Government Skills
Last updated: 27 January, 2010
Sue Piggott-Forster is Strategic Projects Manager for Skills for Life at the United Kingdom Border Agency. The agency is involved in the apprenticeship pathfinder, which began in September 2008, in the areas of customer service, business administration and team leading.
Sue says:
“Because of its involvement in the Skills for Life programme, the apprenticeships pathfinder is seen as a natural progression to providing a range of vocational qualifications for staff. Also on a staff level it has sometimes been felt that concentration has generally been seen to be on providing support for young staff members; this is an opportunity to offer support across the diverse age and ability range of staff.
“It will provide staff with a framework of learning that will help them in personal development, and the portfolio of evidence will be based around their work and so enhance their skills in their business activities.”
Sue says:
“The complexity and range of activities that staff are asked to do is increasingly demanding, and with the creation of a single agency, there are increased opportunities for staff to work in new areas. We are expecting staff to be able to undertake a broad spectrum of work tasks across a number of levels.
“In order to meet these challenges, we need offer a range of support to enhance existing skills and provide new learning opportunities to gain further skills. It is hoped that apprenticeships will play a role, alongside other development and functional learning activities, in helping us meet our commitment to staff development and also the government”s skills agenda.”
The pathfinder has a vital role in ascertaining the future direction of apprenticeships in the Civil Service. Sue says:
“We have agreed to become involved in the pathfinder programme, and are initially working with our regional staff and local providers to identify the type and nature of apprenticeship programme that meets business needs to deliver to the initial tranche of participants. Once the pathfinder is up and running the agency will need to make some decisions about how it proceeds further across the whole organisation.”
Based in London, Marzena started her apprenticeship in the Permanent Secretary's office at the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS) as the assistant diary manager.
Currently completing a Level 2 qualification in business and administration, Marzena is delighted to be an apprentice and attends formal classes at Westminster Kingsway College in addition to a hectic work schedule.
After working as a croupier in casinos, 31-year-old Marzena started her own building company. Along with doing the plumbing, building, electrical and decorating work, she managed other self-employed builders. After a few years of running her own business, Marzena decided it was time to do something different and build on the skills she'd learnt as a part-time researcher at the Family Records Centre.
Through Jobcentre Plus, Marzena applied for and successfully gained an apprenticeship at DIUS, now the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), starting in September 2008.
Far away from the paint tins and casino chips of her former careers, Marzena's working life now revolves around BIS' offices in London.
Working as the assistant diary secretary has its challenges but Marzena has learnt quickly and considers the apprenticeship a very good opportunity to learn about business and how government works.
“I manage the Permanent Secretary's diary as well as make travel arrangements, provide admin support and recently became the office's training and development officer.
“I was so happy when I was offered the apprenticeship. I'd never had the chance to do something like this before. Now I have more experience and confidence – anything is possible!”
Kerri is an apprentice at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) in Sheffield, providing business support in human resources and finance for the Adult Skills Directorate.
Kerri, 29, is about to start an apprenticeship in business administration at Level 3, which will take her 18 months to complete with on-the-job training.
So what drew her to an apprenticeship in the civil service? Kerri says “it sounded interesting and I wanted to earn a qualification.”
Before life as an apprentice, Kerri was the manager at a wine merchant but was made redundant in November. She found the apprenticeship on the Jobcentre Plus website and started work in January 2009.
Kerri chose to pursue an apprenticeship as it was “the opportunity to gain a qualification while working that was very appealing.”
While no longer surrounded by bottles of Chablis and Bordeaux, Kerri has found that her skills as a store manager have been useful in her role at BIS. Her communications, customer service, time management and organisational skills are put to good use in responding to customer enquiries, arranging meetings and working with team leaders from across the department.
She hopes to move on within BIS into a role “where I can use the skills I've learned in my apprenticeship”.
“I'm very much enjoying it. It's more challenging work but that makes it more enjoyable. It's positive to be both working and learning.”
Clive is an apprentice at The Pension Service in Newcastle, providing customer service to pensioners who live abroad.
Clive, 44, is undertaking an Apprenticeship in Customer Service at Level 2, which will take him up to 18 months to complete with formal learning and work-based training.
“I wanted to improve myself and learn more about customer service so I could apply for other jobs.”
As part of the on-the-job training for his apprenticeship, Clive has been involved in capacity planning for the International Pension Centre as well as quality monitoring of service provided to customers, analysis of call centre statistics and dealing with customer queries.
He highlighted the importance of good interpersonal skills and a positive attitude when speaking with customers.
