College of FE launches “groundbreaking” new apprenticeship

Monday 17 May 2021

A new apprenticeship has been launched by the College of Further Education to develop new skills on island and train ‘Island Operatives'.

It has been mooted as a partnership with industry, offering training to the next generation of islanders working in construction, waste, and telecoms, among many other vocations.

“The island operative programme is ground-breaking,” said the Director of Apprenticeships, Chris Torode. “It is the first apprenticeship split across multiple programmes across the College.”

The programme will develop core skills in Maths, English and IT and curate skills to benefit sectors across the island.

The seed of an idea for the programme arose after the Guernsey Recycling Group put feelers out for a recycling operative.

“We look forward to welcoming our first students in September,” said Group Operations Director at the GRG, Matt Cox. "We will be working with the Guernsey College of Further Education and the other participating employers to ensure apprentices enjoy the course and are able to access the expertise, which will be freely shared between our different companies.”

Pictured: The apprenticeship is ‘multi-faceted’ and includes IT as a core component.

The partnership with industry aligns with a growing island ethos of developing and retaining on-island skills. Express recently spoke to John Bampkin from the Guernsey Construction Forum about helping local businesses secure States contracts.

“It’s about industry growing their own,” said Programme Leader for the Island Operative Apprenticeship, Cheryl Stevenson.

“It allows employers to start with someone they can mould into their culture, develop the skills on-island and not bring in people from overseas."

Pictured: The next step is for the college to share the news of the new apprenticeship.

Applicants will be able to develop skills they may have missed through their education and bolster their experience and career potentials.

“It has a social benefit,” said Ms Stevenson. “It provides opportunities to those who might not have progressed because of a lack of core skills to start with.”

“It gives them an entry point to a career they might not have had.”

The CoFE is also expanding its offering to support employers as well, training them to train others.

“We’re offering mentoring programmes to train their staff to then assess the knowledge accumulated by their apprentices,” said Ms Stevenson.

The course starts in September and the CoFE will be holding a promotional event at the Coutanchez campus on Thursday 20 May to get people involved. If you're interested in attending you can email 'apprenticeships@gcfe.net'.