To foster career development, we support our staff in accessing apprenticeships from Level 2 to Level 5 in many different subjects. Our Learning and Development Team aids their studies with textbooks, electronic devices and eLearning tools. We talked to some of our staff currently taking on apprenticeships to find out what it’s like.

Sharon and Donna both work at our Fitzalan Howard Centre, which provides day and respite services for adults with learning disabilities and more complex needs. They are both completing Level 3 Lead Adult Care apprenticeships.

Sharon, who works as a Support Worker at the centre, said: “I decided to take the apprenticeship on to get a further understanding of the people that use our service. It’s been great recapping a lot of the stuff I knew already and learning some new things. I’d definitely recommend it to others.”

 

Sharon and Donna are currently completing their Level 3 Lead Adult Care apprenticeships

Donna, who is an Activity Instructor at Fitzalan, said: “It’s great for us as it’s free and great for Guild Care as they get their staff trained. I started the apprenticeship because it’s good to better your education and better yourself - it helps with my job role.

“We get to pick our topics on top of some mandatory ones. I chose nutrition and communication as they help me in my job. I’ve been doing this job for four years now and did care work before, and I’ve never gone so deep into some of the things we’ve looked at. I’m very grateful for the opportunity. It’s widened my knowledge.

“One good thing is the support I’ve had from the trainers and Guild Care. They supply you with stuff to help with the course. They don’t just go, ‘There’s the course, get on with it.’

“You get a qualification at the end of it. So you can possibly go for more senior roles. There are a lot of different jobs at Guild Care, so there are different avenues you could take with that qualification. So, that’s another really good reason to do the course.”

Cristian is also currently completing a Lead Adult Care Worker apprenticeship

Cristian works as a Dementia Support Worker at Haviland House, our specialist dementia care home. He is also currently completing a Lead Adult Care Worker apprenticeship and was kind enough to share some thoughts on the course:

“I decided to start the apprenticeship to improve my knowledge and provide a better level of person-centred care. I started the 18 month course last September and so far I have gained a deeper knowledge of the legislation and safeguarding surrounding working with vulnerable adults.

“An apprenticeship is a good future development for anyone that works in care. Being able to start an apprenticeship was one of the reasons I decided to come and work for Guild Care. I was working for agencies the last three years, but they never enabled me to start this course.”

Those looking to find out more about the work of Guild Care’s Learning and Development Team can contact Lisa, our Head of Organisational Development and Learning, at [email protected].