Foundation Apprenticeships – Caroline Delahoyde
We asked Caroline Delahoyde, Technical Support Officer in the School of Engineering to tell us a little about her and her teams’ experience hosting a local high school pupil who is working toward Foundation Apprenticeship. Caroline tells us more:
We have been hosting a Foundation Apprentice here in the School of Engineering within our chemical and biological labs. It has been a positive experience for my staff in a mentoring context, we have all enjoyed teaching her about our technical roles and supporting her to learn basic laboratory tasks. It has certainly offered a coaching development experience for my technical team.
The time commitment is not arduous, the first year, for example, we only had her on campus for two days a week for 3.5hr sessions followed by a 28 hour week during the October break. The apprentice has mostly been shadowing my technical staff but we also created some simple analytical tasks for her to complete by way of a learning exercise.
Given that so many technical staff are approaching retirement, the Foundation Apprenticeship Science course provides a unique opportunity for labs to train senior school students for entry-level positions that may imminently arise. Often a Foundation Apprenticeship can lead onto a Modern Apprenticeship.
A Foundation Apprenticeship is a valuable opportunity for a young person to explore career options early in their lives, so that they have a chance to start matching up what they like to do, and their passions, and their talents with a career. It also can close a talent gap for an organisation and offer a succession plan for end of career technicians. It is an exciting way of gaining skills and qualifications and allows the apprentice to start a career without having to study full-time. There are huge benefits for the technician who mentors and coaches the apprentice in a professional development and motivational context.
More information about the range of apprenticeship schemes available can be found on the University of Edinburgh’s website. There is also information available about these apprenticeship opportunities on the Skills Development Scotland website.
Caroline Delahoyde is a member of the University of Edinburgh Technician Steering Committee and she Manages a team of technicians who support the Chemistry Labs in the School of Engineering. She enjoys exercising in nature preferably with an enthusiastic dog in toe!
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