Foundation apprenticeships

[KingCatMeowInSpace]

DS is finalising what subjects to take next year for Highers. He's heard about Foundation Apprenticeships which he'll go to colllege/employer to do as one of his subjects. Anyone got experience of them ?

Careers advisor here. There are pros and cons.

Pros - although its not a paid apprenticeship, it is similar in that it gives you both a qualification and work experience so your child can be better prepared for the world of work and have work experience on their CV. It can also be used towards a modern apprenticeship if you progress to that level, meaning you complete the MA faster. It is equivalent to a higher.

Cons - there are limited foundation apprenticeships available in some local authorities, so there might not be something that interests your child. There was a problem a few years ago, where there weren't enough employers offering the work experience element, and therefore it became just a course for some pupils, also some employers were pulling out midway. Lately, there have been problems with funding for training providers being delayed (the FA is delivered by a training provider in partnership with an employer) so again the FA might be offered, but will it actually run if funding is delayed or cut? Finally, not every university will accept a foundation apprenticeship as part of their entry requirements even though its the same level as a Higher.

HTH

That's really helpful- thank you so much. I thought that all universities accepted it as a higher so that's good to know that might not be the case and I'll need to check.

sassanach that is interesting. We saw them at a local college and I was confused why it was an apprenticeship when it just seemed to be a fairly vocational course. There was no mention of a work experience element.

I was slightly put off them when I discovered that engineering and civil engineering FA were worth more UCAS tariff points than other FA. Lack of consistency between subjects wouldn’t help them be taken seriously - though I know similar question marks hang over certain subjects at Higher too. In terms of tariff points it is more than a Higher though, more like two Highers at grade C:

UCAS Tariff points:
Higher - grade A = 33
Higher - grade B = 21
Advanced Higher - grade A = 56
Advanced Higher - grade C = 40
Foundation Apprenticeship (not engineering) = 42
Foundation Apprenticeship (engineering) = 56

Higher - grade C* = 21 points

yeah its quite complex and can depend on lots of factors like the training provider (college, private TP etc), the duration (some FAs are 1 year, others 2 years), the subject etc
Its called an FA but its not paid like a Modern Apprenticeship (MA). For the FA you are unpaid and spend most of your time in school with maybe 1 day a week getting work experience. In an MA, its the opposite, most time in employment and maybe 1 day a week learning.
They call them all apprenticeships for consistency, you have foundation, modern, then graduate (where you get a degree whilst you work - but these are also very limited in type of degree and employers who are on board).
Its a flawed system that I'm not a fan of - but can't say that at work lol

PS there have been problems with UCAS not understanding FAs but as I don't work for UCAS I can't give more information, its just what I've heard at work.

Why are you not a fan? We were considering a FA for my dc in a couple of years alongside Nat5/Higher qualifications through school (she is likely to get a mix of Nat 4 and 5 at S4). But it doesn’t feel like they have quite ‘bedded in’ yet and much less choice than I expected. Lack of choice seems even more of an issue for MA; they seem to be mostly in sectors with a labour shortage like social care, which makes me wonder how serious the training element is.

I have a cousin doing a GA with a major research/IT firm. The degree is issued by a very low key university but four years of work experience should be worth more than a degree from a RG uni. Still first year but I suspect he is going to notice the lack of uni holidays his friends have! But he likes the pay.

FAs - you've got it right, its the lack of choice for FAs and problems with getting enough employers on board with it. Some training providers warn kids that it takes up a lot of time, limiting the number of other subjects they can take and sometimes the employer wants them to do some of their work experience over summer / other holidays because that's what suits them - so less holidays than their classmates. That isn't the case for all FAs but it can happen, particularly for those in social and child care nothing to do with needing holiday cover oh no the engineering ones can be good but can depend on the employer etc.

MAs - you can have two administration apprenticeships and one pays £8000 pa and the other pays £19,000 pa. You get the exact same qualification. The lower paid one tends to be an employer who wants everything for peanuts, the higher paid one tends to want little for a lot! You can get the odd good apprenticeship though - NHS, Scottish government etc, but the number of applicants is HUGE

GAs - limited number of subject options, quite a lot in Edinburgh as opposed to elsewhere so limited for those who may be more rural. Friend is doing a GA so it can be for any age really, but his employer will NOT give him the time off work so he's falling behind.

Its not a perfect system as I said. I'm a careers adviser. I know all about them and indeed worked in the apprenticeship team for a while. I would discourage my DC from doing one.