Government Skills
Last updated: 2 October, 2008
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 begins in September 2008, most likely 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.”
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.”
