Off-The-Job Training Guide

Understanding Off-The-Job Training

All apprenticeships require off-the-job training, which is a mandatory and regulated need. At a minimum, you need to engage in 6 hours of new learning and development weekly, completed before your end-point -assessment.

Navigating Your Aptem Dashboard​

Aptem, is the Skills Edge Training dedicated platform where you should register and manage all your training details.

Here’s what you’ll find on your Aptem Dashboard:

Minimum Hours: The lowest number of hours you need to complete your apprenticeship, according to government calculations.
Agreed Hours: The hours you committed to completing in your original learning plan.
Submitted Hours: The hours you’ve logged so far.
Verified Hours: The hours we’ve confirmed you completed.
Planned Hours: The hours lined up in your Individual Learning Plan.

Your dashboard will also show your monthly training targets. It’s vital to keep up and make up for any missed hours to stay on track. Check your Overall Progress bar to see if you’re ahead or behind.

Criteria for Off-The-Job Training

For an activity to count as off-the-job training, it must:

  • Introduce new knowledge, skills, and behaviours – nothing you already know.
  • Relate directly to your apprenticeship standard. Please, keep the outcomes and criteria of your apprenticeship handy (we advise you have these saved as a favourite in your browser). 
  • Happen during your regular working hours.
  • Not be English and maths up to Level 2.
  • Not include tests or exams.

If activities don’t meet these five points, they won’t count. You can do the activities either through Skills Edge Training or with your employer.

The activities can be those you complete with Skills Edge Training, or they may be work based training and learning experiences you complete with your employer.

Examples of off-the-job training, depending on your apprenticeship standard, may be:

Learning a new system or process

Shadowing or mentoring a colleague

Completing a research task

Studying for a qualification

Completing continuous professional development

Participating in Webinars/Seminars

Where to Record Off-The-Job Training

Eligibility Check:

Recording your off-the-job training regularly is essential. You must log your activities frequently and submit them once a month, we advice you to dedicate 30 minutes each week to avoid falling behind. Your individual learning plan will include off-the-job training logs for each month.

Steps to Record

  • Access Record: Click the component in your learning plan. At the bottom, click ‘Start Learning’ to open the off-the-job training record. Ensure to read the text on the screen thoroughly.

  • Detailed Entry: Complete each box in full and add a row per entry using the ‘+ Add another’ button. Avoid grouping activities together.

  • Save & Review: Save your entries, not finish, and close the record. Review and amend your entries against the five criteria at the end of the month, and calculate the total time spent.

  • Submit: Once satisfied, click Finish to generate a PDF of your record. Perform the final step for validation by clicking Edit next to the PDF. Confirm the evidence type, date, total hours, and that ‘This Work Was Completed During Paid Working Hours’. Click save to submit your off-the-job training hours for the month.

Overview: Submitting Off-the-Job Training Data

Upon submission of your off-the-job training details, we'll be alerted and will utilise this information in multiple beneficial ways:

Regulatory Compliance Check:
Your record undergoes a review against five critical checks to assure adherence to government funding regulations:
· Transmission of new knowledge, skills, and behaviours
· Direct relevance to the apprenticeship standard
· Occurrence during the apprentice’s usual working days and hours
· Exclusion of any undertaken functional skills
· Exclusion of any completed tests or examinations

Assessment Strategy:
· The data provides valuable insights that can be utilised during assessment planning meetings and might be used for your end-point assessment portfolio.

Personalised User Experience:
· Understanding your distinct job roles better enables us to tailor your user experience by creating a more robust professional profile.

The Procedure of Marking Off-the-Job Training

During the marking of your off-the-job training, several steps are meticulously followed to ensure accuracy and compliance:

Accumulated Hour Tracking:
· We begin by documenting the overall number of hours you’ve listed in your off-the-job training report.

PDF Review:
· The submitted PDF is opened in a separate tab, where it undergoes a review, being compared against the designated five tests.

Non-Compliance Noting:
· All occurrences where the submission does not meet the criteria are noted, including the hours related to them.

Evidence Record Modification:
· Post a comprehensive review, we adjust the Evidence Record by deducting the non-compliant hours.

Feedback Composition:
· The reasons for any adjustments are recorded and directly inserted into your feedback to maintain clear communication.

Significant Error Procedure:
· If there’s a substantial error in your submission, it may be returned to you for revision. An alert via Aptem will notify you, and you will be required to revise the components as per the suggestions in your feedback.

Importance in Apprenticeships

Off-the-job training is paramount in ensuring apprentices receive a well rounded education and skillset. It complements on-the-job training, where apprentices learn by doing in their regular work environment.

This dual approach ensures that apprentices are both theoretically sound and practically skilled by the end of their apprenticeship programme.

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