As you may know, I am a former Learning Technologist apprentice at Basingstoke College of Technology. I finished my apprenticeship two years ago and was taken on as a permanent Learning Technologist two years ago. Doing the apprenticeship was one of the best experiences in my life.

I was lucky to be given many opportunities to learn new skills within my apprenticeship. I was very clear with my goals and what I wanted and I found that BCoT and the team really supported me. I was lucky to be able to undertake a level 4 qualification in teaching and training during my apprenticeship, as well as take advantage of the level 2 qualifications offered by Aspiral Learning. I was constantly given opportunities to branch out and learn new things, which supported me in becoming a Google Certified Educator, an Apple Teacher, and much more. I was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by a very supportive team and fantastic staff and students. I genuinely believe that I have learnt more from them, than I have been able to teach or train anyone.

My confidence has grown. I still get imposter syndrome from time to time, looking back I can’t believe half the stuff I have managed to do. The BCoT Maths site supports students from all across the UK and brings in hundreds of visitors weekly. Before my apprenticeship, I was a Games Development student – I was shy, not very confident and didn’t have much going for me in terms of career. Now I am sat here planning out the next 5 years of my life and thinking about what I want to achieve!!

After visiting so many different colleges, learning from conferences, learning from educators all around the world and taking the opportunities given to me, I am a completely different person. Every single one of my friends has commented on how I am a lot more confident, present and less anxious.

I was given opportunities that I didn’t even think were possible, within 2 months of me starting my apprenticeship, I visited Google HQ, and within the year I was presenting alongside the team all across the country. I was given valuable experience in the areas that were important to me, and when I wasn’t out exploring the world, I was back at the college playing with technology and fitting it into curriculum and corporate areas, streamlining processes, making learning more fun and supporting staff and students.

Even things such as passing my GCSE maths exam – something I genuinely never thought I’d be able to – and the support I received from my team, my former maths teacher and the entire maths department has been incredible and I don’t think I’d be even close to being where I want to be without everyone’s support.

I was also very lucky to become a member of the Leadership Team at the National Society of Apprentices who represents over 150,000 apprentices from across all sectors and industries, across the whole of the UK. From this, I have been given so many further opportunities and it has helped me decide how I want to shape the rest of my life.

Oddly enough, the timing of this post has correlated with two Learning Technologist apprentice roles going live! It’ll be biased of me to say “go for it!”, but I really think you should!