BPIF calls on printers to take action

The BPIF is calling on printers to complete a survey in the expectation that it will provide the ammunition it needs to respond to the Institute for Apprenticeships’ review of standards for the Print Technician Standard Level 3 training programme.

“If we wish to protect the independence of the Print Technician Standard Level 3, once again we need to ensure that we have a solid response with the full support of the industry. To this end, it is critical for us that you take the time to complete the survey (https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/protectourapprenticeship) which will give us the information required to respond to the consultation.The survey will take 20-30 minutes, but I would appreciate if you could take the time to complete. I would like to have all responses in by 31 January 2020, so that we can develop our responses and provide a strong industry voice,” said BPIF programme director Ursula Daly. Having begun the process in March 2015 to secure the Print Technician Standard Level 3 programme it received full and final approval from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE – the department given responsibility for development, approval and review of all new Trailblazer standards by Government) in May 2019. Now the Institute for Apprenticeships has launched a review of standards and the Print Technician Standard Level 3 has been included in this review. A key focus of this review is to reduce the number of ‘process’ occupations, where they define a ‘process’ occupation as one where something is manufactured. The BPIF disagrees with the prospect of such a consolidation. 30 standards in all have been included in the process review category (https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/reviews/engineering-and-manufacturing-route-review/) Apprenticeships that cover related industries/activities are grouped by Government into clusters. “We have looked at other standards within our cluster on the occupational map and we have also considered some standards which are outside of our cluster and compared them with the Print Technician Standard Level 3. We do not believe that there is sufficient overlap in the standards for consolidation and we believe that there is risk that standards will be devalued for the industry if they are not sufficiently specific,” said Daly.