BBC announces three new apprenticeship schemes to help people gain employment and make career progress at the BBC
On the announcement of the BBC’s plans to address the on and off screen representation of the Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community at the BBC, Sadiq Khan MP, Shadow London Minister, said: “I warmly welcome the new range of measures announced by the BBC to improve the representation of the Black, Asian and minority ethnic community, from training internships for BAME graduate trainees, to development programmes for those from diverse backgrounds, to measurable on- and off-air diversity targets.
“BBC Director General Tony Hall has recognised that the status quo simply isn’t good enough, and things aren’t changing on their own. If we want to achieve real change this means putting greater responsibility on institutions like the BBC to be accountable for the diversity of their staff, and to see them step up to the plate shows promise.
The BBC’s Director-General, Tony Hall, earlier announced three new apprenticeship schemes to help people gain employment and make career progress at the BBC.
He also announced that by the end of end of October, the BBC will deliver on his commitment to have one per cent of its public service workforce made up of apprentices two years early.
Speaking at the BBC Academy’s ‘You’re Hired’ apprenticeship conference at the start of National Apprenticeship Week, Tony Hall said: “I’m delighted that we are not only going to meet the target, but do so two years early. This is all down to the talent of our apprentices and the fantastic efforts of BBC teams who have worked tirelessly to make this happen. Apprenticeships can make a real difference to not only getting on the career ladder, but making real progress. I am determined that we build on this success.”
Announcing the new schemes, he said: “I’m passionate about giving everyone the chance to shine in our industry. That’s why we’re opening up opportunities in new areas of the BBC to the brightest talent from the broadest range of backgrounds.”
• Starting in September – there will be a new degree level Business Apprenticeship, nurturing diverse talent in strategy, business affairs, planning, marketing, commerce and innovation
• In 2015, the BBC will start a higher level apprenticeship in Journalism, tackling head on the fact that journalism has increasingly become the preserve of graduates
• There will also be new opportunities for would-be solicitors to join the BBC’s Legal team
Tony Hall also talked about the new pilot Stephen Lawrence BBC Training Programme – a three-month training programme for young people from BAME backgrounds. Beginning on 17 March this year and with its selection day later this week, the scheme aims to train up to twenty-five 19-23 year olds from BAME backgrounds and develop their skills so they can compete for a place on a BBC apprenticeship. The trainee programme will culminate in a BTEC Level 2 Certificate in Creative Media Production (QCF), which will include training in Maths and English.
The Director General also announced a drive to be more innovative in identifying and recruiting talent and signalled a new partnership with Job Centres across the UK. This will seek out the best raw talent for the BBC, opening up the BBC’s work experience, apprenticeships and entry level jobs. Referring also to the recent BBC recruitment initiative ‘Take It On’, a recruitment scheme recently used successfully by BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra, he said: “Our traditional one-size-fits-all recruitment can be off-putting – and we don’t necessarily get the best people applying to work with us, so we’re going to roll out this new approach to other parts of the BBC.”