Cath’s Apprenticeship Experience
Recently, I passed a Level 3 Business Administration course supplied through Babington, allowing me to gain a qualification from the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education. This advanced apprenticeship has been designed to help professionals form in-depth knowledge of the industry and business environment in which they work. It has allowed me to gain a variety of communication skills that have expanded my knowledge and grown my confidence, which has given me the skills to be able to communicate effectively.
This course lasted a year of teaching using a blended delivery model plus a six-month End Point Assessment. For the first 3 months, it is about building a foundation including attending workshops and having progress reviews and then for the next 3 months it is about gaining a deeper understanding, again through meetings with my skills coach and workshops with other course members. With the last 6 months it is about completing assessments and projects and making sure that you are as prepared as possible for the End Point Assessment because once you are through “Gateway” then there is minimal communication with your skills coach.
The End Point Assessment is made up of three things: a knowledge test, a portfolio-based interview, and a project presentation. Beforehand my Skills Coach and I completed mock assessments for each of these and we made sure that this was then reviewed, and I knew what I needed to improve on. For example, the project presentation can only be 15 minutes long with a then 15-minute question and answer session with the assessor. When I completed my mock, I presented my information in 14 minutes so my skills coach and I discussed how we could reduce this slightly so that I could talk slower and allow for any nervousness on the day etc.
I now feel confident in multiple areas of business administration, including customer service, stakeholder management and project management. This has helped me to perform well in my job but has improved my ability to develop myself personally and professionally. When I completed my course, we celebrated in the office with coffee and cakes from the local café!
