Last year Government announced plans to replace every apprenticeship framework with a new standard to ensure all apprenticeships provide substantial and sustained training that equips apprentices with broad transferable skills and full competence in an occupation.
Employers are being asked to identify occupations across their industries that require apprenticeship training, and then design a set of standards and assessment approaches for each of these apprenticeships. This is currently being done through a process called ‘Apprenticeship Trailblazers’ which has been established by BIS.
Current frameworks are to be phased out with all new apprenticeship starts based on the new standards by 2017. Therefore apprenticeship programmes for agricultural and production horticulture will need to be based on new standards from this time.
There have been two rounds of Trailblazers for groups of employers to submit expressions of interest, in order to develop new standards of apprenticeships. A third round of Trailblazers closed in August 2014 with agriculture and horticulture employers coming together to submit a proposal. This proposal had the support of 29 employers across the sector in total and proposed nine occupations where apprenticeship standards should be reformed and developed.
Government has announced the successful expressions of interest under phase 3 of Trailblazers and these included Agricultural and Production Horticulture (read the full press release on the gov.uk website here).
Three priority occupations have been identified, which will be the initial standards developed by employers:
- Technician (Horticulture/Fresh Produce/Arable/Glasshouse)
- Packhouse Operative
- Unit/Site Livestock Manager
Over the next few months employers will be coming together to replace the current frameworks that exist for these occupations with short, simple, accessible standards. As these are being developed, businesses across the industry will have a chance to comment on them through consultation to ensure the frameworks are fit for purpose and will be accessible for micro businesses as well as larger employers in the sector.