Journalism Advanced Apprentice Review

As a journalism advanced apprentice, my role is to work across different departments at the BBC as a journalist to understand how each key part of the organisation works. My day-to-day responsibilities depend on which placement I am in at the time - in my online writing placement, for example, I attend editorial meetings, pitch ideas and write news stories and features assigned to me by editors.
The experience can often vary from team to team, and as this is a new apprenticeship following the well-known trainee scheme, it has taken some time for wider staff to understand our capabilities and to trust us with work.

It can sometimes feel quite poorly organised and structured as we are told of placements with little time to prepare and schedules for training weeks and days could be planned further in advance. However, once they do happen, it does run quite smoothly and we have not had any big issues so far.

Once again, this depends hugely on who each apprentice has as a manager - the experience has been widely different for each and every one of us. Some have very present managers whereas others don't hear much from their managers at all.
There are a few other lines of support - including progress reviews with the university provider and apprenticeship managers - which are quite helpful.
The bi-weekly reviews with the BBC apprenticeship team are very useful and allow us a space to bring up any issues, which is great and definitely appreciated.
Pay is an issue as the salary is below average for the experience most apprentices have in journalism and the stage we were at in our careers before getting into the apprenticeship. It is an issue we have brought up to various people across the organisation, so hopefully this will improve.

The training provider does allow space for questions and drop-in sessions to discuss assessments and any graded work towards the qualifications.
There has been quite a lot of confusion as the scheme has two separate qualifications - the NQJ and Level 7 Apprenticeship - which initially was not laid out or explained very well to apprentices OR the BBC team.
As it was brought up by apprentices a few times, it has eventually been better explained and we do receive some support around ensuring we are on track with both qualifications.

So far, the sessions towards the qualification through the training provider have not necessarily aided me in performing better in my role.
However, once we begin studying topics such as media law, I believe this experience will change and the qualification sessions will become more relevant and helpful to our roles.

Yes

I would recommend the BBC to a friend as although there have been some ups and downs in my time in the apprenticeship so far, it is still a good place to work and to start a career in journalism. There are so many incredible people within the organisation that are keen to offer support and advice, and the BBC as a whole also offers a lot of future opportunity once we graduate from the program.