Management Apprenticeships (Levels 3 and 5)
Team Leader Apprenticeship (Level 3): Apprentices develop the skills to be highly effective first line managers. They can have operational, team and/or project management responsibilities. As they take on increased responsibility, apprentices may progress to the operations or departmental manager apprenticeship.
Operations Manager Apprenticeship (Level 5): Apprentices learn how to effectively manage teams and/or projects and achieve operational or departmental goals and objectives. Key responsibilities may include creating and delivering operational plans, managing projects, leading and managing teams, managing change, and financial and resource management.
Benefits to your business
There are many ways in which management apprenticeships can improve your organisation. For example, apprentices can:
- Work under pressure and easily adapt to changing priorities
- Get the best out of their teams
- Generate innovative ideas and approaches
- Nurture a more qualified workforce aligned to your future strategy
- Create role models who can demonstrate your organisation’s key values.
The Damar Difference
Here at Damar, we work with you, our employer partner, to deliver impactful apprenticeships. Some key features of our management apprenticeships include:
- Coaching: Tailored to apprentices’ roles and organisations, so that apprentices can apply learning and enhance workplace performance.
- Co-Creation: Resources and workshops are underpinned by specialist input from Co-Creation, experts in leadership & management development.
- Specialist workshops: Expert-led workshops that deep dive into key management topics.
- Professional recognition: Successful apprentices can apply to become members of the Chartered Management Institute or the Institute of Leadership.
- Progression: Great success with apprentices having the confidence to apply for, and gain, internal promotion.
- Our People: An experienced team to support you and your apprentice, to ensure they achieve the qualification and have an impact on your organisation.
- Our Processes: Our one-team approach offers a seamless enrolment and onboarding process, which leads into carefully planned, manageable chunks of learning.
- Our Systems: Our accessible and engaging systems include OneFile, Profiler, Damar OpenLearning, and our apprentice forums.
“Our team leader apprentice, Suzanne, is always looking for ways to make improvements, whether that’s with internal processes or council-wide changes The functioning of Suzanne’s team is so much better. We can really see things happening as a direct result of the apprenticeship.”
Julie Ainsworth
Senior Governor Support Officer
Wigan Council
Apprenticeship delivery
Management apprenticeships are delivered through:
- Pre-work: Reading or video content.
- Workshop: Most modules have a three-hour live workshop, delivered by an expert tutor, where apprentices can ask questions, discuss their learner and prepare for the individual activity.
- Individual learning activity: The apprentice works through the activity brief, building their evidence to support the portfolio and end- point assessment. This allows the apprentice to embed and contextualise their learning.
- Main learning: Self-directed, interactive content on our online learning platform.
- 1:1 Coaching visit: Every six weeks the coach and apprentice meet to review progress, discuss personal development and sign-off completed modules.
- Review meeting: Every 12 weeks the coach, apprentice and line manager meet to review progress.
Team Leader
15 months (includes end-point assessment)
The programme is formed of ten carefully planned and sequenced 6-week modules that help apprentices learn and apply the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for each of the core occupational duties.
- Building a high-performing team: Personal and team development, performance management
- Building a high-performing team: Compliance, policies and EDI
- People and relationships
- Contributing to a project
- Problem analysis and conclusions
- Communication and implementing operational plans
- Managing change and continuous improvement
- Data collection, benchmarking and using technology
- Future plans and opportunities.
Employer partners and apprentices are supported throughout the apprenticeship. The apprentice has a dedicated coach who provides 1:1 support, alongside the group coaching sessions and apprentice forums where they can engage with other appentices on the same programme. Review meetings with the apprentice, line manager and coach are held every 12 weeks. All of our employers also have a business development manager/executive they can contact at any time.
- A professional discussion supported by a portfolio of evidence that covers the criteria of the first five modules
- A presentation which covers the criteria of the final four modules, followed by questions and answers.
All management apprenticeships embed the functional use of maths and English as well as personal development topics in areas such as equality and diversity and British Values. Apprentices unable to evidence maths and English at GCSE level 4 or above may need to take functional skills exams as part of the apprenticeship. Additional training is provided if necessary.
People of all ages and educational backgrounds can undertake management apprenticeships, but there are some restrictions, the most important of which are:
- The employer and the training provider must ascertain that the apprenticeship will allow the individual to gain substantive new skills. The training therefore needs to be materially different from any prior qualification or previous apprenticeship.
