Apprentice Authorised officer Review
at Babington
Higher Level Apprenticeship
Northampton, Northamptonshire
Review Submitted: April 2021
Overall Rating
2.8 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
2.5/5
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Overview of Role
4/5
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Skills Development
2.2/5
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Structure and Support
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
3/5
My role as an apprentice authorised officer involves completing some administrative work, home authority referrals and primary authority referrals, ringing consumers to further discuss their complaint, completely intelligence data base logs and any other jobs or tasks that my managers or mentor give me to complete. I also complete my coursework along side this.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
2/5
I enjoy the work side of my program however I do not always enjoy my apprenticeship which is run by Babington. The coursework can be quite confusing and not all of it relates to trading standards but mainly just regulatory services as a whole so it is not very targeted.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
4/5
I have learnt how to do a lot of new things such as learning to use new data base and online systems. I have developed my personal skills which allows me to be much more confident and outgoing than I have previously been. I have learnt new judgement and decision making skills.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
3/5
I think my programme is well structured as we have units to complete and we have online interactive workshops that run along side the work units. However I do not think it is organised in the best way as the online working platform is confusing and can be hard to navigate and use.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
4/5
My employer provides me with a lot of support, I have a manger and I also have a work place mentor who both help me with my coursework and they delegate tasks for me to do throughout the week. The rest of my team are also very helpful and help me with work if I need it.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
1/5
I do not receive a lot of support from my training provider. All of the work that I complete is never marked. My tutor who is meant to have progress reviews and other interactions with me is always off work so I have very limited interaction with my tutor which can make the apprenticeship very hard.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
2/5
I do not feel as though my qualification helps me that much to perform better in my role. The qualification is vague as it is focused on all regulatory services and not just trading standards. Some aspects of the course do apply to my job role such as completing inspections so that has been useful.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
1/5
At the moment there are no extra curricular activities at my work to get involved in as we are in a global pandemic so it is not deemed as necessary for any extra curricular activities to take place. However I know that my work place did used to have lots of social days together before the pandemic.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Babington to a friend?
No
Why?
I do not find that the tutors who are supposed to help me are very helpful. I find it disheartening that I put lots of effort into my coursework and it is never marked, this is not great as without feedback I cannot know how well I am doing or if there are any improvements I must make.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Babington?
I would suggest that anyone applying to Babington keeps on top of their coursework and does not fall behind as there is a lot of work to complete and if you fall behind you may find it very hard to catch up. I would also suggest that they attend the workshops as they are helpful.
