National Apprenticeship Week: BBC Academy announces new apprenticeships across the country

Emma Finamore
18 Mar 2016

The search for the BBC’s Class of 2016 is on!

The BBC Academy has announced its search for the ‘Class of 2016’ apprentices, during National Apprenticeship Week.

The Academy has opened recruitment for five schemes including an all-new industry-designed apprenticeship in Production. This scheme will hire apprentices into operational areas in TV, Network Radio and News; for the first time growing vital craft skills that are in short supply across the industry.

This week also marks the return of the ground-breaking BBC Local Apprenticeship. The scheme offers two apprentice qualifications in Broadcast Operations and Digital Journalism, based with local BBC teams across the country.

This year the Local Apprenticeship offers 21 entry-level opportunities in towns and cities from Jersey to Newcastle – and next year, more opportunities in a further 24 locations across the UK are planned.

The Local Broadcast Operator Apprenticeship is a paid 22-month sponsored diploma with all tuition fees paid by the BBC. Opportunities are available in Newcastle, Leeds, Salford, Hull, Birmingham, Nottingham, Norwich, Cambridge, Oxford, Plymouth, Bristol, Southampton, Tunbridge Wells and Jersey.

Successful applicants will be paid a salary of £12,500 per annum training salary, rising to £14,000 by the 2nd year. On successfully completing the apprenticeship, the BBC looks to recruit apprentices into Broadcast Operator/ Junior Broadcast Operator roles ideally in the area of the country where they have completed their training.

The Local Digital Journalism Apprenticeship will run in Brighton, Reading, Dunstable, Sheffield, Coventry and Merseyside. This is a two-year apprenticeship to train to be a Digital Journalist with the BBC - with candidates gaining a diploma in journalism at the end of it.

Talking about the value of local apprenticeship schemes, David Holdsworth, BBC Controller of English regions, said: “I learned my trade in local newsrooms in the Midlands and I’m very proud we are opening the doors across the country for these local apprenticeships once again.

“This scheme offers opportunities to those who perhaps don't have academic qualifications or who have previously thought that the BBC was not for them. It’s an exciting chance to join and will help us sustain the reliability and quality of the BBC’s local services for the future.”

Apprenticeship opportunities are available in Business Management. This is a degree level qualification and gives young people the opportunity to gain their degree and earn a salary, at the same time as having no tuition fees. There is also a Legal Apprenticeship for those who fancy being a budding lawyer.

In October 2015, the BBC hired 187 non-graduate apprentices and 146 graduate-level trainees across the organisation’s Production, Journalism, Engineering, Digital, Business and Legal departments. The BBC continues to develop its role as the leading apprentice employer in the sector – both in terms of the numbers hired and the breadth and quality of opportunities.

The BBC Academy reaches out to talent across the board: the 2015/16 intake of TV Production Apprentices are 45% BAME, with 64% coming from families where neither parent went to university – and the 2015/16 Digital Journalism Apprentices are 50% BAME with 60% come from families where neither parent went to university.

Claire Paul, Head of Entry Level Talent for the BBC Academy said: “We’re passionate about opening up the doors of the BBC to everyone. These levels of social and ethnic diversity are unprecedented in the media industry and are driven by reaching out to all communities across the UK; offering a wide range of entry level opportunities, appropriate to everyone with the raw talent to succeed.”

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