"When I came to Dell I was treated like a real member of staff, which gave me more confidence."
Lucy, Business Skills Foundation Apprentice at Dell
To get a job you need experience. To get experience you need a job. It's a tough place to start from. How do you get one without the other?
One option is a Foundation Apprenticeship.
You can choose a Foundation Apprenticeship as one of your subject selections in S5 or S6.
It's a qualification, over 1 or 2 years, that lets you gain work experience in one of Scotland's 12 growth industries while you're still at school. And it fits in with your other senior subjects.
You spend one day or two half days a week working with a local employer, learning the skills that you will need in your future career, wherever that takes you.
You might be working in a creative design studio delivering new content to a design brief with the Creative and Digital Media Foundation Apprenticeship. Or, you could be surveying sites in construction as part of your Civil Engineering FA.
You'll also be developing communication, team-work and self-management skills, giving you a head start for your future.
Find out how a Foundation Apprenticeship can help you get into the course you want.
Find out how your Foundation Apprenticeship can help.
It’s the same level as a Higher (SCQF6). The only difference is that you are assessed as you go, so there's no final exam.
It counts as one of your entry qualifications to all colleges and universities across Scotland. It will also help make your personal statement really stand out.
It gives you great insight into your chosen industry. You can sometimes use it to fast track part of a Modern or Graduate Apprenticeship. Or you might choose to go straight to work.
In your first year, you will spend time at college developing the essential skills you will need on your placement.
The second year lets you spend time out of the classroom completing an extended work placement with one of Scotland’s top employers.
You will be assessed on the work you carry out throughout your placement whether at college or in the workplace. Your employer will work with you to develop a plan for the assessments.
Lucy, Business Skills Foundation Apprentice at Dell
Foundation Apprenticeships have been developed for 12 of Scotland's growth industries.
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