IRSE Sept 08.indd

APPRENTICESHIP AWARD
IRSE
Rising to the Challenge
The Network Rail Advanced
Apprenticeship Scheme
by Bill Alexander, Network Rail
The last time I wrote for IRSE NEWS, I used the old children’s rhyme of Old Mother
Hubbard, and the lack of food for her dog as an analogy of where we were as an industry
with signal engineering resources within the UK. Carrying on from that analogy
I’m pleased to say that Old Mother Hubbard has had a change in fortune, and now
she has a regular supply of pedigree chum, or in railway terms we now have a regular
supply of new blood coming into the industry, with Network Rail at the forefront of
developing the future resources.
The last five years have seen significant
changes, with the building of new railway
skills training centre at Paddock Wood and
Larbert, with the one at Bristol nearing
completion, and more planned.
In addition:-
The Foundation Degree at Sheffield
University is now in its fifth year;
The engineering conversion programme
is creating 24 signal designers a year;
There has been a significant increase in
engineering graduate intake to around
100 per year;
Network Rail have opened a leadership
centre at Westwood;
And this year sponsoring of a Project
Management MSc with Warwick
University and University College
London;
2008 also sees the first graduation of
176 Apprentices from the Network Rail
Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme, of
which 77 are signal maintenance
technicians.
The Network Rail Advanced Apprenticeship
Scheme was launched in September 2005,
in a unique partnership with Flagship
Training and the Royal Navy. Apprentices
are recruited as either, Track, Signal or
Electrification & Plant Apprentices, and
undergo a bespoke programme relevant to
their individual needs. As part of the three
year scheme, the apprentices spend the
first year undergoing basic engineering
training along side the Royal Navy at
HMS Sultan, in Gosport.
HMS Sultan is the Royal Navy’s School
of Mechanical, Electrical and Aeronautical
Engineering, which is the largest engineering
training establishment in Europe. The
apprentices undergo a programme of
academic and vocational development
which leads to the award of the BTEC level
3 in Engineering, and a NVQ level 2 in
Performing Engineering Operations across
a range of different skills including
mechanical fitting, electrical installation
and electronics.
In addition to the technical training
received at HMS Sultan, there is a real
emphasis placed on personal development,
and it is this aspect which really
makes the scheme a winner. Living and
working along side the Royal Navy has
obvious benefits in terms of personal
discipline, but no, it’s not a boot camp, the
military values are absorbed by osmosis
rather than being overtly engaged. The
apprentices also benefit from living in
dormitories, where the cultural, and
geographical mix means that they must
learn to live together, and bond into strong
supportive teams. We have apprentices
who come from very rural backwaters
living cheek by jowl with others from inner
cities. The old adage of a problem shared
is a problem halved is multiplied when
there are six apprentices to a dormitory, so
sharing and being supportive of each other
is something that they soon learn the benefits
of. Understanding different values
and beliefs and embracing differences
rather than concentrating on difference
was recognised by OFSTED who judged the
approach to equality and diversity as
outstanding. This is one of the key
benefits which led to Network Rail being
awarded the Chartered Institute of
Personal and Development [CIPD] award
for the best Human Resource initiative in
the UK in 2007.
Ian Coucher being presented with the IET’s
accreditation certificate for the Apprenticeship
scheme by Colin Porter, representing
the IET, at HMS Collingswood on 13 June
2008. (Network Rail)
The development of apprentices carries
on after their first year at HMS Sultan, with
two more years of structured learning both in
the workplace and attending a whole range
of technical and personal development
courses. The signal apprentices spend their
two years undertaking a variety of placements
with the maintenance teams, fault
teams, technical support, planning, and
even a month with the P Way maintenance
teams. This ensures that they have a
rounded understanding of railway engineering
as well as an in-depth competence in
railway signalling.
The apprentices also return to HMS
Sultan for 16 weeks residential training,
spread in two week blocks over the two
years, this time concentrating on railway
specific engineering skills. Network Rail
have built their own training centre, within
HMS Sultan, and equipped it with a full
range of railway equipment. The delivery
team for the year 2/3 training have been
drawn from experienced railway engineers
from around the UK. The technical
courses start with basic signalling and go
through the full range of maintenance
training framework, cumulating in Signal
Maintenance Testing Handbook [SMTH]
and Route Relay Interlocking [RRI]
maintenance and faulting.
The scheme has recently received
approved scheme status from both the
Institution of Engineering & Technology
[IET] and the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers [IMechE], allowing graduates
from the scheme to join professional
institutions and gain in due course
EngTech registration with EC UK .
Encouraging the technicians, managers
and engineers of the future to take their
first step on the professional engineering
ladder, is another key objective.
IRSE
NEWS Issue 137 September 2008 23