David Stalker, ukactive CEO, looks at how the sector should take advantage of traineeships

This month, the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation will make an announcement about the funding of traineeships – a new scheme that was introduced in January 2013 by the Department of Education.

The policy – ‘Traineeships: Supporting young people to develop the skills for apprenticeships and other sustained jobs’ – aims to get young people into sustainable employment programmes. Starting last month and set to be delivered in 2013/14, the programme is designed to be easy to access and understandable for young people.

Who are traineeships for?
Traineeships focus on young people aged 16–19 years – this may be extended to 24-year-olds in due course – and young people with Learning Difficulty Assessments up to the age of 25. The policy aims to benefit young people who are not currently in a job and have little work experience.

Traineeships have the specific goal of making young people ready for employment or an apprenticeship within six months of starting the course.

How are traineeships different from apprenticeships or other types of work experience?
The course content, duration and final objective of a traineeship is distinct from any other form of training currently available for young people. There’s a joint emphasis on work placement experience, developing life skills and earning academic qualifications. For example, as well as learning customer service skills on the gym floor, trainees will also learn how to write an effective CV and continue to study the core GCSE courses until a grade of A–C has been achieved.

The Department for Education has built a great deal of flexibility into the courses, developing a range of content that will help trainers build bespoke programmes to get the best out of their candidate.

How will they be delivered?
The Department for Education is encouraging partnerships between employers and education/training providers to maximise all components of the scheme. Employers are encouraged to have a key role in engaging young people and enrolling them on the programme.

Organisations such as schools, colleges and Jobcentre Plus centres and the National Careers Service will also play an important role in informing young people of these opportunities.

How will the traineeships be funded?
As employers are considered key to the success of traineeships, the Department for Education has set aside public funding through The Employer Ownership of Skills pilot, a scheme created by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills which invites employers to develop proposals that raise skills, create jobs, and drive enterprise and economic growth.

Alongside this, the Department for Education encourages employers to form partnerships with existing education or training providers. An employer may also become an approved training provider in its own right some years down the line.

Can these traineeships benefit fitness sector employers?
Employers will be able to determine from the very beginning the type of qualifications and skills they think necessary for their organisation.

The key advantage of traineeships
over apprenticeships is that they ensure the quality of candidates isn’t compromised by the nature of the course itself. Employers can be assured that candidates are prepared to take up a career in the sector, and that the accompanying support from educational providers will develop a more well-rounded potential employee capable of moving onto the next stage of training.

Nevertheless, employers will also need to take the time to invest fully in the candidate to get the best out of every young person taking up the course.