Modern Apprenticeship in Brewing – SCQF Level 5

Modern Apprenticeships are funded by Skills Development Scotland for eligible employees. They enable you to upskill your employees, and quickly and effectively accelerate learning and development within your organisation. Employees appreciate the opportunity to be involved in self-development and to do their job as well as they can.

Your employees can learn their trade or build on their skills on the job while working towards their qualification.

This can help you to:

• Train and develop your current workforce
• Attract new recruits
• Establish a training and development route for new recruits
• Demonstrate the competence of your team

Who is this Suitable for?

These qualifications are rated at SCQF Level 5. This means they are suitable for anyone working in an operational role.

For Team Members Experienced in the Industry

For those who are in the industry already, this Modern Apprenticeship gives them an opportunity to demonstrate their competencies, as well as develop any skills or knowledge areas where there might be gaps.

We have worked with many experienced team members who have been in an organisation for many years. They have still found the process to be beneficial, and have appreciated the opportunity to complete a recognised qualification.

If they are in a more senior role, a different Modern Apprenticeship might be more suitable and we can talk you through what is available.

For Team Members New to the Industry

The Modern Apprenticeship is an ideal framework to help you develop your new employees in a supported and structured way, while taking them through the knowledge and skills that they need.

You can integrate the Modern Apprenticeship qualification into your development programme or use it as a basis for developing your new recruits.

Being able to offer Modern Apprenticeships can help you attract and retain new employees. It helps your new employees to feel that they are valued, they can see where they need to develop and where they can focus to become competent.

Career and Succession Planning

Many of our clients choose to build Modern Apprenticeship qualifications into career planning and succession planning.

Demonstrating Competence and Preparing for Audits

Modern Apprenticeship qualifications are also a good way to not only develop employees, but also demonstrate their competence. Not only are you investing in your people, upskilling and planning for the future but you are also demonstrating your commitment to quality to your clients and other auditors.

How can the Modern Apprenticeship Support Different Job Roles?

The Brewer is responsible for all brewing practices including the day to day management of the brewing facility, production and packaging, inventory management, cleaning and maintenance, and record keeping. This is a broad role and the modern apprenticeship is designed to support different aspects of this role by covering units such as:

• Control malt handling in brewing
• Control fermentation in brewing
• Carry out cask beer preparation and racking in brewing
• Carry out filtration and dilution for chilled and filtered beer in brewing

The focus here is on physically changing the properties of a product through the processes of brewing. In this role, the operators need to be able to start up, run and shut down equipment, as well as taking the appropriate actions should operating problems occur. They also need to be able to work to product specifications and production schedules.

Brewing is also about understanding the principles of malt handling and milling in the preparation of raw materials materials for brewing thorugh the whole process. The Modern Apprenticeship will support the employee to gain skills, knowledge and competence from intake of raw materials through to dispatch.

These are the skills required to control the packaging lines from filling kegs with beer in brewing, to bottling and canning the products.

The operator needs these skills to prepare for, start up and complete packaging line operations successfully. Operators need to be able to take the appropriate action should operating problems occur, work to product specifications, production schedules and standard operating procedures in the brewery.

The Modern Apprenticeship focuses on these skills areas as well as monitoring and maintaining storage systems, improving systems and communications, evaluating procedures and recommending appropriate changes.

Warehouses are a vital part of the supply chain. They hold goods and equipment until they are ready to be distributed to the shops, stores, supermarkets, and for online deliveries. Working as a warehouse operative in the logistics sector will mean that you are part of a massive industry.

Working in a team, you’re likely to do a variety of jobs in the process, such as taking delivery of goods into a warehouse for sorting, stacking and storage and then eventually picking and packing items for dispatch as they are sent on their way to our high streets, businesses and out-of-town stores.

The Modern Apprenticeship focuses on the skills and knowledge needed in these roles.

Why Polaris Learning to Support your Modern Apprenticeship Programme?

We have delivered Modern Apprenticeship programmes in food and drink for 3000 learners across 40 companies in the last 20 years.

Our expert team are specialists in the food and drink industry. We have worked closely with Skills Development Scotland and the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink to develop the brewing pathway and we are delighted to already be delivering this with our clients.

We have been working in the brewing industry for over 10 years, supporting employee development through Modern Apprenticeship qualifications, and other learning and development approaches.

As the industry continues to flourish and technology advances, the need for highly skilled and motivated people is accelerating, and we see time and time again the great difference that Modern Apprenticeship qualifications can make to our client’s businesses and their team member’s individual competence and commitment to succeed.

This Modern Apprenticeship has been drawn up to meet the needs of all brewers, from micro-businesses to major employers, and we are very happy to be driving this award forward.