The federation secured full and final approval for the Level 3 print technician standard in 2019, and many apprentices are now enrolled on this standard.

Following on from much discussion with the government, it received confirmation last summer that the employer-led submission to develop a new apprenticeship standard for a Level 2 print operative had been successful.

This new standard follows the same format as the print technician and will be a core Level 2 print standard with three options; pre-press operative, press operative and post-press operative.

Working with the government’s Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), the BPIF has now started to build the content for the new standard. Core to the standard are a list of duties, which are effectively a job description and a list of the knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) that a successful apprentice would be expected to attain.

The BPIF said involved parties have all worked hard to ensure the statement is written in clear and simple language, carefully chosen so that all new and potential apprentices and their families are able to understand what is involved in these roles.

BPIF programme director Ursula Daly has urged the industry to provide input and feedback on the attached document to ensure it has the right standard for the industry. Email feedback by 22 January 2021 to ursula.daly@bpif.org.uk.

Daly told Printweek: “[Industry feedback] is absolutely critical, because these employers know exactly what they want these apprentices to be able to do.

“The Level 2 is the assistant and as such plays an important role in our industry; it’s quite a popular standard and at the moment there isn’t one in place.

“Every time we’ve gone out to the industry and asked for their help, they’ve come back, and it’s because of their support that government have allowed us to do some things that they didn’t want us to do. When people tell me what it is that they want, it really helps me.

“In fact, I can’t even go to the next stage without actually being able to say that employers are saying ‘yes, this is right’”.

She added: “These duties that are listed actually define what the apprentice is going to learn over the term of their apprenticeship. We will write an assessment plan which will show how they’re judged against each one of those things – they are what underpin the apprenticeship.”