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What makes the Assistant Practitioner Apprenticeship special?

Our diverse and exciting apprenticeship equips you with the essential knowledge, skills, and behaviours to excel in a rewarding career in health. We support our apprentices by developing the relevant skillset essential to becoming an effective Assistant Practitioner, emphasising person-centred care, communication and teamworking throughout the course.

The apprenticeship is wrapped around our Foundation Degree Assistant Practitioner, which is a full-time, two-year course created to support career development. Apprentices will develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours that will enable them to work in a variety of settings such as hospitals, clinics, care services and charitable organisations in the community.

As an apprentice you will be employed in a health or care setting for normally a minimum of 30 hours per week and have the support of your employer to undertake the apprenticeship. You will earn as you learn and your apprenticeship course fees will be paid by your employer. At the University of Worcester, you can tailor your training programme to suit both your needs and those of your employer.

The apprenticeship is suitable for staff working in a range of Allied Health Support Worker roles and aims to develop additional skills and knowledge based on the clinical or professional area within which you work.

Available pathways

  • Assistant Practitioner
  • Assistant Practitioner (Occupational Therapy)
  • Assistant Practitioner (Physiotherapy)
  • Assistant Practitioner (Nutrition and Dietetics)
Overview

Overview

Key Features

  • Assistant Practitioner apprenticeship offers access to higher education while working and being paid
  • Your employer covers your fees as you gain experience and improve your knowledge. You'll develop self-awareness, interpersonal skills, and an understanding of evidence-based practice
  • Benefit from a supportive learning environment with experienced academics and clinicians
  • Utilise excellent skills and simulation facilities for practical training
  • Learning and placements are focused on your chosen Allied Health Pathway, providing diverse skill development opportunities
  • This Level 5 Assistant Practitioner apprenticeship route facilitates widening participation to higher level study
  • Develop and enhance your self-awareness and interpersonal skills alongside gaining and insight into the importance of evidence-based practice within health and social care
  • A stimulating learning environment based on the values of academic freedom, ethical awareness and critical appraisal of evidence
Exterior view of Black Country and Marches Institute of Technology in Dudley

Study Assistant Practitioner Apprenticeship in Dudley

From September 2024, you have the choice to study the Assistant Practitioner Apprenticeship in Worcester or at our partner institute in Dudley. The course will be taught by the same experienced lecturers at both venues.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

32
UCAS tariff points

Entry Requirements

32 UCAS Tariff Points

From a minimum of 1 A level and a maximum of 3 A Levels

OR

Equivalent Level 3 qualifications e.g. BTEC National Diploma or Access to Higher Education Diploma.

Plus

GCSE grade C/4 or level 2 equivalent in Maths and English (Language or Literature). Please see below for acceptable alternatives.

Acceptable alternative Maths qualifications

  • Functional Skills Level 2 Maths
  • Essential Skills Level 2 (Wales) Maths
  • NARIC approved GCSE C/4 or above International qualification

Acceptable alternative English qualifications

  • Functional Skills Level 2 English
  • Students whose first language is not English must have a minimum standard of English at IELTS level 6.0 (with no less than 5.5 in any component), other equivalent English qualifications will be considered (see UW Language Requirements and Support)
  • NARIC approved GSCE C/4 or above International qualification
  • Essential Skills Level 2 (Wales) English

It is desirable that applicants have evidence of study undertaken within the last 5 years. Students are required to demonstrate health and character sufficient to ensure safe and effective practice. This includes a satisfactory enhanced DBS and occupational health assessment.

Additional information

T Levels may be used to meet the entry tariff requirements for this course. Find out more about T levels as UCAS tariff points here.

Work-based entry requirements

Under UK Government requirements, Higher Level apprentices are normally employed for a minimum of 30 hours per week and must have the right to live and work in the UK (and lived in the UK for the last 3 years).

All apprentices must be employed in a health and care setting with an identified employer partner in a healthcare role and supported by their employer.

The support of the employer is articulated in an Apprenticeship Agreement.

Prior to starting the apprenticeship, the apprentice, employer and university are required to complete a University Training Plan, which identifies the expectations of the apprentice, university and employer.

Applications

In the first instance applicants must apply to the apprenticeship via their employers internal and selection process. Once the employer approves the application, the University will work you’re your employer to consider each application on its individual merits and will recognise a range of qualifications not currently included in the Tariff. If you do not meet the minimum entry requirements outlined above, please contact the Admissions Office for advice.

Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from the UCAS website.

Disability information

If you are worried that your disability or physical/mental health problem will affect your nursing application, please refer to our disability concerns document for more information.

Course content

Course content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and by feedback from students, external examiners, and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative.

Year 1 - Modules

  • Person Centred Practice
  • Becoming a Health and Care Professional
  • Skills for Interprofessional Working
  • Anatomy and Physiology
  • Promoting Health and Well-Being
  • Work based Learning for Apprentices

Year 2 - Modules

  • Research and Evidence-based Practice
  • Innovation and Leadership in Health and Care

Choose from below based on pathway of study:

  • Care and Support for Complex Needs
  • Principles of Physiotherapy
  • Principles of Occupational Therapy
  • Principles of Nutrition and Dietetics
Teaching and assessment

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

The Assistant Practitioner Apprenticeship enables all apprentices to become autonomous learners. The course is designed to support apprentices of varying experiences, needs and background; to develop key/transferable skills and to disseminate good practice in learning and teaching. To achieve this we closely monitor the quality of your experience while training.

