But once the noise and celebrations fade – and our focus starts to be drawn elsewhere – what are the other opportunities for us to champion and celebrate apprentices, and how else can we ensure a legacy of recognition?
Aspiration Awards
2025 marks an important year for NCFE. Not only is it the 80th anniversary of CACHE qualifications, it’s also the 8th anniversary of our Aspiration Awards. Launched in 2018, the awards have grown to champion all elements of the technical and vocational landscape – from centres and support staff to learners and educators.
Since 2022, it has also included apprentices as part of the Apprentice of the Year category. Having this as a standalone award is another opportunity for us to celebrate their stories of achievement, of overcoming adversity, of helping others, and most importantly, of building skilled and rewarding careers.
Last year’s winner was a perfect example of this. Ellie Burke overcame a range of challenges and faced an uncertain future after a family bereavement, struggling with her confidence due to alopecia, and caring for her brother who has Down’s Syndrome.
But after those same caring responsibilities sparked an interest in helping others and following a transformative 12-week course with the Prince’s Trust, Ellie secured an opportunity with Rochdale Training.
After beginning her Level 2 Health and Social Care apprenticeship, Ellie’s confidence soared and she flourished academically and personally, completing numerous additional qualifications.
Beyond the classroom, she works with individuals with mental and physical healthcare needs at Gateway Leisure in Rochdale, which allows her to follow her passion for the care sector. Speaking at the time, she said: “The apprenticeship has helped me to become a better person and a better support worker. It’s allowed me to build on skills that I never thought I had.”
This year’s Apprentice of the Year award is set to be the biggest one yet. It has an expert panel of judges including Kasim Choudhry, Multicultural Apprenticeship and Enterprise Ambassador for Pathway Group, Jane Hamilton, Journalist at The Times and The Sun, and Emily Rock, CEO of the Association of Apprentices.
Plus, there’s still time to enter your own nomination in recognition of an apprentice demonstrating excellence or going above and beyond. To learn more about the Aspiration Awards, see our previous winners, and to discover more about the Apprentice of the Year category visit the dedicated page.
Professional recognition
Alongside the Aspiration Awards, last year also saw the launch of a new bursary to help apprentices with their employability and professional recognition.
The Post-Apprenticeship Recognition Scheme (PARS) was created by the Chartered Institute for Further Education (CIFE) in collaboration with the Association of Apprentices (AoA). NCFE became the first organisation to offer a bursary to eligible apprentices.
We committed an initial £5,000 bursary pot to support Level 2 and 3 apprentices across a range of sectors, who are currently underserved with their next steps. The bursary also aims to further the parity of esteem of apprenticeships alongside other qualifications.
The hope is that it can help improve the recognition and esteem of apprenticeships and support apprentices with their progression by enabling them to become even more marketable to employers.
But this will only happen if it’s fair access and means for all apprentices – regardless of their background and, importantly, their current situation. We want as many beneficiaries as possible to experience truly transformational learning experiences, over a lifetime, that enable them to fulfil their potential in their career, and life more broadly.
Parity of esteem
PARS will help facilitate the recognition of apprenticeships and celebrate the learner’s achievements. The NCFE bursary is intended to enable those who wouldn’t ordinarily have the chance to take advantage of this scheme to do so, and we hope that other organisations will follow our lead and contribute to this valuable initiative.
Professional recognition through post nominals is well established, such as BA Hons in higher education. Research conducted with apprentices and employers suggests strong support for a professional recognition scheme as the award of post nominal designations can elevate the cachet of both the recipient and the apprenticeship route.
Apprentices and employers believe it can lead to increased retention and improved achievement, contribute to raising parity of esteem against other qualifications, and build awareness of the skills, behaviours, and impact that qualified apprentices can offer to businesses and employers.
National Apprenticeship Week and beyond
This National Apprenticeship Week let’s continue to bang the drum for apprenticeships and celebrate those doing amazing things with this critical pathway, but let’s also think about the impact we can all have beyond greater awareness.
Let’s challenge ourselves to find new ways to add value, to place the learner at the heart of everything we do, to improve the system for all, and ensure apprentices truly are for life – not just National Apprenticeship Week.
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