In late 2013 the government outlined its reform of apprenticeships in England and announced a series of ‘trailblazers’ – employer and professional body-led groups responsible for developing new apprenticeship standards and the high level approach to assessment (please see the attached briefing note for more). This included one group tasked with drafting the standards for Laboratory Technicians and Science Manufacturing Technicians.
Three professional bodies – the IChemE, Royal Society of Chemistry and Society of Biology – were named alongside several employers on the science trailblazer group which is being facilitated by the sector skills council Cogent. The three professional bodies have had limited input into the development of the standards so far but are working in partnership with the Science Council to ensure that the standards lead to professional registration, and that they can be readily developed or adapted to apply to science technicians working in other sectors.
There is now a very short window of opportunity for feedback on the draft standards. We are seeking employers’ views on the draft standards, in particular:
- Could the standard as currently drafted apply to technicians in your workplace? If not, what is missing?
- Could the standard be adapted to apply to technicians in your workplace – are the core skills broad enough to be contextualised as appropriate?
- If the apprenticeship was assessed in line with the high level approach proposed, would you be confident that the apprentice was competent and possessed the core skills within the standard?
- Would you be more or less likely to consider offering science apprenticeships as a result of the proposed new apprenticeship standards?
Please send any responses to Ali Orr, Registrar at the Science Council, at a.orr@sciencecouncil.org who is collating feedback on behalf of the professional bodies by Thursday 6 February. The trailblazer groups must submit their final draft standards to BIS by the middle of February so unfortunately there is only a very short timeframe for consultation.
