Transforming futures - supporting care leavers through apprenticeships
Bright Sparks evaluated our Care Leaver's Apprenticeship Programme, celebrating positive results and identifying areas for improvement.
Action for Children's Care Leavers Apprenticeship Programme supports people who've spent time in foster, residential, or kinship care. It aims to equip these young people and adults with valuable skills and work experience.
Bright Sparks conducted an independent review of the programme, speaking with apprentices and their employers, to understand areas of success and where improvements could be made in future.
My confidence has increased and [it] also had a positive impact on the creative way in which I support young people.
Apprentice
For apprentices in particular, the findings of Bright Sparks independent review highlighted the necessity of consistency within training. Care-experienced learners demonstrated that they benefited from predictability and secure relationships. Instability in training environments can risk re-enacting patterns of inconsistent care from earlier life, which affect progress and confidence.
- Mentor employers as well as learners: In order to adequately support care-experienced learners, staff should have access to an experienced advisor and effective trauma-informed and neurodiversity training.
- Personalised approaches are essential: Apprentices benefited when support was adapted to their needs.
- Uncertainty is challenging: The nature of apprenticeships proved to be difficult to navigate as many do not lead to permanent positions upon completion.
Having our apprentice, someone with lived experience of many of the challenges our young people face, was transformative for our project.
Manager
