Reference year 2019
1Scheme history
Foundation Apprenticeships were introduced as a pilot in 2014 and were fully rolled out in 2016 and have grown in numbers since this initial formal introduction in 2016.
Foundation Apprenticeships were introduced to help young people gain valuable, real-world work experience and access vocational training while still at school (Upper secondary level). Foundation Apprenticeships respond to Scotland’s ambition to embed work-based learning as a more systematic and credible component of the last two years of secondary school (“senior phase”).
In so doing this will help them develop the skills, experience and knowledge they’ll need when they leave school.
Foundation Apprenticeships have been designed and developed with industry and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and are aligned to key sectors of the economy with current skills shortages and projected future jobs growth. The Foundation Apprenticeship is delivered through partnerships between schools, a local college, or learning provider and local employers.
2Beneficiaries
There is no legal basis for Foundation Apprenticeship. They have been designed to be offered in a partnership between the secondary school and a further education college. Because they are taken in the final two years of school (post the compulsory leaving age), the minimum age is likely to be 15 or 16 when commencing and the maximum age upon completion will be 17 or 18, as it is a two year programme. They will be undertaking academic qualifications such Highers as well as the Foundation Apprenticeship.
Data on average age of learners on the different frameworks is not publicly available. However, given that Foundation Apprenticeships are undertaken by school pupils in the last 2 years of secondary school (see Q6), the age range will be from 15 through to 18.
Foundation Apprenticeships (FA) – Key Statistics
https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/44472/foundation-appr…
2014-2016 pathfinder (pilot phase)[1]:
• 63 pupils started the initial FA pathfinder, delivered in nine schools within two Local Authorities.
2015-2017 pathfinder:
• 269 pupils started the second FA pathfinder, delivered in 78 schools within twenty Local Authorities.
Cohort 1 (2016-2018) and Cohort 2 (2017-2019):
• To date there have been 1,591 FA starts spanning two cohorts (excluding pathfinder cohorts). The ambition is to have 5,000 young people start an FA in academic year 2019/20.
• There were 1,245 FA starts for cohort 2 (2017 - 2019). This is more than 3.5 times the 346 starts delivered in Cohort 1 (2016-2018).
For financial year, 2018-19, there were an average of 3,500 learners on the Foundation Apprenticeship scheme.
[1] With the pathfinder Foundation Apprenticeship, there was only one programme (Engineering) which was used to test the apprenticeship in terms of it content, duration, etc. As a result of the pathfinder a number of changes were made ie all Foundation Apprenticeship had to sit at SCQF level 6/EQF level 4
3Qualifications
Foundation Apprenticeships sit at SCQF level 6/EQF level 4. See https://scqf.org.uk/interactive-framework/
Foundation Apprenticeships comprise either a National Progression Award or a National Certificate and a number of units from the relevant SVQ. These qualifications and units can be undertaken outwith the Foundation Apprenticeship.
Qualification certificates achieved via Foundation Apprenticeships comprise of some units from the relevant Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) or alternative Competence Based Qualification (which is the main qualification in the Modern Apprenticeship) and a National Certificate or National Progression Award in the same discipline. In addition to receiving their qualification certificates, Foundation apprentices also receive a commemorative certificate recording the completion of the Foundation Apprenticeship.
For entry to Higher Education, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have traditionally accepted Highers (a school qualification undertaken in S5 or S6). However, most HEIs in Scotland will count a Foundation Apprenticeship as one of the entry qualifications along with Highers.
4Governance
Skills Development Scotland (SDS) administers the Scotland Apprenticeship Schemes (Programmes) on behalf of the Scottish Government, and these Schemes (Programmes) incorporate Foundation Apprenticeships (FAs), Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) and Graduate Apprenticeships (GAs).
Sector bodies work with employers, SDS and other stakeholders to develop FA frameworks. The sector bodies are typically Sector Skills Councils, although other types of organisations are involved. Foundation Apprenticeships are comprised of units from the SVQ or other Competence Based Qualification that align with a relevant Modern Apprenticeship programme and support progression into it. They also include a knowledge-based element in the form of a National Progression Award or National Certificate which is awarded by SQA.
Delivery of Foundation Apprenticeships is via strategic partnerships involving learning providers (colleges and independent learning providers), schools, local authorities, employers and other partners as relevant.
Other partners could include e.g. awarding bodies, sector skills councils, trade unions.
5Training at the workplace
Skills Development Scotland requires that the National Progression Award or the National Certificate is taught in the first year of the Foundation Apprenticeship. This is to provide the underpinning knowledge and understanding (theory) of the subject. In the second year, the Foundation apprentice will spend one day per week with an employer where they will be able to practice their skills and by the end of the second year demonstrate that they are competent in a number of areas relating to the occupation. Please note that they will not be fully competent across all aspects of the occupation. In a Foundation Apprenticeship, the young person only completes some of the units from the SVQ therefore they are not fully competent. The FA was designed in this way so that if they did undertake the Modern Apprenticeship they could complete it quicker as they would only have to complete those units that would be needed to complete the SVQ given that they had already achieved some via the FA.
School pupils are not working therefore when they with the employer then this could be a mixture of training and/or performing the tasks that they would carry if they were in full time employment.
Skills Development Scotland expects that the first year of the Foundation Apprenticeship will be based in the class room for the National Progression Award or the National Certificate and that one day a week will be spent with an employer in the second year. See for example “The Work Placement” at https://www.apprenticeships.scot/for-employers/browse-frameworks/founda…
Year one of the apprenticeship is spent in the college and one day per week in the second year is spent with the employer.
Foundation Apprenticeships are linked to existing educational programmes i.e. a National Progression Award or a National Certificate, which are most likely to be taught at the Further Education College. All Foundation Apprentices will spend time in the work place (typically 1 day per week) where they are given the opportunity to put into practice the skills and knowledge gained from the National Progression Award or National Certificate. They will also undertake assessment for the SVQ units whilst with the employer so that they can demonstrate competent performance in the workplace.
The Further Education College will work with the employer to develop a plan which covers how the employer will work with the apprentice as well as setting how and when the apprentice will be assessed.
With the Foundation Apprenticeships, this is a partnership between Secondary Schools, Further Education and Employers, with the employer providing a placement opportunity. Employers volunteer to participate in the programme and to provide a placement opportunity to enable the Foundation Apprentice to gain work experience and the opportunity to demonstrate their competence in some aspects of the occupation.
Employer involvement in the Foundation Apprenticeship programme is voluntary.
SDS undertakes quality assurance monitoring of Foundation Apprenticeships. This includes ensuring that the colleges, private training providers and employer organisations which deliver Apprenticeship training programmes meet national quality assurance standards for national training programmes. This is monitored on an ongoing basis.
6Contract and compensation
For Foundation Apprenticeships, the apprentice is still at Secondary School and is therefore a student.
There is no contractual arrangement for Foundation Apprenticeships given that the young person is still in full time school education and is not employed by the employer.
Not applicable to Foundation Apprenticeships
Not applicable to Foundation Apprenticeships
As Foundation Apprentices are school pupils and not employed, they receive neither a wage nor an allowance
Not applicable
7Financing and incentives
Not applicable
The employer will cover the cost of the insurance for the young person whilst on placement with the employer. The FE college receives funding from Skills Development Scotland to deliver the off-the-job training. The cost of any on-the-job training will be met by the employer.
There are no financial incentives to companies that offer a work placement to Foundation Apprentices
Not applicable