At Oxford Brookes, we have the option to appoint people as apprentices. We can also use apprenticeship courses to support the career development of staff already employed with us.
Apprenticeships
For details on employing new members of staff as an apprentice, please contact your People Directorate Strategic People Partnering teams.
If you are an existing staff member, interested in your career development, (or a manager considering the options open to a direct report), an apprenticeship might be right for you. There are a very diverse range of courses available however you must be able to demonstrate that you will be developing skills to support your current role or career pathway at Oxford Brookes. As an existing member of staff joining an apprenticeship course, your contract of employment is not affected.
Undertaking an Apprenticeship requires a long term (at least one year) commitment to your learning and development from both you and your manager. It is expected that, as an apprentice, you will spend 20 per cent of your time in learning activities: this time includes taught sessions from a training provider and other learning, for example, project work and independent study. When you’re ready to start a course, you and your manager will need to sign a three-way learning agreement from your (chosen) training provider. Apprentices are not eligible for study leave - the time allocated for your learning has already been granted as part of the apprenticeship.
Funding for the course comes from the Apprenticeship Levy Fund and staff in Learning and Development, Organisational Effectiveness and Development, People Directorate and Finance will work with you from the point of registering your initial interest in an apprenticeship to accessing the Fund. Once you start, they will also keep in touch with you to find out how you are progressing.
Ms Ami Holder from the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences is studying for the MBA Senior Leader Apprenticeship. She says:
“The ability to move from understanding at an operational to a strategic level within my unit has been transformative, not only for my own development but also from an organisational perspective. It is incredibly hard work, but when you get your first piece of feedback, you will be rewarded ten fold.”
Ms Ami Holder, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences
Interested? Follow the 5 steps below to join an apprenticeship course.
1. Find an apprenticeship course relevant to your role and work goals. You can search using keywords and professions here.
2. Talk to your manager about the course you would like to do, the time commitment needed and the benefits it could bring to you and your team.
3. Attend an apprenticeship briefing, ideally with your manager, or contact the staff-learning@brookes.ac.uk for a conversation if there are no planned briefings scheduled. When you’re ready, register your interest using this online form (Word) and submit it to the staff-learning@brookes.ac.uk. This will trigger a further, follow up conversation with a member of Organisational Effectiveness and Development team within the People Directorate.
4. Select and contact a training provider (Organisational Effectiveness and Development team may be able to help you with this) and arrange an initial assessment of the fit between the course, your role and qualifications.
5. Complete the enrolment process with the training provider. This will include signing the three-way learning agreement and sharing this with the Organisational Effectiveness and Development team to secure your registration as an apprentice and your training provider’s access to the Oxford Brookes Apprenticeship Levy Funds.
You’re ready to go!