Ethical Skills and Training provide 10,000 apprenticeships

Workplace development specialists, Ethical Skills and

Training (EST), has been awarded a major new contract to provide up to 10,000 apprenticeships across the retail industry over the next 18 months. It will be a great boost for the retail sector as the initiative will focus on upskilling the workforce through training on technical, soft skills and development of employability skills, and ensuring apprentices meet identified organisational skills.

Programmes being taught will include Personal training, leisure management, Customer Service, Business Administration and Operational services.

CEO of EST, Elaine Barrett, explains, ‘We are challenging the traditional perception of what apprenticeships can deliver: taking it away from being just about the qualification at the end of the programme and really focusing on corporate goals, measured delivery and final evaluation and accountability.’ She continues, ‘For us it’s not about gaining a ‘piece of paper’ at the end, but about helping to turn raw talent into a corporate asset.’

The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) contract will see EST working with up to 10,000 employees from 18years to the over 25’s. On average the programmes will run for 6 months and will be overseen by EST’s team of 100 dedicated assessors.