The new Government-funded kitchen design degree apprenticeship, which is being developed by The Kitchen Education Trust, (TKET) has been made possible because the industry has come together to drive it forward, says Simon Acres Group MD Simon Acres, pictured, who is part of the steering group that has contributed to the development of the apprenticeship, providing input to the course content and documents that outline outcomes and assessments. Now, in order to ensure that the course is relevant, an online survey has been launched to finesse its content. The survey which is open until 31st October, will take 5-10 minutes to complete and can be found here.
“We have launched an online survey and are asking employers, training providers, assessment organisations or potential apprentices to help us ensure that the course meets the needs of the widest cross-section of organisations,” said Acres. “We would like to encourage as many as possible to complete the survey and take this opportunity to influence the content of this future apprenticeship. We are also seeking views on whether the title should include ‘kitchens’ and would welcome comments on this from those that do complete the survey.”
The kitchen design degree apprenticeship is a part-time distance learning course, designed to be integrated with a job and take up about 20% of the working week. It will be funded by a levy that gets paid by businesses which have a payroll of more than £3million. Companies that are levied receive apprenticeships free, while smaller companies that are not levied, pay about 5%-10% of the fee.
Acres added: “Education and training are so important to our industry, I am happy to devote time to ensuring that we have the right courses to meet our needs, and bring talented young people into the industry. Traditionally the KBB industry has had a disjointed approach to training, so it is welcome to see people from different organisations come together for the common good. With representatives from training providers, such as Achieve Partners and Active Learning, manufacturers BSH and Blum, designers and other industry experts such as Johnny Grey, we have a broad and wide-ranging expertise base to develop appropriate and relevant qualifications.”
The apprenticeship degree (Level 6) in kitchen, living and commercial spaces design, has proposal approval from the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education and should be available for universities to offer across England, for a September 2022 launch.
