Apprentice Review

Item: Apprentice at BMW Group UK
Rating: 2.5
Author: Anonymous

at BMW Group UK

Level 2 Apprenticeship

Engineering

Chichester

Review Submitted: April 2023

Overall Rating

2.5 /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!

3/5 - Overview of Role

3/5 - Skills Development

1.6/5 - 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

I work in a leather shop doing sewing.

To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

3/5

I have enjoyed going to college and learning new skills but it took awhile to start. The course wasn't sorted for the time we got to college so only started in January instead of September.
Also when we started at college in September, we didn't get a chance to go into plant. This meant that most of the time we were looking for something to do in college because they weren't organised in the course. 3 months is also a lot of our apprenticeship as its only a 2 year one. This meant we have missed out on time in the plant and going around on placements.
I have enjoyed my time in plant. I have been working in different departments around leathershop and have liked trying something new each day.

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

3/5

I have improved my sewing skills and have learnt how to sew on an industrial machine. I have learnt how to upholster the seats in the car.

Structure and Support

How well organised/structured is your programme?

1/5

The whole time at college was very unorganised. The 3 months there wasn't much work to do and they didn't really know what to do with 36 apprentices. Also our course at college was meant to start in September but didn't start till January. This meant that we were behind and didn't have anything to do on those apprenticeship days.
We also still don't have a placement plan for the year. I don't know where in plant I am going after May.

How much support do you receive from your employer?

2/5

I do receive support from my employer but have to ask a lot and follow up a lot as well. This also means that I sometimes don't get support when I need it.

How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?

3/5

The college has been really helpful with supporting me in the course. But I don't know much about my course. I don't know what's happening with an assessment or gateway, which we should know by now.

How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?

1/5

The course at college doesn't relate to what I do at plant. At college, we're learning how to work with different materials and learning different techniques. But at work, we only use leather, which we haven't covered at college. I enjoy the college course but it doesn't relate to what we do at plant.