WEC Group Completes First End Point Assessments as an Employer Provider
WEC Group reached a major milestone in the development of its apprenticeship programme, with 100% of its third-year apprentices passing their End Point Assessments internally for the first time since the company became an employer provider.
The End Point Assessments took place on 17th and 18th August at the WEC Engineering Academy in Blackburn, with assessments for apprentices at MTL Advanced the following week.
For WEC Group’s welding apprentices, the End Point Assessment was an opportunity to demonstrate the skills, knowledge and experience they had developed throughout their apprenticeship. Apprentices were required to demonstrate two welding processes from their portfolio and meet the required assessment criteria.
Over the two days, the apprentices completed a multiple-choice questionnaire covering areas including health and safety, before undertaking a six-hour practical assessment. They also took part in a professional discussion with EngEPA, giving them the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of their trade and the skills they had developed during their apprenticeship.
EngEPA is an End Point Assessment Organisation approved by Ofqual and carried out the assessments across the two days, providing an independent assessment of the apprentices’ knowledge and practical skills.
“Congratulations to everyone at WEC on an outstanding 20 years of the WEC Academy. Training more than 430 apprentices, including 200 in the last five years alone, is a remarkable achievement and reflects WEC’s long-standing commitment to developing the next generation of world-class engineers.
At EngEPA, we are honoured to have played a part in that journey through our End Point Assessment partnership. From our initial support meetings through to the adoption of the EngEPA support toolkit, it has been fantastic to work alongside a team so committed to apprentice success. Helping WEC achieve a 100% pass rate with 12 passing each assessment method 1st time, 6 going on to achieve a distinction grade. This is something we are particularly proud of.
We look forward to continuing to share in WEC’s success and supporting the Academy as it develops the engineers of tomorrow for many years to come.”
Simon Davies, Managing Director, Eng EPA Ltd
“A big thank you to EngEPA for their support and service throughout the End Point Assessments, and to all of the assessors who spent two days with us putting our apprentices through their assessments. It was great to see the apprentices putting everything they had learned throughout their apprenticeships into practice, and we were really proud of how they approached the whole process.”
Kris Mercer, WEC Engineering Academy Manager
The assessments were particularly significant as they were the
first to be delivered by WEC Group as an employer provider, rather
than through a college. Becoming an employer provider gave WEC
greater ownership of its apprenticeship programme and meant the
company could deliver the curriculum end to end itself.
This allowed the training to be closely aligned with the skills,
experience and knowledge apprentices needed to develop successful
careers within engineering.
WEC also gave its apprentices plenty of opportunities to experience assessment conditions through its involvement in WorldSkills. Apprentices were encouraged to take part in competitions each year, giving them the chance to put their practical skills to the test against other young welders and fabricators.
The WEC Engineering Academy had also benefited from the experience of people who had been involved since its early days. Kris Mercer, who was a CSWIP instructor, had been part of the Academy since it first opened 20 years ago, with his knowledge and experience playing an important role in its development.
With 100% of apprentices successfully passing their End Point Assessments, another group of apprentices had reached an important stage in their journey with WEC Group. The achievement came as WEC Group celebrated the 20th anniversary of the WEC Engineering Academy, marking two decades of investing in apprenticeships and helping to develop the next generation of engineers.