Apprentice Survey 2006

“I am very happy with On-Site; very supportive and very nice people”

Main findings

Apprentices report particularly high ratings for

• Health and safety awareness, support and working practices

• Equal opportunities information provided

• Understanding learning objectives and fairness of assessment

• Access to good training facilities

• Support received from employers and On-Site Bristol

Areas for improvement

• Relevance of off-the-job training at college

• Teaching of communication skills

• Standard of equipment at college

• Support from college tutors

Changes from 2005

• Increased clarity of learning targets

• Reduced relevance of off-the-job training at college

• Less dissatisfaction with the standard of equipment at college

• Greater satisfaction with the support received from employers and On-Site Bristol

Methodology

The survey was carried out in October 2006.

Questionnaires were handed out to apprentices at college, with 56 responses collected. The questionnaire asked 28 questions, in five categories. This report will consider each category and question individually, drawing comparisons with responses in the 2005 survey, as appropriate.

Findings

1) Health & Safety

The responses in this section were very similar to those received in the 2005 survey.

a) 98% of apprentices are told of the importance of health & safety by their college tutor, either sometimes (50%) or often (48%).

b) 97% of apprentices are given the same message by their employer

c) All apprentices say that they follow safety guidelines at work, with 73% saying that they do so often.

d) All apprentices also report that other people at work follow health & safety guidelines, although the proportion doing so often (52%) is lower than for apprentices.

e) 66% of apprentices state that they never feel that they are being asked to work in dangerous situations at work; 34% feel that they are asked sometimes and none feel that they are often asked.

2) Information Received

All parts of this section indicate improvements in providing information to apprentices

a) All apprentices report having received health & safety information

b) 93% report having been given clear targets to aim for; this is a significant increase on the 64% saying the same in the 2005 survey

c) 82% of apprentices report having been given information about the qualifications towards which they will be working – 14% no information and 4% not known

d) 98% report having been given equal opportunities information

3) Relevance of college training programme

All parts of this section indicate a reduced level of satisfaction with the relevance of training at college to the workplace

a) 88% of apprentices agree, or strongly agree that they learn more at work than at college, a noticeable increase from 75% in the 2005 survey

b) 79% agree, or strongly agree, that what they are taught at college helps them at work, down from 84% in 2005

c) 83% agree, or strongly agree, that the skills they develop at college help them at work, down from 87% in 2005

d) 79% of apprentices agree, or strongly agree, that they do things differently at college than at work (81% in 2005)

e) 82% agree, or strongly agree, that they use what they learn at college in their work (79% in 2005)

Views on Training

The responses in this section were very similar to those received in the 2005 survey, with the exception of the last question, which was only introduced this year

a) 95% of apprentices agree, or strongly agree, that they know what they have to do to achieve their qualification.

b) 89%% of apprentices feel that their work is assessed fairly.

c) 86% of apprentices agree, or strongly agree, that their training has helped them to work better as part of a team

d) 89% agree, or strongly agree, that they are learning what they expected to learn

e) 75% agree, or strongly agree, that their training has improved their communication skills.

f) 86% agree, or strongly agree that progress reviews are helpful in assessing progress and action planning

2) Views on Resources

a) 91% of apprentices agree, or strongly agree, that they have access to good training facilities

b) 75% agree, or strongly agree, that they are provided with all the tools/equipment that they need at work.

c) 53% of apprentices agree, or strongly agree, that the college has good equipment, this is higher than 2005, when only 41% expressed satisfaction with the standard of equipment.

d) 82% agree, or strongly agree, that the college’s learning materials are useful

e) 88% agree, or strongly agree, that the equipment at their workplace is more up-to-date than at college; while this is broadly in line with the 2005 survey (86%), it is noticeable that the vehemence of agreement has increased from 48% agreeing strongly in 2005 to 59% in 2006.

3) Support Received

a) 93% of apprentices feel that they receive enough support from their employer, an increase from 85% in 2005

b) 79% feel that hey receive enough support by their tutors.

c) 95% of apprentices feel that they have been given enough support by On-Site Bristol, up from 88% in 2005.

Comments

Eight apprentices made additional comments, with four being positive in general about the level of service, ranging from “On-Site has done a lot for me and I have learnt something useful” to a simple “Thanks”.

Of the four negative comments, three related to issues at off-the-job training in college and one to the frequency of monitoring visits by On-Site Bristol.

Follow-Up

We will be speaking with each apprentice who has expressed dissatisfaction with any aspect of their programme, to find out more detail and agree actions to improve things.

We will also be taking up issues with employers and City of Bristol College, to agree appropriate improvements.