Eve Duncan (S6 St Columba’s HS) and Max McKay (S6 Woodmill HS), both in the second year of their Scientific Technologies Foundation Apprenticeships, are pictured promoting the School College Partnership’s Foundation Apprenticeship car at Fife College’s Glenrothes Campus recently.
Fife College and Fife Council have up to 350 Foundation Apprenticeships opportunities available throughout Fife in 2020 by Skills Development Scotland (SDS).
The College and Council in Fife currently run one of the most ambitious Foundation Apprenticeship programmes in Scotland.
The new contract will see the College and Council increase the number of FA subjects available for senior phase pupils in Fife to all 12 available from SDS.
Delivered as part of School College Partnership programme, FAs provide work-based learning opportunities for young people, supporting skills demands from employers and creating pathways into critical occupations for the Scottish economy.
Taken over one or two years by senior phase school pupils alongside Nationals and Highers, completion of a Foundation Apprenticeship leads to a qualification at the same level as a Higher.
FAs available in Fife include accountancy, business skills, civil engineering, software development, IT hardware, creative media, food and drink technologies, children and young people, engineering, scientific technologies, financial services and social services.
The award of the new contracts comes as recent reports show a 45% increase in pupils on School College Partnership courses in Fife. Latest figures have also shown a 9.5% increase in the number of pupils in Fife completing their School College Partnership courses.
Iain Hawker, Assistant Principal: Quality and Partnerships at Fife College, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the contract to deliver Foundation Apprenticeships in 2020.
“Working in partnership with Fife Council, the Foundation Apprenticeship programme has allowed us to provide an excellent stepping stone for fifth and sixth-year school pupils on to career paths across a number of industry sectors enabling them to achieve a valuable work-based qualification alongside gaining valuable employer needed skills.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Fife Council to deliver our successful Foundation Apprenticeship programmes in the year ahead.”
Recognised by all Scottish universities and colleges, Foundation Apprenticeships support progression on to a job, such as a Modern or Graduate Apprenticeship, or on to further and higher education.
Skills Development Scotland Director of Critical Skills and Occupations, Diane Greenlees said: “Foundation Apprenticeships continue to be embedded in the education and skills system, creating increasingly valuable and essential work-based learning pathways for pupils.
“Skills Development Scotland is committed to working with partners to ensure that pupils get access to high quality work-based learning opportunities to help bring schools and employers closer together.”
For more information about Foundation Apprenticeships in Fife visit our Foundation Apprenticeship page.
Foundation Apprenticeships have been developed by Skills Development Scotland in partnership with education and industry and supported by the European Social Fund.
There are 12 Foundation Apprenticeship subjects, which cover sectors with demand for jobs.
