Last year I was very happy to share with you that Burhill Group is investing £60,000 into its apprenticeship training for 2020. In 2019, the company invested £42,000.
I summarized the benefits of the well-designed apprenticeship program in that article, so I won’t go into it here right now. In the second half of this post, I will share the recommendations of Nicholas Wyman, founder, and chief executive officer of the Institute for Workplace Skills & Innovation (IWSI) America.
John Deere Apprentice Training Center -£1.5 million investment
John Deere and training provider ProVQ have announced plans to open a brand new Apprentice Training Center this autumn, at a farm site in Upper Saxondale near Bingham in Nottinghamshire. It is a £1.5 million investment.
This will mark the 30th anniversary of John Deere’s first Ag Tech apprentice intake, who were enrolled at original partner Brooksby Melton College in 1992.
This new apprentice training center is designed specifically and solely for John Deere dealer apprentices attending
the company’s award-winning Ag Tech, Turf Tech, and Parts Tech training programs, the first John Deere Apprentice Training Center was established at Radcliffe-on-Trent 5 years ago.
The Ag, Turf, and Parts Tech apprenticeships focus on developing the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required for dealer personnel of the future. Each year group trains at the center for up to 8 weeks a year in four blocks
of two weeks.
Some of this time is also spent at John Deere’s Langar HQ when working with the largest equipment and the latest technologies.
John Deere & ProVQ cooperation – history
John Deere appointed ProVQ Limited in summer 2015 as its new business partner to deliver the apprentice training programs on behalf of its dealers in the UK & Ireland.
The current full-time ProVQ staff will continue to be managed by James Haslam at the new Apprentice Training Centre from the autumn.
What makes an apprenticeship program successful?
Here are the recommendations of Nicholas Wyman, founder, and chief executive officer of the Institute for Workplace Skills & Innovation (IWSI) America:
- Identify the occupation that the apprentices will be working in.
- Identify and engage an internal team, including people from direct service, middle management, and leadership, who will formulate and implement the program.
- Identify and engage external partnerships, including community colleges, high schools, civic and nonprofit organizations, and state apprenticeship organizations.
- Identify mentors and coaches.
- Outline candidate qualifications.
- Identify achievable core competencies.
- Create on-the-job training goals as performance measures and related curricula.
- Determine training and scalable wage schedules.
- Establish marketing and recruitment strategies.
- Develop ongoing evaluation processes based on feedback and outcomes.