What’s expected: Your responsibilities as an apprentice

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Your programme is a partnership

Learning is a two-way street. When you enrol onto an apprenticeship, you expect to gain knowledge, skills and behaviours. In turn, Apprentices are expected to take an active role in their learning and development.

Your programme is a partnership between you, your employer, and your training provider. That means engagement is essential from all three parties in order to achieve success.

In this helpful guide, tend will take you through all the aspects of what is expected from you in terms of taking responsibility for your part in your learning partnership. In our previous article, How to behave as an apprentice, we talked about how you’re expected to conduct yourself. This guide focusses on what you’re expected to do.

Let’s dive in.

What is expected of you as a learner?

Like any endeavour or effort, you get out of your apprenticeship as much as you put into it. It’s as much up to you to maximise your outcome as much as it’s up to anyone else involved. That’s why it’s in your best interest to do all you can at your end to ensure a positive result.

To get the most out of your apprenticeship, you are expected to:

• Take responsibility for your own learning and progress
• Engage fully with planned learning activities and sessions
• Complete and evidence your off-the-job training
• Attend reviews and maintain regular communication with your Development Coach
• Follow workplace policies, procedures, and professional standards
• Demonstrate respectful, inclusive, and appropriate behaviour in the workplace

As long as you’re actively doing all these things to work towards your course, you’ll be doing everything in your power to thrive.

Taking ownership: why it’s important

You may have heard the expression ‘take ownership’ within your workplace. What it actually means is completely taking responsibility for a part of a process.

This discipline alone is an important part of professional life. As long as you know you’ve done everything in your power and within the gift of your role to make something turn out as everyone hoped, and can provide the evidence to support this, then you can rest assured you upheld your end of the bargain.

Owning your part in your apprenticeship supports:

• Consistent progress through your programme
• Development of knowledge, skills and behaviours required in your role
• Preparation for your End-Point Assessment (EPA) (if that applies to your programme)
• Long-term career development within your sector

It also demonstrates that you are a team member of admirable moral character, and makes you more employable overall. If you are someone who always does everything in your power to ensure successful outcomes, always comes prepared, is always willing to learn, and always shows up determined and driven, you will prove indispensable to your employer and colleagues.

Utilising available support

Of course, taking ownership of your apprenticeship responsibilities doesn’t mean being isolated in your efforts. tend understands that learners learn best when they have access to all the help and support they could ever need to succeed.

Apprentices at tend can access support such as:

• Regular one-to-one guidance from your Development Coach
• Structured learning plans tailored to your role
• Feedback and progress reviews
• Employer support in the workplace
• Access to a community of peers via free Association of Apprentices membership

Recognising that you need a little help and asking for it is the mark of a self-aware, well-rounded professional – especially within the care sector. Help and support are always available. You can read our full guide on apprentice support in the tend Learner Hub.

Your success is in your hands

It can sometimes take a lot of energy to keep pushing yourself forward. As someone in training, there may be times when you feel like you’re not yet all you can be. However, apprenticeships are designed to get you to your goals, so you can become everything you hope to be and more.

Taking ownership of your own success means committing to and investing in your future. If you are all-in, 100%, others will be too. You’ll find yourself surrounded by people who match your energy and want the best for you. That support system will boost you in turn.

Make use of all resources available to you, always ask for help if you need it, and believe in yourself. Apprenticeships mean you don’t have to call your future a dream. You can call it a plan.

View the tend Learner Handbook for full support guidance. Still have questions? Reach out to our team today. Call 01753 596 004 or hit the button below.