Building a diverse and skilled workforce: the benefits of data apprenticeships
At the NHSBSA, we recognise that the opportunities derived from apprenticeships are considerable. Apprenticeships offer highly accessible employment opportunities, enabling more inclusive recruitment and supporting the growth of a more diverse workforce.
From the apprentice’s perspective, as well as being able to earn while they learn, structured learning, and guidance from experienced mentors enable their skills to grow quickly and they gain experience in the workplace while working towards a valuable industry recognised qualification.
Benefits of apprenticeships to the business can be underestimated but they are often significant. Strategic planning allows apprentices to fill anticipated workforce gaps with colleagues that are already trained and integrated into our ways of working. As they continue their career journey with us, we can plan learning and development that will maximise their potential and ensure that they will become assets to the business. Taking on apprentices also offers the opportunity for existing colleagues to upskill to become mentors and develop their leadership skills.
The hard work and dedication from the 2023/2024 cohort of data apprentices was recognised at the annual DDaT We CARE Awards, where they were nominated and highly commended for the Rising Star Award. This was the first cohort of apprentices for the data teams, and they worked across four areas of data (analysis, data science/statistics, engineering, and governance) in their 18 months with us. They demonstrated a strong ability to pick up a range of skills from data manipulation to data visualisation and technologies. Together, they contributed to several projects across the business, including automating manual reporting, delivering business insights using data, and developing dashboards.