Amy Moore, head of apprenticeships at The Go-Ahead Group, on training the next generation
Chelsea Dash
When you hear the word ‘apprentice’, there’s a tendency to picture a recent school leaver opting for an alternative to university. But if you look around Go-Ahead’s bus and rail training academies, or visit our head office, you might well be surprised.
Go-Ahead recruits more than 1,000 apprentices annually, more than any other company in public transport, to work as bus drivers, train drivers, engineers and in other functions too – including IT, finance, marketing and business.
And there simply isn’t a ‘typical’ apprentice. Our youngest apprentice is 16, the oldest we’ve recruited has been 65 and a third of those we take on are over the age of 40.
At Go-Ahead’s London bus driving academy in Camberwell, a recent recruit is Chelsea Dash, 23.
I must admit it was a bit scary at first – but not anymore. My instructor is good and has instilled a lot of confidence in me.
“I thought I’d do something different to finance, which is all I’ve been doing since I left college,” says Chelsea, who grew up in Haiti in the aftermath of the country’s devastating earthquake. “I must admit it was a bit scary at first – but not anymore. My instructor is good and has instilled a lot of confidence in me.”
Some of our apprentices are career switchers – including an airline pilot and a former professional footballer – who want to forge a new path in public transport and are keen to earn while they learn. Others are people who are changing lifestyle – for example, parents looking to forge a new career after taking time away from the workplace to raise children.
Mehmet Pacaci, 27, worked for the Metropolitan Police before joining Govia Thameslink Railway for an apprenticeship (his second). He says: “Similarly, to working in the police force people may not realise how much public safety is involved in a rail workers day to day. I had an incident recently where a passenger had an epileptic seizure, and I called the relevant medical services, ensuring their safety.”
Since 2018, when Go-Ahead ramped up its apprenticeships programme in response to the introduction of the government’s Apprenticeships Levy, our annual intake has had a huge impact on the diversity of our business.
At Go-Ahead London, which operates a quarter of the capital’s buses, almost 80% of apprentices are from ethnic minority backgrounds. At Govia Thameslink Railway, our rail business which runs Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern trains, a third are from backgrounds other than white British.
Overall a fifth of our transport apprentices are women – a proportion which is higher than the average for our industry, but which we’re trying hard to raise further. And the group has taken steps to ensure that training is accessible for neurodiverse applicants, including those with autism or dyslexia.
The outcomes from apprenticeships are tangible. Go-Ahead’s bus apprentices stay with the business longer, attract more commendations from passengers and have fewer accidents than those who join the company through other routes.
Bringing apprenticeship training in-house was one of the best decisions we’ve made. It’s paid off not only in financial terms – but in changing our business for the better, too.
John Trayner, Go-Ahead’s managing director, London and international bus, who began his career as an apprentice, says: “Bringing apprenticeship training in-house was one of the best decisions we’ve made. It’s paid off not only in financial terms – but in changing our business for the better, too.
Go-Ahead offers apprenticeships at Levels Two up to Seven. Our apprenticeship program is funded by drawing down funds from the Apprenticeships Levy – although if the levy offered more flexibility, we could expand our intake further.
We would like to be able to use funds to market our apprenticeships, allowing us to widen the pool of candidates. And the complex nature of rostering a busy bus or rail network means it would be beneficial to have more leeway in the regularity of stints of classroom training.
Nevertheless, as a company, we were proud to be ranked as one of the UK’s top 20 apprenticeship employers in 2022, and as the highest in the transport industry. We were also named Macro Employer of the Year for the north-east, where Go-Ahead was founded, in the National Apprenticeship Awards.
Apprenticeships are a cornerstone of our strategy for training the next generation of transport workers. Public transport jobs are ever more critical as the UK transitions to a net zero economy. Everybody who comes to work for us plays a vital role in connecting communities, and decarbonising transport, across the UK
For more information about Go-Ahead apprenticeships: www.go-ahead.com/our-people/apprenticeships
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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