Partner Article

Chemical employers urged to sponsor apprentices

The Tees Valley chemical and process sector is being asked to play a part in developing the future of the industry by sponsoring apprentices. The TTE Technical Training Group is introducing a Chemical Technician Apprenticeship at the start of 2008 to help address the sector’s skills shortage. Throughout the next few months TTE will be recruiting for the programme, which is set to start in February, who can benefit from industry sponsorship.

After a year of off-the-job training at TTE’s Centre of Vocational Excellence in Manufacturing and Process Industries in South Bank, Middlesbrough, the Apprentices will spend two years gaining valuable practical experience as part of their sponsoring company’s workforce. During their two-year ‘on-the-job’ experience with their sponsoring employers the Apprentices are continually assessed to help them achieve Level 3 NVQ and City & Guilds qualifications.

Keith Leslie, The TTE Technical Training Group’s Apprenticeship Business Director, said: “It is common knowledge that the chemical and process sector is facing a skills shortage. Sponsoring Apprentices is a positive way for employers to address the situation for the long term. It offers real benefits and must be seen by companies as an investment, not a cost. “The introduction of this programme will help develop people for this sector and, with the support of industry sponsors, turn them into valuable members of the workforce.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .