The term apprenticeship often conjures up the idea of a 16 school-leaver, fresh out of their education and looking to kick-start their career. In fact, the modern apprenticeship is a completely different way to train.

Overhauled in 2017 by the Department for Education, the apprenticeship programme is intended to address two significant problems in the uk; poor productivity in the UK, and a significant fall in employers’ investment in training over recent decades.

Apprenticeships provide a flexible and affordable way to learn new skills as part of your existing role.

Here are a few things you may not know about apprenticeships:

• an apprenticeship combines work with training – at any level, from school-leavers through to degree-equivalent levels
• apprentices can be new or existing employees (e.g you can recruit for an apprenticeship role)
• an apprenticeship must last for at least 12 months
• apprentices must spend at least 20% of their paid hours doing off-the-job training. Other than that, there is complete flexibility around the training
• this training may be delivered by an authorised provider, the employer or a combination of the two
• Government contributes to the cost of apprenticeship training and assessment, so if you’re a company it’s an effective way to deliver training without using an additional training budget
• at the beginning of an apprenticeship your training provider (e.g somebody like us) will sit down with the apprentice and manager to agree workload and schedule for the entire period of the apprenticeship

When might this training be right for you?

An apprenticeship might be right for you, if you can identify with any of the following statements:

“I’ve been working in a Business Analysis role, but fell I need to upskill and formalise my qualifications to help me deliver my role better.”

“I’m looking for a change on career, and considering business analysis.”

“I need to take the next step in my career, and would like a qualification to help me.”

“I  want to be more efficient in my business analyst role, but I’m not sure which qualification will help me.”

We’re working to bring you some case studies from existing business analyst apprentices, to help give you a flavour of what you can expect from a modern apprenticeship in business analysis. For more information about apprenticeships, you can find out more about becoming a business analysis apprentice, or search for an apprenticeship here