Why Apprenticeships are important to us

This week we’ll be at the Voice of Apprenticeship Conference in London.  The event has six themes, each chaired by its own expert chair.

  • IAG (to learners, parents & Businesses)
  • Trailblazers
  • Funding
  • Engagement SME’s to PLC.s
  • Degree Apprenticeships
  • Policy (What polices should we have in place to ensure we meet target of 3m apprenticeships by 2020)

You can read more about speakers here and follow the buzz on Twitter here.

But, if the Government is pledging to create three million more apprentices over the next five years, what does that mean for us, here at Future Cert?  There are four important reasons to combine certification with apprenticeships:

  • An apprenticeship is a meaningful and valuable alternative to further or higher education. Certification compliments this by providing apprentices with industry-linked proof of their expertise and experience. Progression on an apprenticeship programme can be proven through achieving certification along the way.
  • With LPI certification, represented by Future Cert in the UK & Ireland, you get a globally recognised IT certification that you learn and achieve locally.
  • LPI certification is recognised by employers as being directly relevant to their needs – in short we’re one of the few to test our certification against the things locally and globally based employers need.
  • The Apprenticeship model is trusted by parents, teachers, and employers. Weaving IT certification into an apprenticeship gives you a measured way of proving that the study you’re doing is relevant to achieving the next steps in your career.

But best of all, and being launched at the Voice of Apprenticeship Conference, awarding body TLM and Future Cert (representing LPI for UK and Ireland) have joined forces to address IT skills shortages by developing a new level 2, fully-funded IT qualification.

The TLM Certificate in Open Systems Management enables apprentices to gain both an academic qualification and an industry-recognised IT Certification.  Aimed at employers and apprenticeship providers, the new qualification is fully-funded with £941 of funding from the Skills Funding Agency available.

You can read more about this here.