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An apprenticeship is, first and foremost, a paid job, but it is one that helps an individual train for and reach competence in a specific occupation or occupational field.

Click on the ‘Structure and duration’ and ‘Eligibility’ tabs below to find out more.

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Structure and duration

Structure

Apprenticeships are made up of two key components: on-the-job learning and off-the-job learning.

On-the-job learning

This makes up 80% of the apprenticeship (equivalent to four days a week) via the real job the apprentice is learning to undertake with their employer. This is the time the apprentice spends working in an archive, library, or records management department.

Off-the-job learning

This makes up 20% of the apprenticeship (equivalent to one day a week) and is undertaken via a separate training provider. This element helps the apprentice gain underpinning knowledge about working in an archive, library, or records management department, as well as learning about the breadth and make-up of the sector. For the Level 7 Archivist and Records Manager apprenticeships, this off-the-job training is provided nationally by Westminster Adult Education Service.

The apprentice is paid by their employer to complete both parts of the apprenticeship and as such their contract of employment must include within the paid contractual hours the time spent undertaking on-the-job and off-the-job training. In other works, the apprentice has a contract and a salary for five days a week, not just the four on-the-job days.

You can find out more about the off-the-job training and the costs of an apprenticeship on the ‘How apprenticeships work‘ webpage.

Duration

Apprenticeships are set at a specific level of difficulty and vary in length depending on the amount of learning one typically needs to undertake to reach competence. The duration of an apprenticeship must never be less than 12 months, with apprentices being contracted for no less than 30 hours a week for this minimum duration. The typical duration set against the Level 7 Archivist and Records Manager apprenticeship is 3 years (36 months) with an additional 6 months for the end-point assessment.

Eligibility

Who are apprenticeships for?

Apprenticeships are for anyone of working age. This means anyone who is aged 16 or over and who has completed their final GCSE year at school. There is no upper-age limit for apprenticeships.
Apprenticeships can be used to train:

  • new entrants into the workforce
  • career changers so they can transfer into a new occupation and/or industry
  • existing staff who need to train for a new role (for example if they are becoming the manager of a department for the first time)

Accounting for prior experience

Apprenticeships cannot be used to train somebody who is already doing the job competently (i.e. to retrofit certification) but may be used to help someone upskill to reach full competence depending on their existing level of proficiency. In this instance an accelerated apprenticeship can be undertaken, which is where some prior knowledge and experience of the occupation is held by an individual and can be ‘knocked off’ their apprenticeship training.

However, if a candidate has too much prior experience, they will not be eligible for the apprenticeship as an apprentice must always require a minimum of 12 months of training to be deemed eligible. Reducing the length of an apprenticeship can also reduce the amount of funding that the off-the-job training provider can accept as the apprenticeship levy can only pay for new learning. As such, too much prior learning can make it unfeasible for the training provider to take on a particular apprentice. Westminster Adult Education Service offers a ‘skills scan’ service that helps identify whether a candidate has too much prior experience.

Required qualifications

As apprenticeships are designed to help an individual reach competence in an occupation, pre-requisites for entry into an apprenticeship must be kept to a minimum. This also helps ensure apprenticeships are accessible to the broadest pool of talent. As such, it is strongly advised that prior qualifications related to the role or prior experience of the role are not sought as part of the recruitment process. Instead, employers could deploy the use of a competency-based recruitment approach. Our best practice guide on the ‘How to get started‘ webpage gives more guidance on this.
The apprenticeship standard will specify any acceptable pre-requisites for entry for the respective apprenticeship, which employers are encouraged to adhere to. If prior qualifications are sought by an employer when recruiting, these should not be in the same subject as the apprenticeship as this is highly likely to result in the candidate being deemed ineligible for the apprenticeship. For example, if somebody has a Master’s Degree in Archiving and Records Management, it is unlikely they’ll be deemed eligible for the Level 7 Archivist and Records Manager Apprenticeship.

For the Level 7 apprenticeships, we advise not requiring any Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees as this creates a barrier to people who haven’t followed an academic path but who would make excellent archivists. In 2023, many Level 7 Archivist and Records Manager apprentice employers asked only for A Levels or equivalent, and avoided asking for specific subjects at this level such as History or English. Asking for specific subjects would again exclude people who didn’t choose these options earlier in life and wouldn’t help to diversify the workforce, which already has plenty of people with backgrounds in the humanities.

Functional skills

Some apprentices may need to gain additional qualifications in English and/or Maths before they can successfully complete their apprenticeship. This only applies when an apprentice does not already hold a qualification in these subjects at a certain grade or level of difficulty, stated in the apprenticeship standard. For the Level 7 Archivist and Records Manager apprenticeships, this is a GCSE (or equivalent) in English and Maths at grades A* to C or 4-9. When a candidate doesn’t hold such qualifications they may be required to complete Functional Skills in these subjects.

Employers can recruit candidates that already hold a recognised English and/or Maths qualification but setting this as a pre-requisite for entry is discouraged for diversity and inclusion reasons. The absence of these qualifications is not necessarily an indicator of a candidate’s ability to reach competence in the occupation the apprenticeship is training them for and there are different reasons why candidates may not already hold these qualifications.