PGCERT APA

Academic Professional Apprenticeship (APA)

The Academic Professional Apprenticeship (APA) is designed in line with Keele University’s educational development goals and aims to empower every aspect of colleagues’ higher education practice, moving towards long-term career goals and excellence in teaching and supporting learning within your context.

All eligible staff employed on a Keele University Education & Research and Education & Scholarship contract who are expected to complete a formal teaching qualification within the first three years of employment, should do so via the Academic Professional Apprenticeship (APA). Staff employed by Keele University on Professional Services contracts that have agreement from their line manager to complete the programme for professional development and meet the eligibility requirements will also be enrolled on the APA programme.

The Programme Team also welcome applications from colleagues employed in other organisations i.e. NHS Trusts; please note all applications from externals will firstly be checked for eligibility for the APA programme.

Eligibility requirements

To complete an apprenticeship, you must be employed in an organisation with your employer's support. We typically require apprentice applications 8 weeks before programme starts and by undertaking an apprenticeship, you commit to completing the End Point Assessment (EPA).

To engage effectively with this Level 7 programme, participants must:

• typically hold a first degree award or equivalent
• GCSE Maths and English at Grade C (4) or equivalent
• a minimum requirement of 'student direct contact' supporting teaching and learning related workload of around 25 hours per module (two module programme so 50 hours in total) whilst on the programme*
• also be able to follow the progress of learners and to provide formal or informal assessment and feedback
• have a specialist subject mentor** within their professional organisational context.

*however many of our enrolled participants on programme exceed this total in addition to undertaking other activities such as designing, planning, marking and evaluation activities.

** your subject specialist mentor is usually allocated prior to commencing the APA/PgCHEP programme and ideally have Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy - Fellow or Senior Fellow and will be a peer practitioner - someone who works within your own subject discipline or related field. If this is not possible, the Programme Lead will have a conversation with your line manager and department and consent to a mentor with 3-5 years teaching experience.

All applicants will need to commit to the blended teaching approach which consists of mandatory attendance at in person full days at the start and end of modules;with the remainder of the scheduled taught session delivery online, Wednesdays 1-4pm and Wednesdays 1 hour tutorial on alternative weeks during semester time.

Colleagues undertaking the Academic Professional Apprenticeship will require one day a week off timetable (i.e., 20% remission of time) to include the PgCHEP taught sessions and peer learning activities. 

The signatures of Heads of School or line managers and mentors are required at application to demonstrate your employer’s support for the above commitments and to verify that you meet the minimum teaching hours.

If those eligibility requirements cannot be met and/or staff are employed on a contract of less than 30 hours per week then consideration for the PgCHEP only route will be made.

APA programme assessment and support

Applicants who pass the national eligibility criteria for the APA take the following additional components and, on successful completion, are conferred the award of level-7 (postgraduate) ‘Academic Professional’:

• Support (tripartite) meetings between participant, their line manager, and the programme
• End-Point Assessment (EPA)
• A bespoke programme of training aligned to the APA Standards over the summer

In undertaking apprenticeship training, the employer and apprentice are committing to undertaking the whole apprenticeship, comprising the degree and the independent End-Point Assessment.

During delivery we will work with you and your employer to ensure that you progress through your apprenticeship, as a job with training. This will involve regular tripartite review meetings, monitoring compliance with apprenticeship requirements, such as the 20% of the job and identifying any changes required to your learning plan. Throughout your apprenticeship, you and your employer will have access to Aptem, our apprenticeships management system, where you will be required to sign and submit documents to demonstrate your progress and adhere to compliance requirements. 

Achievement of the apprenticeship is through the End Point Assessment (EPA) and is non-integrated. Advance HE is our End-Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO) for this programme and currently assesses via the following three EPA methods:

• Written assessment
• Academic Professional Practice Assessment
• Professional Conversation

Programme content

The one-year PgCHEP is used to deliver the Academic Professional apprenticeship standard. Apprenticeship standards are co-designed by employers and training providers to ensure that apprentices are equipped with the skills employers need. All higher and degree apprenticeships combine work-based learning with part-time study leading to a recognised qualification. The programme has been designed for delivery in a work-based learning context, where assessments for each module of the programme provide opportunities for the student to apply the learning from the module back into their workplace context. 

The two modules of the PgCHEP that form the core of the programme for those on either the APA or PgCHEP only route offer real opportunity to gain essential skills and knowledge of inclusive and equitable approaches to designing, developing, teaching, supporting and evaluating learning for effectiveness integrating the professional values and behaviours of a reflective and scholarly educator.

All participants take the following two modules over the course of two academic semesters.

Module 1: Teaching Reflectively in Higher Education (30 credits), comprising an in-situ induction, six online workshops, tutor group discussions, and an in-situ conference - runs February 2025 to June 2025.

Module 2: Design and Development in Higher Education (30 credits), comprising seven online workshops, tutor group discussions, and an in-situ end-of-programme showcase - runs September 2025 to January 2026.

This is a holistic programme with themes and assessments that overlap between modules. As such Accreditation or Recognition of Prior Leaning (APL/RPL) is currently not possible for individual modules. However, you are welcome to draw on any previous relevant experience in your reflections.

Fundamental to the programme is the philosophy of collaboration and sharing experiences of teaching and supporting learning in their own context with peers on programme, the teaching team, tutors, mentors and their students/learners and to make meaning of those through deep reflection and critical evaluation approaches. Those enrolled on programme will be equipped to take approaches that are peer-informed, making effective use of digital technologies and informed by international, national drivers and contexts relevant to their teaching and supporting learning practice.

Accreditation

The Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice (PgCHEP) programme is accredited by AdvanceHE providing external confirmation that the course is aligned with the Professional Standards Framework (PSF) 2023 in practice and principle. Participants that successfully complete the PgCHEP are recognised through the award of Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Descriptor 2 (D2) (subject to re-approval).

To meet the requirements for Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) set out by Advance HE you are required to undertake two observations to authenticate your practice: These are the observations completed by your subject specialist mentor in module 1 and module 2, which must be deemed satisfactory.  

An additional fee to AdvanceHE for HEA Fellowship recognition is NOT payable for Keele University employed staff but may be payable if the following apply: work place educators who do not work directly with the HE students of Keele University or staff from any of collaborative partner institutions who are not employed directly by Keele University.

Please note those undertaking the APA are required to undertake a first attempt of End Point Assessment prior to conferment of their PgCHEP award and attainment of the HEA Fellowship award.

Application

The first step to enrol on the programme is to complete and submit an application form, which is available on request from kiite@keele.ac.uk.  For applicants who are colleagues at Keele, this will be forwarded to HR for an eligibility check in the first instance. We look forward to hearing from you.