Historic Environment Advice Assistant (HEAA) Apprenticeships

Highlights

HEAA apprenticeship successfully continues

Although Historic England’s specific HEAA apprenticeships, funded by Benefact Trust, have now finished, we are pleased that we have achieved our goal in stimulating the sector to take up the Historic Environment Advice Assistant apprenticeship standard and offer apprenticeship opportunities in their own organisations.

A second cohort of apprentices began their training course with Strode College in 2021, based in organisations across the sector, from local authorities, to charities, to consultancies. We hope to see the course continue and another cohort commence in October 2023.

If you are interested in undertaking this apprenticeship yourself, or are an employer thinking about recruiting an apprentice, or developing existing staff; then do get in touch with either Strode College or the Buildings Craft College for further information on their training programmes.

Success for first cohort of Historic Environment Advice Assistant apprentices.

At the end of 2021 our first ever cohort of HEAA apprentices completed their apprenticeship and undertook their end point assessments.

We are very pleased to say we had a 90% pass rate; with over half the apprentices receiving a distinction in their assessments!

Some of the apprentices have stayed on in their roles whilst others have found new jobs or continued learning. We congratulate them all on their hard work and tenacity undertaking this trailblazing programme, especially during a pandemic. We look forward to seeing how their careers progress and thank Benefact Trust for its funding which made this project possible.

HEAA apprentices visit Brimingham

We were delighted to be able to visit Moseley on 23 November 2021 with Benefact Trust, to introduce the two new apprentices that the Trust's support has enabled. Josie and Michael are working with our London and Birmingham teams as Historic Environment Advice Assistants, continuing this very successful programme from which the first cohort of apprentices are about to graduate. The event was also attended by Peter and Adam, our other 2 apprentices in the new cohort, which was made possible by this significant gift from Benefact Trust; and also by Amber, of the graduating apprentices, who shared her experiences and advice with the new entrants.

Our visit was kindly hosted by the Moseley Muslim Community Association, who took over the original School of Art building on Moseley Road to create a much needed community hub, and Moseley Baths, who were able to provide a fascinating tour of this unique site. The apprentices were able to compare the different approaches taken to conservation and working with the vibrant local community between the two sites. We look forward to creating further opportunities for continued professional development to other Heritage at Risk sites as the cohort progresses.

Return to face to face learning for HEAA apprentices

After over a year of virtual training delivery our Historic Environment Advice Assistant apprentices met up in person at Strode college w/c 14 June for their final block release training session. They received training on practical elements that will prepare them for End Point Assessment in the coming months; including going on a site visit to Cheddar Gorge and Glastonbury.

Major award win for HEAA apprenticeship programme

Strode College are the proud winners of the 2021 Association of Colleges Beacon Award for Excellence in Real World Learning sponsored by the Edge Foundation for the HEAA apprenticeship programme!

The Award celebrates colleges which have developed high quality practical teaching and learning approaches that give students experiences that are real, meaningful, challenging, stretching and life changing.

Achieving this national recognition was based on the unique partnership with Historic England to deliver the apprenticeship programme. After a successful written application, assessors spent a day doing a virtual assessment; speaking to the apprentices, tutors, line managers and other stakeholders.

This Award was presented at the Association of Colleges (AoC) Annual conference held on the 8 February 2021, an online event.

Read more on Strode College’s website

UCAS promote HEAA apprenticeship

Charlie Field, our Benefact Trust funded HEAA apprentice for the East of England spoke to UCAS recently about his apprenticeship as an alternative route to going to university.

Read the article on the UCAS website.

HEAA apprentice joins National Apprentice Panel

Amber Storey, who is employed as a Business Officer at Historic England in the Birmingham office, and is undertaking the HEAA apprenticeship programme, has been invited to join the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education's (IfATE) national Apprentices Panel. As one of 20 new members of this influential advisory body, covering all areas of industry and apprenticeships up to level 7, Amber was selected to help ensure the quality of apprenticeship provision across the UK; representing not just apprentices on this programme, but all apprentices working in the Creative and Design route.

HEAA Programme Overview

This brand new higher-level apprenticeship programme will develop the knowledge and capabilities of the next generation of heritage workers, to help protect and secure the nation’s historic environment for years to come.

Thanks to a generous £471k grant award from Benefact Trust we were able to recruit 6 new apprentices to undertake the two-year+ Historic Environment Advice Assistant (HEAA) apprenticeship programme. The 6 successful apprentices beat off completion from over 350 applicants to be selected for this opportunity! The new recruits are joined by 5 existing members of Historic England staff, undertaking the same apprenticeship to as 'upskillers'.

Meet the apprentices

Read what some of our apprentices have had to say about the programme and their experiences.

Work-based training

As an apprentice Historic Environment Advice Assistant, the early careers professionals will be:

• working on protecting heritage at risk in the region
• learning how grant funding can save historic sites
• advising local authorities on planning applications.

They will work closely with the listing teams, seeing how they assess which historic buildings should receive legal protection in the future.

Each apprentice has an individual work plan which is drawn up by their line manager with input from their mentor. This outlines the kinds of work tasks they will be undertaking on a monthly basis and which parts of the Regional teams they will be focusing learning on. Where possible this “on the job” learning is aligned to the modules being taught through the college based training.

College based training

The apprentices are undertaking formal training delivered through Historic England’s training partner, Strode College; and with expert trainers coming both from Strode, and from Historic England’s own staff who have undertaken a training qualification in order to deliver on this programme.

Strode were selected to be our Training Provider through a competitive tender process.

The formal training programme consists of several residential training workshops at Strode College, Somerset as well as at Historic England regional offices in Swindon, Birmingham, Bristol and York. It offers apprentices the chance to engage with the latest archaeological equipment and technology, as well as getting hands-on practical experience during activities and site visits. Training involves challenging assignments and extensive e-learning tasks that supplement the time the apprentices spend at work.

The training course is based around the following modules

• Health and Safety at Work in the Historic Environment
• Understanding our Heritage: Archaeology
• Understanding our Heritage: Historic Buildings and Designed Landscapes
• Researching the Historic Environment
• Policy, Planning and Placemaking
• Assessing the Condition of the Historic Environment: Risk and Managing Change
• Interpreting and creating heritage documentation
• Making an assessment
• Public Engagement and the Historic Environment
• Professional Practice

You can find out more information on this apprenticeship training programme from Strode College.