MILITARY
R E A DY TO GO thereafter within the Field Army. The
With over 35 technical and engineering apprenticeships on o er, the British
Army runs the UK’s largest apprenticeship programme. A modernisation
push now sees them largely compatible with civilian quali cations
The rst law passed by the
By Peter Shakespeare
British Government regarding
apprenticeships dates back
to 1851. By the turn of the
century, the British Army
began to embrace formal craft and
technical trade training and quali cations.
Between 1900 and 1923, a limited number
of trade apprenticeships were taught
at corps level at the Ordnance College,
Woolwich, London.
In 1923 the War O ce centralised the
training of the craft apprentices in one
college, and between 1900 and 2004 the
Army trained over 70,000 apprentices.
But few, if any, of the Army
apprenticeships were aligned with their
recognised civilian equivalents. Also,
apprenticeships were not available for
the vast majority of soldiers serving in
the combat and combat support arms
– infantry, armoured corps and artillery.
After 2004, and facing signi cant issues
trying to recruit from the career- and
education-aware Millennial generation,
the Army realised it needed to be
an attractive career proposition for
quali cation-driven young people
and began to completely overhaul its
apprenticeship programme.
Today the British Army has the
largest programme in the country. It says
around 95% of new soldiers are enrolled,
equating to around 5,000 completing
their apprenticeship training each year.
Army apprenticeships are part of a
nationally-recognised scheme and each
apprenticeship ts in with military training
and is closely related to a soldier’s role.
The Army awards a Level 2 certi cate,
and soldiers can also go on to do a
Level 3 apprenticeship. A few Level 4
apprenticeships are available, and the
Army says that professional development
and skills gained in every job can lead
to vocational bachelor’s (Level 5/6) and
master’s (Level 7) degrees. Chartered
status is open to those serving in the Royal
Engineers (RE) and Royal Electrical and
Mechanical Engineers (REME).
The range of apprenticeships o ered
by the Army, around 50, fall under
the following areas: public
services and health, engineering,
telecommunications, animal care, IT,
logistics, construction and business
administration. However, it is only in
the last few years that the majority
of vocational quali cations delivered
by the Army have directly aligned with
civilian equivalents, gaining recognition
from civilian employers.
REME
Babcock Training is the apprenticeship
service provider for the REME. A
spokesperson for the provider said:
“Our training ensures REME soldiers
attain the requisite quali cations
via the successful implementation
and delivery of apprenticeships and
advanced apprenticeships. This is done
in the Defence School of Electronic
and Mechanical Engineering, and
REME apprenticeship awards team and
work-based learning centre is operated
by Babcock Training and is overseen and
monitored by a REME o cer. “Learners
from six of the eight career employment
groups (CEG) are signed up to Level
3 apprenticeship standards, with the
remaining two CEGs signed up to Level 2.”
REME, with Babcock, has worked with
Enginuity, the Engineering Sector Skills
Council, to have its apprenticeships
accredited. REME o ers advanced
engineering apprenticeships in aviation
and avionics; engineering maintenance
and electronics, the vehicle mechanic/
armourer/marine engineer pathways;
engineering fabrication and welding
pathways and a technical support
apprenticeship and engineering operative
apprenticeship for recovery
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