Onwards and Upwards for Apprentices

EAL (EMTA Awards Ltd) is delighted to report that six EAL qualified apprentices have secured jobs with Ryanair after completing their EAL SVQ level 3 in Aeronautical Engineering.

Studying through EAL-approved centre Ayr College, the aircraft maintenance students graduated earlier this year, one year ahead of schedule. Completing their apprenticeship with the airline gave the trainees the opportunity to combine practical and academic training working with Ryanair’s fleet of Boeing 737 aircrafts. All six will now be able to put their skills into practice in their new roles.
 
To celebrate their success a special ceremony was held on 30 September 2009 at Prestwick airport. Attending the ceremony was EAL External Verifier, Harry Neilly, along with representatives from Ayr College, Ryanair, the Civil Aviation Authority, and Semta.
 
A further 24 students from a number of local aeronautical companies are undertaking the Aircraft Maintenance programmes at Ayr College, and are set to graduate in 2010–11.

Recruiting Scotland's Future Managers

Small businesses in Scotland will be able to access £2,000 to recruit a Management Apprentice. The initiative, part of the Scottish Government's Invest in an Apprentice scheme, is supported by the European Social Fund, and is open to businesses who take on a new or existing member of staff as a Management Apprentice (MA).

Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Fiona Hyslop MSP, said Scotland now has ‘the most comprehensive package of support’ in place for MAs in the UK. This latest financial incentive for management apprentices underlines our commitment to continue to rise to the challenges presented by the recession and ensure our people continue to develop the skills they need to contribute to Scotland's future recovery.’

The first strand of Invest in an Apprentice was launched in October, when Ms Hyslop announced a £2,000 incentive for SMEs in the manufacturing, textiles, food and drink, and energy sectors to take on a new apprentice or up-skill an existing member of staff. The £75 per week ‘Safeguard an Apprentice’ scheme is an incentive for businesses in the construction, engineering and manufacturing industries to retain ‘at risk’ Apprentices. Both schemes are supported by the European Social Fund (total support is £1.03m, of which 45% comes from ESF, with the reminder from the Scottish Government). They are also part of ScotAction, the Scottish Government's integrated package of measures to help individuals and businesses through the recession.

The management strand of the 'Invest in an Apprentice' scheme is open to businesses with fewer than ten employees who take on a new or existing member of staff as a Management Apprentice.
 

Registration Update — Children’s Day Care

Are you a manager of day care of children, or a practitioner? If so, you may be affected by requirements from the Scottish Government that mean you must be registered with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), or a relevant workforce regulator. Deadlines are 30 November 2010 for managers/lead practitioners and 30 September 2011 for practitioners.

If you are already registered with bodies like the General Teaching Council for Scotland or the Nursing and Midwifery Council, you will not have to register with the SSSC and will need to stay with your current regulatory body.
 
For those registering with the SSSC, applications must be received by the dates in the table below. Applications received after the submission dates are unlikely to be processed in time.

The SSSC opened the parts of the Register for managers of day care of children services in October 2006, and for practitioners in March 2007. The Regulation of Care (Fitness of Employees in Relation to Care Services) (Scotland) (No 2) Regulations came into force on 30 April 2009, which means that it will now become a requirement for workers in the day care of children services to be registered. The Scottish Government has already made registration a requirement for social workers, social work students, all residential child care workers and managers of care home services for adults and adult day care services. The registration requirement will also be introduced for other workers in care home services for adults over the next few years.

Regulation of the social care, children’s and young people’s workforce recognises the vital jobs these people do. Registration with the SSSC means that workers in day care of children will be required to gain qualifications that contain both practice and management elements. Registrants must also provide evidence of good character, agree to abide by the Code of Practice for Social Service Workers, and undergo an enhanced disclosure check.

The SSSC will be contacting all managers of day care of children services early in December to give more information about required registration.

New UK Occupational Standards for Languages

The National Occupational Standards for Language are currently being reviewed. As a result, they should be:

• simpler and clearer
• equally usable for all signed and spoken languages
• clearly mapped to the SCQF and the CEF (Common European Framework); and
• include social and conversational aspects of language for work

The Continuous Learning Framework

The Continuous Learning Framework (CLF) was developed by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS). It was launched in December 2008 and aims to improve outcomes for people who use social services by supporting the workforce. It sets out what social service workers need to be able to do their jobs well now and in the future, and what their employer needs to do to support their lifelong learning.

The CLF is for everyone working in social services in Scotland and the organisations that employ them, whether public, private or voluntary sector. It is relevant for staff working in all areas of service provision, including social care and early years and childcare, and for those involved in the education, training and development of social services workers.
 
The Continuous Learning Framework:

• describes the ways in which the knowledge, skills, values and understanding required by social service workers are already shaped at national and local level
• draws attention to existing qualification requirements and the training that individual employers already need their staff to undertake
• sets out thirteen personal capabilities which describe the way social service workers manage themselves and their relationships with others in the workplace
• sets out six organisational capabilities which describe the culture and conditions in the workplace that enable social service workers to be the best they can be

The Scottish Government is providing resources to the SSSC to support social service employers and workers to use the CLF in a way that best meets their needs in their own context. They will be working with the four Scottish Social Services Learning Networks to provide information, set up support networks, develop tools to support the use of the Framework, and evaluate its impact.
 
The CLF project team at the SSSC is already hearing about some of the innovative ways individuals and organisations are using the Continuous Learning Framework to enhance practice. These include:

• helping individuals to reflect on their practice and give more meaningful feedback
• gathering evidence of learning
• strengthening the supervision and appraisal process, making it much more two-way with shared responsibility
• developing leadership capacity
• supporting organisations with recruitment and retention
• supporting of the development of an organisational learning culture

New Modern Apprenticeship for Bus and Coach Drivers