Prior to his apprenticeship, Clive worked in the maintenance team for pensions. But he wanted to gain a qualification and move ahead with his career.
“The apprenticeship has taught me a lot about myself. I was so uncomfortable with speaking in front of a group before but I've learnt to overcome this and develop skills for public speaking. I've learnt a lot about myself, especially interpersonal and presentation skills.”
The apprenticeship allows Clive to consolidate his existing customer service skills as well as develop new ones. He has worked hard to develop his maths skills in the application of number unit. He's also moderated a live forum and now feels comfortable speaking to and leading groups of people.
“It's been very worthwhile and I'd fully recommend it to anyone. It's hard work but you get a lot of satisfaction and learn so much.”
As Government Skills' first apprentice, John hopes to gain more experience along with an enhanced knowledge of administration during his 18-month apprenticeship.
His working day involves providing administrative support, media monitoring, making travel arrangements and organising events.
John's apprenticeship combines his work at Government Skills with a Level 2 qualification in business and administration at Westminster Kingsway College.
It was as a support officer that John first developed his administrative skills. After a few years, he decided to set up his own business in hairdressing and skin care. Running his own business meant John's professional skills as a barber as well as his interpersonal skills were put to great use.
John's passion for music has been constant. As well as running his salon, he was writing songs and producing music, but it was the suggestion from a Work Directions adviser to apply for an apprenticeship that changed things.
Looking for a change, John applied and was successful. He started work at Government Skills in January 2009, and says he hopes “to achieve a wider knowledge of government and develop expertise”.
John finds the theory of his coursework combined with its practical application at work provides a good balance.
“Coming to Government Skills I've gained an insight into how government works and how it contributes to the economy, particularly with skills development.”
Tonia is an apprentice at the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in Stoke-on-Trent. She is undertaking an Apprenticeship in Management at Level 3, which she hopes to complete within 12 months.
Having started her apprenticeship in December 2008, Tonia, 39, works on a project as part of the Immigration Case Work Programme (ICWP) to develop a centralised document registration and management centre.
After working as team manager and acting assistant director at the UKBA, Tonia decided it was time to gain a formal qualification in management.
“I left school with seven O-levels and no formal qualifications, so I wanted to consolidate my management experience with a qualification. The apprenticeship is a great way to qualify.”
Tonia's apprenticeship combines her job with a work-based learning programme. There are seven modules that involve the application of knowledge and skills in a range of work activities. The NVQ covers management and thinking skills and Tonia can see she will “develop in areas where I don't have the skills and experience”.
Working on the ICWP project, Tonia has found she draws on her previous operational management skills with setting up operations, analysing processes, planning and developing requirements.
Tonia hopes to stay in the ICW project to “use skills I've learned to develop new working styles and culture”. She sees the apprenticeship as a platform from which to move up and gain promotion and has already set her sights on completing a level 5 qualification in management.
“The apprenticeship is a good opportunity whether you have management experience or not to formally qualify. It is a recognised qualification and both the organisation and individual benefit from it.”
Georgina is an apprentice at the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in Solihull. She is undertaking an Apprenticeship in Business and Administration at Level 3, which will take her up to 18 months to complete with work-based training.
It was while working at the Home Office that Georgina, 38, saw an ad for apprenticeships. The opportunity to gain a qualification was a deciding factor when she chose to apply.
“I wanted to advance my skills with a recognised qualification to help my job prospects in the future.”
As part of the learning component of the apprenticeship, Georgina has monthly classes and prepares a folder of work covering her achievements, assessment sheets and evidence. Her assessor reviews the work and her progress to ensure she meets the qualification through her work and learning modules.
In the office, Georgina does data quality and performance management for the Midlands Enforcement Unit. She collates weekly and monthly statistics and performance measures, reports on activity and ensures that the quality of data entered into the system is accurate.
Georgina says,
“My maths has got better through the apprenticeship. I enjoyed the challenge of doing a risk assessment for a room by drawing it to scale and planning the arrangement. I'm hoping to learn a lot more on the computer and how to communicate better”.
She also recognises it's helped to strengthen key skills like managing work, leading people, decision-making and team work.
“The apprenticeship is a great opportunity to develop my existing skills and learn from new ones.”
Sasha is 23 and works full time in The Pension Service in the North East. After leaving school she worked for a company called FDS that undertook surveys on behalf of BT, then moved to The Pension Service six years ago.
“I am part of a clerical team and my main responsibilities are dealing with all Winter Fuel-related enquiries. This includes making payments, handling complaints, dealing with phone calls from customers as well as the clerical post received. I also deputise for the team leader and have covered most aspects of the job in a higher grade.”
