It’s been a long time coming for three Higher Level 5 Management Apprentices from Central England Co-operative Society to attend their graduation. They completed their course in February 2020, after two years of the pandemic, they are finally able to celebrate their achievements. We spoke to Lee Hardy, Amanda Gallie and Mark Freeman about their course, their own personal development, and investing in their colleagues.
How did you get the opportunity to study Higher Level Apprenticeship?
“My employer does really well at investing in colleagues. This was the next step. They normally develop skill sets in house, so to go outside as a level 5, gave us more opportunities, greater learning and something we can give back to the company as well as ourselves.” – Lee
“It’s a nationally recognised qualification which is transferable in other areas.” – Amanda
“The business was looking at developing more leadership skills within the company, gaining more management and director level roles. The leadership we have learnt from this has helped us massively.” – Mark
How has the course benefited you so far?
“It has changed the way I lead my team. Rather than managing and directing them, I try to coach and educate so that the team take responsibility. It encouraged the team to develop their own careers as well.” – Mark
“You learn more about yourself, it’s easy to get bogged down in the day job but we now think about ourselves and how we learn and how our colleagues learn. Writing isn’t something we have done for many many years, so practising that just gets you thinking which gives you that sense of achievement on top of the day job that you can give back to other people. This lets you build, grow, lead, and create more leaders. It creates a better environment.” – Lee
Did you feel supported by your tutor?
“When I first started the course, I didn’t know what word count was. Seriously, I was counting the words along the line. I never went to university or wrote an assignment, Helen was fantastic, so patient, understanding and helped us learn to learn.” – Mark
“Helen, the tutor was so understanding and patient, she kept us motivated, she made it really worth our while.” – Amanda
How are you going to celebrate graduating?
“A few drinks, something to eat, a couple of glasses of prosecco. We have friends and family here which is amazing and recognition from work as well.”
Mark is now a store manager and a cluster lead, in charge of 5 shops. Amanda is a funeral director and Lee is a store manager.
We are so glad that all three of the Higher Level Apprentices have benefited from their courses and are able to bring the skills not only to their own jobs and careers but also to their colleagues.