You are taught through a combination of:

  • Health and care experience in your employing organisation.
  • Tutor-led workshops, lectures, seminars, skills and simulations and guest lectures, primarily to introduce underpinning knowledge, theoretical argument, practical skills, central issues, key texts, and inter-professional fields of study.
  • Participation in high level professional discussion, peer presentations and debate, to encourage you to actively engage with and critically challenge the field.
  • Directed studies and problem-solving tasks provide opportunities to develop approaches that will deepen levels of understanding and professional judgement; development of practice-based competence and skills of critical reflection through guided individual mentoring during placements.
  • One-to-one academic and personal tutorial support including access to our first class Firstpoint services.

In addition, there are regular opportunities throughout the year to meet with your personal tutor, where you will have the opportunity to talk about your academic progress, school experience, support with careers and applications.

Contact time

In a typical week you will spend a minimum of 20% of your time engaged in ‘off the job’ training.

Off the job learning* will occur across three terms with the summer term incorporating online resources and tutorials to enhance skills/competencies. Further, asynchronous learning materials will be provided to support independent study. Typically contact time during ‘off the job’ training will be structured around:

  • Seminars
  • Discussions
  • Group work
  • Lectures when appropriate e.g. visiting speakers
  • Practical tasks
  • Research tasks

Online contact hours will be structured around:

  • Group tutorials based upon focussed activities.
  • Assessment workshops
  • Problem-based learning
  • Skills development workshops

* Off the job training is training received by the apprentice, during the apprentice's normal working hours, for the purpose of achieving the knowledge, skills and behaviours of the approved apprenticeship

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time and your off the job hours you are expected to undertake personal study time each week. Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources. Independent study is in addition to the off the job learning requirement. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for tests.

Duration

Normal duration of the FdSc Assistant Practitioner Apprenticeship is 24 months. The apprenticeship’s End Point Assessment (EPA) will account for the final 40 credits of the course. Apprentices will complete an EPA during the final 3 months of the course as part of an EPA module at Level 5. The EPA occurs once Apprentices have progressed through the ‘Gateway’ which requires the employer’s confirmation that the apprentice is working at or above the occupational standards, and have met the knowledge, skills and behaviours set out in the apprenticeship standard. . If resits are required up to six months can be allocated to ensure readiness for the end-point assessment. However, any re-sits are subject to the apprentice employers agreement.

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before registration. Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week; and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings. Any changes to the planned timetable would be in consultation with employers.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, professional practitioners, and work-based learning tutors all with industry experience. Allied Health Professional staff and practitioners will provide input across the 2-years as well as delivery of the pathway specific modules.

Teaching is informed by research and consultancy, and (as at August 2023) 83% per cent of lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments, tasks completed during lectures and enhancement activities.

Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade. Assessment methods include written essays and reports, group and individual presentations, open book examinations, assessed skills simulations, case study analysis, placement portfolio, assessment of direct practice while in work.

Gateway and End point assessment: Prior to starting the 40 credit End Point Assessment module, apprentices will be required to progress through the Gateway. The End Point Assessment is triggered by the employer when the Gateway requirements have been met, and after determining the readiness of the apprentice.

End Point Assessment includes the following components:

  • Live observation of practice undertaken in the workplace with questions and answers.
  • Professional discussion underpinned by a portfolio of evidence.

Full details of Gateway and End Point Assessment requirements can be found here Assistant Practitioner Apprenticeship end point assessment plan

Programme Specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Careers

Careers

Where could it take you?

Higher Apprenticeships support apprentices in progressively developing the knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) required to meet the relevant Apprenticeship Standard. This qualification can progress you into an Allied Healthcare Professional programme such as Nutrition and Dietetics, Physiotherapy or Occupational Therapy. The knowledge, skills and behaviours required by L5 Assistant Practitioners are mapped to the programme aims and learning outcomes which would enable progression to a L6 Allied Health Degree Apprenticeship.

The University’s dedicated Career and Employability Services ensures that apprentices can receive support and guidance relevant to their own situation and employment ambitions. Employers will also normally work with apprentices to support them to progress their career through the organisations workforce development plan.

Graduate Destinations

On successful completion of the apprenticeship, Apprentices are normally offered employment by their employing organisation in the job role they have achieved their apprenticeship.

Assistant Practitioner roles can be found in a variety of health and social care contexts including:

  • NHS Services
  • Care services
  • Advice and guidance services
  • Police and probation
  • Advocacy and rights-based services
  • Preventative health, care and welfare services
  • Housing support services
Costs

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

Fees for this apprenticeship will be paid by the employer, through Education and Skills Funding Agency Apprenticeship Funding.

Every course has day-to-day costs for essential books, stationery, printing and photocopying. As an apprentice you may be able to claim expenses from your employer via the organisations Learning and Development expenses policies.

Travel costs to University will vary depending on the location and your mode of transport. As an apprentice you may be able to claim expenses from your employer via the organisation’s travel and expenses policies.

As an apprentice your employer will be responsible to pay the cost of DBS.

How to apply

How to apply

All applications are through your employer, and you must have the support of your employer to complete the Assistant Practitioner Level 5. In the first instance please discuss the possibility of completing the apprenticeship with your line manager and or HR department. Your employer can then contact the University to discuss applying to the programme.

How to apply

All applications are through your employer, and you must have the support of your employer to complete the Assistant Practitioner Level 5. In the first instance please discuss the possibility of completing the apprenticeship with your line manager and or HR department. Your employer can then contact the University to discuss applying to the programme.

Who to contact in the case of queries

Please speak to your employer if you are interested in the Assistant Practitioner apprenticeship.

Any employer who requires further details of the Assistant Practitioner apprenticeship email: apprenticeships@worc.ac.uk

If you require further details contact the Head of Department for Health and Well-being directly by emailing l.mauro-bracken@worc.ac.uk

Get in touch

Kirsty Hurley

University Apprenticeship Manager