Sasha undertook the Apprenticeship in Customer Service while working in a telephony team. The apprenticeship did involve extra work.
“There was a lot of work at home. We had to do our own research. In the meeting room assignment, for example, I had to measure a room then go out and find the right size carpets and furniture.”
Sasha was happy that she did the apprenticeship:
“I found it really useful, especially the application of number. To be honest I'd forgotten the basics from school. The stuff we looked at you can use on a day-to-day basis like long mulitplication. The presentation I delivered has helped me in my job as I have since had to prepare and deliver training, which is very daunting – but I had more confidence after the apprenticeship. My job also includes using statistics and now I can make more sense of them, whereas before I didn't like using them.
“I also feel a lot more confident having group discussions. We did this on a regular basis and sometimes I would feel uncomfortable joining in but now it doesn't bother me and I join in without thinking about it.”
The apprenticeship can help you consolidate your existing skills and fill in the gaps that are missing. Sasha explains:
“Because it's part of your job, you may not know that there are some new things you can learn. It's general skills that you learn on an apprenticeship, but a lot of people have the same fears about these things as I did.
I would recommend an apprenticeship because it refreshes skills you may have forgotten and it is also a recognised qualifaction. It is hard work but enjoyable and very worthwhile at the end.”
Sasha's apprenticeship was made up of:
Communication was assessed on discussions, a presentation, an assignment and a test. On her presentation, Sasha says:
“The presentation detailed the different types of Winter Fuel queries NPC received and how much work they cleared.”
The application of number module was made up of three assignments and a test. In the first assignment, Sasha was given a theoretical grant to completely prepare a meeting room – the layout, carpet and furniture. She had to go out and do her research, draw up scale plans and do VAT returns, showing all of her workings. Her second assignment was again on Winter Fuel – a central part of her job.
“I had to write a report using several types of calculations that showed my findings like mean, median and mode and working out the percentage of calls made in one week when compared to another.”
At 17 years old, Joe is one of the youngest civil service apprentices, having started his two-year course in electrical engineering at HMS Collingwood, near Portsmouth last October.
Joe came onto the apprenticeship scheme, supported by the defence systems and engineering arm of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), immediately after leaving school.
“After I finished school, I really wanted to start work – I wasn't keen on going to college, because I didn't really enjoy the classroom environment. But I saw the apprenticeship advertised locally and thought it looked interesting. I've really enjoyed the practical aspect of being able to apply the theory we are learning in the classroom immediately as we are on a navy establishment, with all the lab facilities immediately to hand, and we have a good mix of civilian and navy teachers.
“The course is quite wide-ranging and covers all aspects of different systems. After we finish at Collingwood, we will complete a year of work placements in a range of different MoD establishments, so we need to be able to tackle anything that can be thrown at us.”
The MoD offers a range of apprenticeships to its civilian and military staff and last year and at any one time there are as many as 8000 apprenticeships underway. The majority are in the Armed Forces and are delivered across many trade groups in the Royal Navy, Army and RAF. The MoD Engineering Apprenticeship Scheme, which Joe is part of, is aimed at MoD's civilian workforce and is made up of Technician and Craft apprenticeships. In 2007, apprenticeships totalled 350.
“When I finish my work placement, I will get a Foundation Degree qualification, in addition to the apprenticeship.”
After three years deputising as a senior driving test examiner, 44 year-old Danny decided it was time to get a qualification to help him pass the hurdle of permanent promotion.
Normally based at the Hendon test centre at the Driving Standards Agency, Danny is managing the Wood Green centre temporarily, which employs seven examiners seeing over 170 candidates taking driving tests each week.
“I enjoy the variety of the job – managing the team and arranging the administration for the centre is quite involved but I also have driving examinations to carry out myself each day. I am hoping the course will open up my eyes to how I can improve my management and leadership. It will give me an opportunity to see and hear things I don't get exposed to in my day to day work.
“I left school early with CSEs and didn't really get the qualifications I knew I was capable of. Last year, I did my GCSE in maths off my own back, so I know I can make the time to study and am capable of getting the qualification, which I hope will be a first step to getting promotion.”
Danny's Level 3 apprenticeship in management will take around 12 to 18 months to complete. He will have a formal training session every two weeks and will attend workshops at Westminster Kingsway College.
“I am a bit apprehensive about standing up in front of people and making presentations and I hope the course will give me the confidence to do this in future.”
Danny has worked for the Driving Standards Agency for six years and before becoming a civil servant he was a self-employed driving instructor.
Jamie works in the process team for the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in Sheffield, providing the technical support which underpins the processing of all immigration applications at the centre.
