National Apprenticeship Week: mechanical engineer Stephanie on her dream role

This week is National Apprenticeship Week here in the UK, which provides an opportunity to promote the benefits of apprenticeship schemes.

In the first two quarters of the 2020/21 academic year, there was a drop of 18% in new starters compared to the same period in the previous year in England.

The period saw 719,000 people participating in an apprenticeship - which was 23,400 fewer than same quarter in 2019 to 2020.

This decline is said to be due in part to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.  Many industries are now keen to get new learner’s back on board.

Britain still remains one of the world’s leading nations when it comes to manufacturing, with almost 3 million working in the sector, delivering almost half of all UK exports. Today’s young apprentices will be those who lead the way in the innovations of this ever adapting industry.

We speak to one young apprentice entering a male-dominated industry who aspires to be a role model for other women to choose engineering as a career option.

Stephanie Potter, a Continuous Improvement Apprentice for AE Aerospace, says: “Being on an apprenticeship scheme like this is absolutely amazing. You get to learn while on the job, so you get the theory and the practical based learning.

“I could be working on 5G for one day, or I could be working on a training programme - it literally varies that much.

“And honestly, in engineering, it is such a male dominant environment, so being a female in there is like, really, it’s just a great thing.

“Obviously, I went to school and then after school, I went to college and did a level 3 in mechanical engineering. After that, I was struggling whether to go to uni or do an apprenticeship, but the apprenticeship just spoke to me as my dad’s an engineer.

“So he kind of pushed me towards that route as that’s the route he took himself. And, honestly, I’m so thankful that he actually pushed me towards an apprenticeship because it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Ben Courts, Business Development Manager for Make UK says: “So I think the biggest benefit overall for anyone that’s considering - or didn’t even realise that apprenticeships were available - is the fact that here we are very much hands on.

“So everyone that comes through this centre will actually use the equipment that you can see behind you. Will actually get an in-depth knowledge and base understanding of how to support industry.

“We are here for industry. We take our lead from manufacturers like Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls Royce Aerospace all the way through to the small and medium enterprises as well.”

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