Exploring Quality Apprenticeship Delivery: Are We There Yet?? Gillian Doherty Accounting Technicians Ireland

Accounting Technician Apprenticeship

Accounting Technician Apprenticeship Accounting Technicians Ireland is the leading professional body for Accounting Technicians with over 10,000 members and students across the island of Ireland. It operates as the National Coordinating Provider for the Accounting Technician Apprenticeship. It also operates as a Collaborating College Provider via the ATI’s Academy in CA House, Pearse St. Launched in September 2017, the Accounting Technician Apprenticeship is a new pathway to a career in business, accountancy and finance.

ATA Programme The Accounting Technician Apprenticeship is a two-year work based learning programme which combines: ‘On-the-job’ work based programme (4 days a week) ‘Off-the-job’ training through the local college (1 day a week – 30 weeks) Apprentices are supported by two mentors, one in the workplace and one in college. Apprentices get paid a salary of at least €19,000 per annum. The programme leads to a Level 6 QQI Advanced Certificate in Accounting.

ATA GROWTH STRATEGY 2021

Quality Assurance Journey post Validation

Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities Established Terms of Reference for Coordinating Provider; ATA Programme Board; ATA Consortium Established Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between Coordinating Provider and Consortium Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with ETB’s and Collaborating Provider Employers Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Collaborating College Providers All agreements annually reviewed and updated as required Currently finalising a Joint Controller Agreement and Data Mapping Process with Collaborating Providers (GDPR)

Governance Improvements The Chair of ATA Programme Board also Chair of the Higher Level Apprenticeship in Accountancy Programme Board in NI. Annual Away day planned in 2019 to promote peer sharing. Increased and broadened employer representation on Consortium; for example now includes Revenue and National Shared Services Office

Programme Development & Approval Programme Validation 2017 The underpinning ATA programme award is the Advanced Certificate in Accounting Level 6, which was validated in July 2017.

Programme Development & Approval Programme Evaluation While the core occupational profile has not changed since validation, the Programme Board has been considering panel recommendations for the purpose of planning programme improvements. Regular reviews of the live programme have produced a rich source of feedback.

Programme Development & Approval Revalidation 2020 Accounting Technicians work in an environment globally impacted by digital transformation. ATI intends to ensure that the future curriculum will focus on increasing higher level & IT skills as well as personal development to ensure good mental health. Revalidation planning is currently underway in advance of the September 2020 intake.

Programme Monitoring and Review ATA Team & Wider Support Team Weekly ATA programme team meetings identify risks and develop action plans to enhance the quality of the programme and to ensure key deadlines are met. Monthly ATI staff meetings and Staff enews communicates any changes to the programme to the wider team.

Programme Monitoring and Review Apprenticeship Programme Manager: Monitors daily attendance off the job; absences fed back to employer mentor where required. And vice versa. Coordinates weekly check in communications with apprentices Carries out quarterly Virtual Learner Forums Carries out 2 learner and employer surveys annually; Weekly scheduled check ins with College Programme Managers

Programme Monitoring and Review Apprenticeship Director: Establishes ETB & College working relationships to ensure quality assurance requirements are understood and effectively delivered. Manages Employer applications and approvals and monitors performance against MOA. Site visits conducted regularly to ensure standards in training delivery are met Carries out Employer Focus Groups on specific areas highlighted by the Programme Board

Programme Monitoring and Review Work Based Learning Executive: Monitoring on the job training provision and experiences Monitoring employer capacity to train and to meet programme assessment deadlines Monitoring the delivery of on the job elements are equivalent across all employers Weekly check in communications with employers

Programme Monitoring and Review Quality Auditing ATA team has carried out all collaborating provider and employer visits in 2017 and 2018. With further expansion planned out to 2021 ATI is recruiting an external team of Quality experts to carry out these activities on our behalf. This will leave the ATA team more time to evaluate delivery and to put a corrective plan in place to address risks.

Teaching & Learning - Curriculum The Assessment Board oversees the quality of Assessment and recommends changes to wider curriculum where needed. These are considered by the Programme and Education Board. A number of changes have already been made to on- the- job assessment to make it more user friendly from a systems and task point of view.

Quality Assurance Challenges

Top 5 Challenges Monitoring: The sheer volume and complexity of stakeholder management, both operationally, regulatory and funding. Curriculum: Full integration of milestone assessment into the work based training environment. Mind-set of employer and apprentice still sees assessment as an academic exercise. Staffing: Labour intensive operationally. It takes a village to raise an apprenticeship! Programme Mgt: Annual resource planning & Programme growth is being curtailed by lack of a stable state funding model (Review Q4 2019) Systems: Complexity of requirements; multi agency reporting

Statutory Funding and Regulatory Stakeholders SOLAS Statutory Apprenticeship Regulator Employer and Apprentice Registration, Approval & Induction FAR Process & Terms and Conditions QQI Statutory QA Obligations; Annual Reviews Revalidation Other: Apprenticeship Council reporting as required

Managing and Maintaining Quality in Apprenticeship programmes As a National Programme of Apprenticeships, New and Old, we should be able to work more closely to find solutions to common problems. Each new apprenticeship is an island and with the best will in the world, we don’t have the time to research best practice in depth; build efficiencies; or pool resources on projects of common interest.

However Apprenticeship isn’t an exact science. How have the QAG’s fared? The QAG have in essence supported the development and delivery of the ATA so far. However Apprenticeship isn’t an exact science. The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.” ― Sir William Bragg

Conclusion: New Ways of Thinking Formal acknowledgement of the complexity of the operation of an Apprenticeship by statutory agencies. Case Studies in Areas of Best Practice are needed to prevent each Coordinating Provider having to ‘blue sky’ from the beginning operationally. Pool resources across sectors: for example use current Apprenticeship QA Network more effectively to bring forward best practice and research for all to use. Aligning funding with the validation process to ensure adequate resourcing and planning (3 year cycles).

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