In this article, we’ll break down what an apprenticeship is and what types there are, how to apply for one in Greater Manchester and tips for talking to the young person in your life about them.

What is an apprenticeship, anyway?

An apprenticeship is a paid job comprised of around 80% on-the-job training and 20% classroom-based learning, typically with a college or university. A formal assessment leads to a nationally recognised qualification and there are no tuition fees. In England, you need to be over the age of 16 to do an apprenticeship. There are various levels of apprenticeships, referred to as Level 2–7. Most young people that have completed their GCSEs will be suited to a Level 3 apprenticeship.

• Intermediate apprenticeships are level 2 qualifications, equivalent to GCSEs.
• Advanced apprenticeships are level 3 qualifications, equivalent to A levels or T Levels.
• Higher apprenticeships are available at levels 4, 5, 6 and 7, equivalent to a Foundation degree and above.
• Degree apprenticeships are available at levels 6 and 7, equivalent to a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.

Some apprenticeships may require previous qualifications such as English or Maths GCSE, or additional training during the apprenticeship to ensure the right level of English and Maths.

Aren’t apprenticeships just for manual jobs?

Historically, apprenticeships were an industry-focused path to address skills shortages in sectors such as manufacturing, construction and engineering. Over the past 20 years, however, apprenticeships have been modernised and diversified. Nowadays, apprenticeships are available across a broad range of sectors, from legal, to creative design, and animal care.

How do I know if an apprenticeship is right for the young person in my life?

Starting to understand how the young person in your life feels about their current ways of learning and their career aspirations will help you to get a clearer idea of which route might suit them best: the more academic A Level route, apprenticeships, or something else.

Ask the young person in your life:

• Do you enjoy classroom learning? If so, apprentices only spend 20% of their time in the classroom, so they might prefer T Levels or A Levels.
• How do you find balancing study with other responsibilities? They might not have a direct comparison of working and studying, like an apprenticeship, but perhaps they have responsibilities at school or chores at home. If they feel comfortable managing their time or are keen to develop this skill, an apprenticeship could be a good fit.
• Do you know what career you’d like? Or is there a specific sector you’d like to work in? If they have a clear idea of the type of job they’d like, such as a data analyst, early careers practitioner or plumber, or they know they’d like to work in a certain sector, apprenticeships are an excellent choice. They provide specific on-the-job training and are often a quicker route into paid work than other pathways.

How can I explore apprenticeship opportunities in Greater Manchester?

You’ve come to the right place! From inspiration to application, GMACS is a digital service providing young people and their parents and carers with knowledge, advice and real technical education opportunities in Greater Manchester.

If the young person in your life has a good idea about what they want to do next, you can skip straight to searching and applying for apprenticeships on GMACS, where you can filter by sector and location.

If you’re still at the exploration stage, Beeline can help. This digital tool allows you to explore different jobs in Greater Manchester, the courses and qualifications needed to do it, how much demand there is for the role and what it pays.

More opportunities than ever before

Here in Greater Manchester, we’re on a mission to help all our young people fulfil their potential by providing them with a prestigious technical education route. The Greater Manchester Baccalaureate, or MBacc, will allow young people to access more technical qualifications, such as apprenticeships and T Levels, than ever before.

As a parent or carer, navigating this next stage with the young person in your life can be daunting, but GMACS aims to equip you with the knowledge, advice, and opportunities to best support them. We want to know what topics you want to know more about — whether it’s choosing GCSE options or understanding T Levels. Let us know by clicking the button below to get in touch.

Get in touch

It may be a few years ago now, but your first memories of working could be from work experience while you were still in school. Maybe it was your first taste of your current career, or maybe you tried something out and thought, ‘there’s no way I’m doing that for a job.’ However you found it, work experience is often very memorable.

Now that you’re supporting your child through the same work experience process, you might be confused or worried that things have changed. You may feel the pressure that your child should be able to make the most of this experience and make memories of their own. But don’t worry, work experience is just about getting a taste of the world of work and trying something out.

How to find work experience

You might think that the process of how to get work experience has changed a lot since you were at school – but in many ways it’s quite similar. You still need to contact companies yourself, although the process is more digital now, so you’ll likely be emailing. Contacting employers as soon as you can is still the best approach. This could be by email, telephone or in person.

Bear in mind that some companies have very popular work experience programmes, so if your child wants to join one of these they may need to apply through a formal process. This is good experience for them though, so don’t allow this to be a put off!

What’s needed to find work experience?

In some cases, your child may not need any extra materials to get their work experience sorted, except for filling out forms for the school and chosen business. Generally, they’ll need to fill out a diary with some self-reflection on the process and the skills that they’ve learned during the experience.

However, if you do need to apply through a formal work experience process, then your child will likely need a cover letter and a cv or resume. They may even have to go through an interview process.  For help, check out our C4L article on how to create a CV that can really display your skills and attributes.

Although this may feel excessive, it’s important to remember that having a CV and a cover letter will soon come in handy. It’s a document they can go on to edit and repurpose for other uses when they’re looking for a part time job. Our GMACS article on how to find a part time job may be of some support if you’ve already begun this process.

Choosing the Right Placement

To choose the right placement, consider what sort of business could offer opportunities that match your child’s thoughts about their potential future career. You could look at small local businesses as well as larger ones. Remember that your child will generally need to attend in person, so the transport does need to work out!