- The apprenticeship must align with the skills needs of the apprentice’s role.
- The apprentice must be employed, usually for 30+ hours a week, and work more than 50% of their time in England.
- All apprenticeships must take at least 12 months with apprentices spending a minimum of 6 hours per week in off-the-job training. All Damar apprenticeships plan for more than the legal minimum. There is more on how we maximise the benefits of off-the-job training here: https://damartraining.com/news/2023/so-what-is-off-the-job-training/.
If your annual UK wage bill is over £3 million, the cost of training can be funded via the Apprenticeship Levy. We can help you navigate your Apprenticeship Service account to access this funding.
If your annual UK wage bill is below £3 million, the government covers 95-100% of the training costs.
For apprentices aged up to 21, the apprenticeship is fully government-funded*. For apprentices aged 22 and over, the apprenticeship is 95% government-funded*. These new funding rules are applicable to apprentices starting from 1 April 2024.
*Please note: Some apprenticeships have accreditation costs which are not eligible for government funding
There is a wide range of progression routes from Damar’s management apprenticeships. The most common are career progression – with successful former apprentices taking on more responsibility – and progression from the team leader or supervisor apprenticeship to the operations or departmental manager apprenticeship. Further academic and apprenticeship progression is possible, including to degrees in business and management, to the level 6 chartered manager (degree) apprenticeship and the level 7 senior leader apprenticeship.
We have regular start dates throughout the year for our apprenticeships. Please get in touch for more information.
Operations or Departmental Manager
21 months (including end-point assessment).
People of all ages and educational backgrounds can undertake management apprenticeships, but there are some restrictions, the most important of which are:
- The employer and the training provider must ascertain that the apprenticeship will allow the individual to gain substantive new skills. The training therefore needs to be materially different from any prior qualification or previous apprenticeship.
- The apprenticeship must align with the skills needs of the apprentice’s role.
- The apprentice must be employed, usually for 30+ hours a week, and work more than 50% of their time in England.
- All apprenticeships must take at least 12 months with apprentices spending a minimum of 6 hours per week in off-the-job training. All Damar apprenticeships plan for more than the legal minimum. There is more on how we maximise the benefits of off-the-job training here: https://damartraining.com/news/2023/so-what-is-off-the-job-training/.
These management apprenticeships are formed of carefully planned and sequenced 6-week modules that help apprentices learn and apply the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for each of the core occupational duties.
- Self-awareness
- Leading people
- Managing people
- Project management: Planning and approval
- Building relationships
- Communication
- Problem-solving and decision-making
- Strategic management
- Operational management
- Finance
- Organisational governance
- Project management
Employer partners and apprentices are supported throughout the apprenticeship. The apprentice has a dedicated coach who provides 1:1 support, alongside the group coaching sessions and apprentice forums where they can engage with other appentices on the same programme. Review meetings with the apprentice, line manager and coach are held every 12 weeks. All of our employers also have a business development manager/executive they can contact at any time.
All management apprenticeships embed the functional use of maths and English as well as personal development topics in areas such as equality and diversity and British Values. Apprentices unable to evidence maths and English at GCSE level 4 or above may need to take functional skills exams as part of the apprenticeship. Additional training is provided if necessary.
- Professional discussion underpinned by a portfolio of evidence
- Written project report with presentation and questions.
There is a wide range of progression routes from Damar’s management apprenticeships. The most common are career progression – with successful former apprentices taking on more responsibility – and progression from the team leader or supervisor apprenticeship to the operations or departmental manager apprenticeship. Further academic and apprenticeship progression is possible, including to degrees in business and management, to the level 6 chartered manager (degree) apprenticeship and the level 7 senior leader apprenticeship.
If your annual UK wage bill is over £3 million, the cost of training can be funded via the Apprenticeship Levy. We can help you navigate your Apprenticeship Service account to access this funding.
If your annual UK wage bill is below £3 million, the government covers 95-100% of the training costs.
For apprentices aged up to 21, the apprenticeship is fully government-funded*. For apprentices aged 22 and over, the apprenticeship is 95% government-funded*. These new funding rules are applicable to apprentices starting from 1 April 2024.
*Please note: Some apprenticeships have accreditation costs which are not eligible for government funding
We have regular start dates throughout the year for our apprenticeships. Please get in touch for more information.
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