Describing himself as someone with ‘strong techie skills, but definitely not a geek’, Jamie is largely self-taught, having left school at 16 with GCSEs, including one in IT, taught on a BBC computer that ‘didn't even have spreadsheets’.
Jamie is about to start an apprenticeship in Information Technology (IT) at Level 2, which will take him around 12 to 18 months to complete.
“Doing the apprenticeship will give me more confidence in my skills, as well as teaching me new ones. In my current job, I set all the processes the computer system needs to complete an application – that includes how to enter data, how to despatch the application, deal with an interview and so on.
“I'm the first person in my unit to sign up for the course – a few people were surprised because they thought that apprenticeships finished in the 1970s, but everyone I've spoken to has been really positive and my line manager has been very supportive and is happy to release me for the time I will need to complete my coursework and assignments.”
Jamie has worked for UKBA for four years and has been in his current role since June. Prior to joining the civil service, he worked in the insurance industry as a claims negotiator and had six years previous experience in retailing, when he did an NVQ in retail.
The Sheffield office of the UKBA employs around 1000 people and deals with thousands of immigration cases. Over 700 cases are input into the computer system every day.
Michael runs a busy driving test centre in Sidcup, south east London and has worked his way up to his current role after 12 years as a basic driving test examiner for the Driving Standards Agency. He manages eight examiners in the test centre, as well as carrying out six driving test examinations a day himself.
For Michael, the apprenticeship he is about to start at Level 3 in Team leading and Management is all about giving him the skills he needs to do his job quickly and efficiently.
“My role is very hectic and I can't afford to waste time. Things need to be right in the test centre, both for the people working there, and for the candidates coming in to take their test. My only qualification for my current role is a driving licence – I wanted to get a qualification which proves that what I am doing is right, which develops my skills in managing people.
“Working with candidates taking driving tests helps you to develop a sense of calm – you need to be able to put the candidate at their ease. For many people, it's the most nerve wracking experience and when everything is going horribly wrong, I need to be able to smile and keep my cool.
“As the manager of the centre, I am also responsible for quality control of my examiners, which means sitting in on the tests they are conducting, which requires building up a great deal of trust with them – and again making sure the candidate doesn't feel they have got the double whammy of being examined by two people!”
Michael's apprenticeship will take around 12 to 18 months to complete –depending on how quickly he can do the modules. He will have a formal session every two weeks with a trainer and someone will also come into the centre to observe Michael's management skills.
“They will be looking at how I work with my team and how I deal with particular situations in real life. I'm really looking forward to the formal learning in the classroom, because it will be an opportunity to do something very different from my normal routine and concentrate on one task rather than the four which normally come my way any minute of the day!”
The Sidcup test centre, run by the Driving Standards Agency, is a modern purpose-designed centre opened a year ago. Candidates complete driving tests there 48 weeks a year and over 300 candidates per week pass through the centre.
Fifty-two year old Michael has been a test centre manager for eight years, after spending 12 years as a basic driving examiner. After leaving school with O-Levels, Michael tried a range of different jobs, including working on a fruit and vegetable stall, as a diamond sorter and a paint mixer before becoming a driving instructor.
“It took me a long time to finally find the job for me. I want to prove to myself that I am doing things right. It's really important to me to get a formal qualification for this role and I hope it will mean I can progress even further in future.”
Karen works in the Courts Service, part of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), managing a team of three in a busy listing office in Stevenage. Describing herself as ‘never too old to learn’, Karen, 38, started working in the Courts Service seven years ago, after leaving school at 18 and working in retailing in Northern Ireland.
The office covers North and East Hertfordshire Magistrates Courts and deals with thousands of cases every year. The case management team works with customers internally and externally, fixing dates for cases, liaising with defence and prosecution teams for everything from private prosecutions, cases brought by local councils as well as those brought forward by the Crown Prosecution Service.
As an existing manager, Karen is keen to consolidate her team leading skills by taking a Level 3 Apprenticeship in Team leading and Management.
“I look after the day to day management of my team, mentoring and training them, and I thought the apprenticeship would help me to look at what I am doing with a critical eye and see what I can do to make it even better. I saw the scheme advertised on the intranet in the MoJ Jobs & News and my line manager supported my application. It will be good to have an up-to-date qualification to prove to other people that I have got good management skills, and you never know, it may help me moving forward in the future.”
One of the other attractions of the scheme for Karen was that it doesn't involve travelling.
“A lot of the learning takes place at work, so it doesn't take you away from your work, the trainers come to you. I can't wait for it to start!”