Thanks to the apprenticeship reform, every employer now has a fantastic opportunity to tailor their apprenticeship programmes to get more value from them, and, more often than not, the opportunity goes under the radar.

The reform gives employers much more control over each programme than what was previously available, and you now have a more extensive choice of providers you can use. 

Furthermore, you can now shape the development and tailoring of your apprenticeship programmes to fit to your learner's in order to hit your business objectives.

In essence, this is something that was not necessarily previously available the way it is today.

Here are five areas of tailoring that you should now speak to your provider about to make sure they are providing maximum benefit back to your organisation.

1. Vision, Mission and Values - These should pervade everything that you do, and especially long term training programmes. Achieving the vision and living the mission should be at the heart of the training, and taught behaviours should always be in line with your organisation's values.
   
   
2. Your Policies and Procedures - The programme should discuss your policies and procedures, and not refer to generic ones. It gives context to the programme, reinforces internal messaging and saves you time having to train them internally.
   
   
3. Assessments - You can and should tailor assessments. Ask for the assessed activities and tasks to be not only relevant but also directly beneficial to the business. They should not be purely theoretical but practical and useful.
   
   
4. Your Language - each organisation has its own customers/clients/patients/service users, and other industry-specific language used both internally and externally. Context-specific wording should be woven into the programme to engage the learners and make the learning relevant to their reality.
   
   
5. Case Studies and Examples - Case studies and examples should be built around your business for them to resonate with learners. Usually, there is benefit in examples from other industries and contexts, but tailored case studies provide balance and value.

A capable provider will build this into the planning stages of the programme and should discuss these areas with you. 

From experience, we have found that these five things make the difference between a good and a great programme. 

A good programme will develop people and upskill learners, but a great programme will develop great people who fully realise their ability to perform in your business, creating a talent pipeline for the future and deliver exceptional results.

Have you tailored your apprenticeship programmes turning them from good to great yet?