Apprenticeships

Current Apprenticeship opportunities:

We have vacancies for full time apprenticeships in:

 The Somerset Voluntary Sector Apprenticeship Scheme 2007 - 2010

ViSTA worked with Somerset County Council to submit a bid to the Invest To Save fund via the Treasury and have been awarded a 3 year programme effective from 2007.  The proposal is for an innovative programme of investment in skills by introducing a Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) apprenticeship scheme. 

Somerset County Council have nominated Richard Crouch as the Scheme Sponsor.  Gareth O’Rourke, Group Manager, Community Development has been appointed as the Chair of the Steering Group which will oversee the implementation of the Scheme.

The overall aim is to kick start a new culture within the VCS whereby organisations take a more pro-active approach to addressing identified skills shortages in their workforce.  The current indications suggest that in the future there will be increasing competition among employers for fewer individuals seeking work.  The VCS need to make significant changes in relation to workforce development (policy and practice) in order to ensure that organisations can draw from a suitably qualified and skilled workforce.  There are particular implications for both the Health and Social Care Sector and The Children and Young People’s Workforce.

The Invest To Save Bid provides the investment required to commence activity in Somerset that not only addresses the future needs of the VCS but also tackles an immediate priority in the County in relation to the number of young people entering into apprenticeships. 

The Invest To Save Award enables the Scheme to fund the salary costs for 34 apprentices who will be based in VCS organisations.   The first group of 12 apprentices are expected to be in placement from September 2007 onwards.  Funds from the Scheme are being invested in setting up a new apprenticeship framework in Somerset - the Youth Work Apprenticeship.  Partners aim to have at least 6 people on the Youth Work Apprenticeship in the first year of the Scheme.

Some of the apprenticeships will be co-hosted with Public Sector departments and agencies.  Both co-hosts will be matched in order to ensure that between them they provide complementary placements which support The National Vocational Qualification within the apprenticeship framework.  The co-hosting allows us to pair up two employers (VCS and public sector) so that between them the apprentice has access to a broad range of work experience. 

It is hoped that the co-hosting arrangement will increase the likelihood of one of the two employers being able to offer a permanent job at the end of the Scheme. 

The additional benefits from the co-hosting arrangement are that through shared responsibility for the apprentice partners will improve their understanding of each other and their respective sectors. 

Matched funding for the Scheme is also drawn in through the co-hosting arrangement (public sector officers time spent supporting the apprentice and in some circumstances public sector contribution to salary costs).  

The overall programme includes capacity building for the participating VCS in terms of Work Based Learning infrastructure (work place assessors’ training and certification, work place mentors, expert witness qualifications).  In addition there will be generic capacity building to support participating groups with financial planning and fundraising in order to sustain the initiative beyond the Invest To Save funding.

The Partners in the Scheme are Somerset County Council, ViSTA and Somerset County Training.  The Scheme will work closely with key stakeholders including The Somerset Voluntary Sector Network. 

The programme will include an evaluation undertaken by Plymouth University Social Policy Unit. 

A Steering Committee, chaired by Gareth O’Rourke, will oversee the work of the Project Management Team.  The PMT will be led by Angela Kerr, Chief Executive of ViSTA.  The PMT will report to the Steering Committee quarterly throughout the life of the Scheme.  

ViSTA will support the VCS hosts, co-ordinate the co-hosting partnerships, put together an on-line directory of VCS placements (this is enhanced by our new ViSTAjobs service) and manage the project.  Somerset County Training will be providing the apprenticeship training through their LSC contract and will develop the new apprenticeship framework in Youth Work.

Somerset County Council will support the Scheme by under-writing co-hosting arrangements where these have proved impossible to arrange.

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