quality of delivery across different organisations as they cascade their training to colleagues.
At their residential, the learners talked about pronouns and how to approach LGBTQ+ conversations with young people. As the expert voice, one of the apprentice’s employers (The Proud Trust in Manchester) offered to come into the University and deliver specific training to students from the Level 6 apprenticeship and the full-time BA (Hons) course about inclusive language and creating open dialogue – providing specialist sector education, for free, to help develop each other’s practice.
Networking opportunities have also supported two BA (Hons) students who were at the residential with the apprentices to identify and secure placements with their peer’s employers.
Employer barriers to employment
Jenny is aware of the concerns employers are voicing towards enrolling their staff due to the fact that many youth work employees operate on a part-time or sessional basis. This coupled with short-term funding, particularly in the voluntary sector, means that a 30-hour three-year contract in the youth work sector is relatively rare.
Employers have also flagged that back-filling staff hours can be problematic.
“On balance most employers realise that the benefits of upskilling their staff, for free, far outweighs the inconvenience of having to backfill their time for a day per week.”
Keen to demystify the expectation on an employer’s time once an employee is on the course, Jenny explained: “Once onboarded, the only requirement is a twelve-week tripartite review and a contract meeting, which the university tend to schedule back-to-back, so the employer only needs to commit to one hour.
“We’re not expecting employers to write reports or comment on their learner’s academic ability, however – they are expected to mentor and support. Apprentices need to be given opportunities such as shadowing so that they can apply what they have learnt in the workplace.”
At the 12-weekly tripartite reviews the employer is invited to give the university feedback and to posit ways that the apprenticeship can best serve the needs of the employer, as well as the learner.
Fully funded training for grassroots organisations
Thanks to NatWest’s Levy funding, youth work organisations can claim 100% of the total cost of the apprenticeship. Without the Levy, small organisations can claim 90% of the costs. On the youth work Level 6 degree-apprenticeship that’s equivalent to £1,000. If an employer wanted to put 3 learners on, that’s £3,000. For some charities these are prohibitive amounts of money, but the NatWest Levy Scheme is allowing smaller, grassroots organisations to access fully funded opportunities:
Jenny said: “It’s been great to see some of the smaller organisations able to invest in professional skills development thanks to the generosity of the NatWest Levy scheme.
The degree-apprenticeship is revitalising the youth work sector – the apprentices I am training today are becoming the mentors for the next generation of youth workers. We’re building a workforce of passionate, professionally qualified mentors to support new youth support workers and youth workers. Ultimately, the people this benefits the most are the young people accessing youth services.”
Or email our Apprenticeship Officer harryr@nya.org.uk
