Home > News > November 2007 > 01 November 2007

New food and drink apprenticeships launched

Revised apprenticeships in food and drink manufacture are being rolled out across England and Wales from today.

Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, says separate apprenticeships for bakery, meat and poultry processing and food and drink manufacture are being replaced by a single, flexible framework offering the chance to specialise in any of the industry's sub-sectors.

Key changes to the framework include the introduction of a modular system of study and assessment that are designed to allow apprentices to work towards a technical diploma and a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in easy-to-manage, bite-size chunks.

Improve says the emphasis of the Food Manufacture Apprenticeship (Foundation Modern Apprenticeship in Wales) and Advanced Apprenticeship (Modern Apprenticeship in Wales) is on work-based learning, giving a direct link between theory and practical skills needed to do a particular job.

The sector skills council points to a clear continuity in learning between the two levels of study, and says that the large number of learning units available allows each apprenticeship the flexibility to be adapted to meet the skills demands of any job in the industry.

Jack Matthews, chief executive of Improve, said: "It is vital all apprentices have a broader theoretical understanding of a particular job on top of the actual skills required to do it. But we know time spent out of work is a concern for employers, something which has contributed to low uptake at the higher level.

"By allowing apprentices to work towards their qualifications in smaller, easy-to-manage steps, we can strike a better balance between theory and practice while class time and workload are kept to a minimum.

"With more than 500 units covering all aspects of the industry to choose from, each apprenticeship can be geared towards a specific job, be it a specialist area like craft bakery or butchery, or something more generic like production line management.

"All apprentices will also be taught core skills relevant across the industry, for example food hygiene and business skills, as well as basic skills in numeracy, literacy and communication. This means they qualify capable of multi-tasking, switching roles and moving easily into other areas of work within the sector."

External link

For more information on the new Apprenticeship Framework for Food Manufacture, visit: www.improve.co.uk

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