Apprenticeships Wales
Gower College Swansea is one of Wales’ leading organisations in the delivery of apprenticeships, we have a strong background in adult education and have worked with thousands of students in Wales and now England.
In the last seven years 2,996 students have successfully completed their apprenticeship.
We offer 82 different apprenticeship routes from Level 2 to degree level apprenticeships.
Awards Apprentice benefits Employer benefits Sub-contractors Apply now
Apprenticeship open evening
Wednesday 21 June – Tycoch Campus
3.30-7.30pm
Come along to our apprenticeship open evening to find out more about our award-winning apprenticeship provision and embark on a transformative journey towards a fulfilling career!
Our apprenticeship open evening is for people of any age - whether you are fresh out of school, seeking an alternative to traditional higher education, or looking to upskill in your current job.
More information coming soon...
Register for our apprenticeship open evening
Apprenticeship Awards 2023
This year’s Apprenticeship Awards took place on Monday 6 February 2023.
Award winning
Gower College Swansea has been shortlisted for two UK Annual Apprenticeship Conference (AAC) Awards 2022:
- SEND Champion of the Year (Provider) 2022
- Health and Care Apprenticeship Provider of the Year 2022
Last year, the College won the 2021 UK Times Educational Supplement (TES) FE Award for Apprenticeship Programme of the Year.
We were also crowned winners in two categories in the UK Annual AAC Awards in 2021.
- Engineering and Manufacturing Apprenticeship Provider of the Year 2021
- Digital Apprenticeship Provider of the Year 2021
Prior to this, we previously won two categories in the UK AAC Awards in 2019.
- Health and Science Apprenticeship Provider of the Year 2019
- Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Apprenticeships, Steve Williams 2019
Wales Apprentice of the Year
Sally Hughes of Tata Steel and Gower College Swansea won the Apprentice of the Year Award in Apprenticeship Awards Cymru 2018.
Apprentice benefits
Your benefits
- You will be supported by qualified and experienced tutors
- Have access to a learner coach, careers information and advice and guidance
- Access to our library services
- Access to Smart Assessor, an ePortfolio, so that you can work more efficiently
- Access to the Sports Centre and discounted membership
- Enjoy treatments at Broadway Hair, Beauty and Holistic Centre at discounted prices
- Eligibility to apply for an Apprenticeship Extra NUS student discount card
- Access to Moodle and Canvas learning resources for your studies.
Smart Assessor
Smart Assessor is an online system that tracks every detail of your journey at the click of a button.
You can
- Upload evidence for your assessor to view and mark
- View your learning plan showing all your appointments, targets and reviews
- Access the dashboard which shows your progress and provides access to course resourses
- Provide feedback for your assessor after each appointment
- Access your ePortfolio for seven years after completion of your qualification to show prospective employers.
Canvas
Canvas is a virtual learning environment which allows you to access course materials, attend remote lectures, upload assignments and receive feedback/grades. It is available 24/7 and can be accessed from any device with an internet connection.
You can
- Access presentations in a variety of multimedia formats
- Access plugins for Office 365, Google Docs, YouTube, Planet eStream and Twitter
- Undertake live classes via the integrated Big Blue Button conferencing system
- Access peer to peer chat rooms and discussion forums
- Access and create interactive quizzes
- Upload assignments with the Turnitin plagiarism checker.
Your wellbeing
We are mindful of your wellbeing and have a range of resources and tutorials which can be accessed on our Canvas and Moodle platforms.
Togetherall offers a safe and anonymous community to connect with from anywhere at any time 24/7, 365 days a year, whether you need to get something off your chest, express yourself creatively or learn how to manage your mental health.
Careers, advice and guidance
Careers Wales can help and support you with free advice, guidance and access to training to help you get into work or further your career including finding courses/training or redundancy support.
You can also contact your learning coach who can put you in touch with our employability team who can give you help to find employment or career progression opportunities.
Vacancies
If you are looking for an apprenticeship and do not have an employer, you can get support from our employability team.
You will just need to complete the online application form
You can also access the Apprenticeship Vacancy Service to find out which companies are looking to recruit.
Apprenticeship routes
Browse our list of apprenticeship routes from Level 2 (foundation) to Level 4/5 (higher).
Employer benefits
Your benefits
Apprenticeships are nationally recognised qualifications designed to provide students with additional skills, knowledge and behaviours in the workplace. Apprenticeships are funded and regulated by Welsh Government and quality inspected by Estyn.
- Increased productivity and bottom line
- Improved staff morale
- Better skills base within the company
- Funding/grants available in some cases
- Reduced training and recruitment costs
- Ability to fill skills gaps through recruiting new talent or upskilling existing staff.
A three way commitment
At the start of the apprenticeship programme, each student and employer is required to sign a commitment statement so everyone is clear on what is involved. An overview of some of the commitments are detailed below.
- We will employ the apprentice in line with employment law
- We will release and support the apprentice’s learning during working hours, to enable them to complete their training
- We will pay the apprentice during the hours they attend their training
- We will appoint a mentor to work with the apprentice on a day to day basis who will provide coaching and support
- We will participate in regular progress reviews
- We will meet our health and safety obligations to the apprentice
- We will inform the training provider of any accidents or concerns
- We agree for staff involved in supporting the apprenticeship to complete modules on Prevent
Sub-contractors
We engage with sub-contractors to better meet customer needs and to do the following:
- Work with providers who effectively reach priority learners in the community and who can demonstrate positive outcomes
- Provide access to, or engagement with, a new range of customers
- Support another provider to develop capacity/quality
- Provide additional delivery
- Work with providers that offer sector specific priorities supporting local, regional and national skills agendas.
- All sub-contractors will be subject to the College’s due diligence process.
The College retains a management fee which covers a proportion of the direct costs associated with operating and quality assuring sub-contract provision.
If the sub-contractor is a subsidiary of Gower College Swansea, service charges will be applied through the College standard annual budgeting process. This reflects the subsidiary as being an internal business unit of the College and as such, services such as governance, quality and compliance are charged centrally.
For the 2022/23 academic year, Gower College Swansea will not be sub-contracting to any other providers (England only).
The 2022/23 WBL Sub-Contracting Fees and Charges Policy was ratified at the Governing Body Corporation Board meeting on 30 June 2022.