Modern Apprenticeship in Spirits – SCQF Level 6

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 6. 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 and succession planning.

For example, some companies require that all employees complete a Modern Apprenticeship as part of their training programme once they are settled in the business. For others, it can also be a requirement for progressing into a more senior role. A lot of companies use the Modern Apprenticeship framework to provide the heart of their learning and development programme for new and existing employees, planning additional learning and development around this.

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.

Working in Partnership

Developed by the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink (NSAFD) — the sector skills council for the food and drink manufacturing sector, the SVQ in Spirits Operations at SCQF Level 6 qualification is awarded by SQA in partnership with NSAFD.

The Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) in Spirits Operations at SCQF Level 6 allows candidates to demonstrate competence in job related skills in their particular area of work and expertise.

Why a Modern Apprenticeship For the Spirits Industry?

The spirits industry is a technically challenging industry in which to operate requiring the application of scientific principles to process and supply high quality spirits products. It is also a booming industry and the people in it need their own dedicated Modern Apprenticeship to reflect the specifics of their roles.

What is Involved?

The Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) in Spirits Operations at SCQF Level 6 allows candidates to demonstrate competence in job related skills in their particular area of work and expertise.

This Modern Apprenticeship has been designed with the industry to cover a range of operations and includes processing, bottling, packing, labelling, casking, warehouse operations and distribution.

It takes approximately 24 months to complete and includes two awards, an SVQ from the SQA and either or both the IBD General Certificate in Distilling or the IBD General Certificate in Packaging from the NSAFD. For those who have not completed their Core Skills, it also includes Core Skills although the majority of these we build into the main programme of learning and assessment.

This qualification covers areas such as Food Safety, Health, Safety and Environmental Systems, Product Quality, Operate Control Systems, Site Security, Malting, Milling, Mashing, Fermentation, Distilling, Flavouring and Cask Filling.

Why Polaris Learning to Support your Modern Apprenticeship in Spirits?

We have delivered Modern Apprenticeship programmes in food and drink for over 3000 learners across 40 companies in the last 26 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 spirits pathway and we are delighted to already be delivering this with our clients.

We have been working in the spirits 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 in the spirits industry, from micro-businesses to major employers, we are very happy to be driving this award forward.