It’s also worth keeping your options open. Having a list of maybe 3 or 4 different employers your child would consider doing their work experience with is a good idea, especially if they’re applying to competitive organisations.

If you’re struggling, a quick search online will provide you with a selection of organisations that provide support to young people regarding work experience. They may be useful resources to use while researching opportunities.

A couple of places that could help are Springpod and Speakers for Schools. Both organisations offer a range of virtual work experiences which could be a great place to start figuring out what your child might want to do. These virtual experiences don’t replace the in-person work experience your child likely has to do through school. However, they could help you narrow down the huge range of options with your child.

At GMACS, we’re trying our best to offer Greater Manchester’s young people all the resources they need to make informed decisions about their future. Having exposure to the working world at an early age is really helpful to start to develop career goals. Plus, it could show your child a career they hadn’t even thought about!

In recent years, the GCSE grading system in England has changed. This means the A*s and Bs that we might be used to are no longer. The new system is number based and goes from 1-9, with a U still considered ungradable and below a 1.

You may be used to hearing young people talk about the new grading system or this might be the first time you’ve heard of it. The changes have been in place for a few years, but if this if the first time a young person you care for is starting their GCSEs or getting their results, you might not be familiar with it.

Since 2020, all schools in England have been using the number-based grading system. This replaced the old ABCs we were used to.

Now this may leave you scratching your head and exclaiming “Why have they gone and changed it, it was working so well?!”

How it works

The table can’t provide us with a direct conversion of a grade, only an approximate idea of what it would have been in the old system.

It would be natural to think that 1 equals an A, but it’s the lowest grade you can receive at GCSE. The highest grade you can achieve is 9. ‘U’ is the only alphabetical grading that stayed, with ‘U’ meaning ungradable.

A 4 is generally considered a “standard pass”, with a 5 being a “strong pass”. Where under the old system courses would ask for a C as a minimum grade, they are usually now asking for a 4 or sometimes a 5.

With combined science, the award will be worth 2 GCSEs. The final grade will be two grades – these could be equal or adjacent numbers. The best grade would be a 9-9, then a 9-8, then 8-8, and so on. The results are calculated as an average from the combined results from each science.

What about other programs?

Grading systems in other educational programs like T Levels, BTECs and A levels are still the same and there are no reports of any changes being made. So, you can breathe a sigh of relief as you don’t have to worry about learning a new system.

Exams and assessments are graded in the alphabetical system we are familiar with, and the final grade received at A level with be an average of the results combined.

But with BTECs and T Levels, these can be interchangeable with the level system of marking. This includes the Pass, Merit and Distinction. For example, a young person may get As in all their projects but the overall end grade would be a distinction.

The anticipation leading up to results day can be quite intense. It may be that the young people you care for are incredibly nervous, or it might it’s you that’s worried about what lies ahead.

Results day will answer the questions you’ve had for months. But as we know, life isn’t always that easy, and results day can sometimes create more questions than it does answers. Especially when it doesn’t go to plan.

Talk it out

Before the big day, having an honest conversation with your young people about their results and what comes next can be helpful to everyone.

You may have zero concerns about their grades and already have a rough idea of what their results will look like. If this is the case, then that’s great.

However, the conversation is still worth having. Self-doubt always tends to appear when we are stressed. The pressure we place on ourselves to do well, whatever that looks like, can really warp our perspective. Something that is manageable, feels unfixable in the moment.

It’s always worth checking that your young person doesn’t feel this way, and if they do, remind them that they are supported during this time.

Having this chat also provides you with the time to discuss alternative plans. Maybe the line of sight is not as clear for the young person you care for. You’re unsure of what grades they will get, or they simply haven’t got a plan yet.

Kickstarting this process might not be easy, especially if they’re unsure of what to do. But ensuring they understand what their options are is a start, it also avoids rushing into a decision post results day when the pressure really hits.

Planning the Day

For the day to go as smoothly as possible, pre planning your results day agenda is probably the best approach.

Understanding what it all means

In recent years, there’s been changes to the marking system, this can be confusing when we’re used to the model that was used during our education.

Get familiar with it before the day, so understanding the results will be easier.

Collecting the results

Now that we live in a digital age, many young people open their results at home or wherever they are on the day. Meaning the big rush to get to the school or college in time to open that dreaded big envelope is no longer the only way people get their results.

But many young people do still open their results in person. There is something uniting about opening your results amongst your peers and marking an end to this chapter with a final goodbye or see you later.

To avoid a mad rush, aim to get to the building early. It’s likely that it will be very busy, and if you’re driving, the last thing you want to be doing is driving in circles around a carpark trying to find a space. There are more important things you’d rather be thinking about.

It’s likely that the educational provider you’re getting results from has some guidance on this on their website or social media, make sure you’re keeping up to date with any updates regarding this.

The next steps

The results are in. After months of wondering, you know now how it all went. Now this is where that conversation we discussed earlier will really come in handy.

This is when all that planning will come into action. This could be finally confirming your young person’s place on the program they wanted to do for years. It might be looking at those alternatives that you spoke about. It may be the day for nothing else, and your role is to simply reassure and support. Ignore the social posts and accept the circumstances for what they are. There is always tomorrow to make plans.

Good luck with results day in 2025 – and remember that there are lots of options out there for the young people in your life.