It makes sense to use an apprenticeship programme to harness the power of social media to reach young people.

Ethan Kear-Davies was looking to start a career in marketing after finishing his media diploma at college when he found out about an apprenticeship opportunity in the commercial marketing department at Pompey in the Community (PITC) last summer.

PITC is the charity arm of Portsmouth Football Club that provides education and coaching opportunities for children and young people using the facilities at the club, including the learning hub in the Pompey Study Centre kitted out by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and unionlearn ‘Achievement Through Sport’ programme. 

Ethan said:

I’d decided that I wouldn’t want to go to university and that an apprenticeship would be a much more valuable route to go down."

Ethan wasn’t quite first time lucky. Local training provider PETA (formerly known as Portsmouth Engineering Training Association) set him up with one scheme that wasn’t right for him, which he left.

But when PETA alerted him to the PITC opportunity, he thought it could be much more what he was looking for – even though football isn’t his preferred sport at all. 

Ethan said:

I thought the apprenticeship would be good because I really wanted somewhere I could expand my skills that had a strong brand, and I have become slightly more interested in football over time!"

Ethan spends a lot of his working days promoting PITC events, campaigns and initiatives on social media – writing content, uploading his own photographs and designing posters for use on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

He added that:

Social media is one of the strongest ways to connect with our community."

He’s used his developing skills to promote events such as the Wheels for All cycling project for children and adults with disabilities and help run and promote sessions for Portsmouth FC Ladies. 

The study component of Ethan’s ICT apprenticeship is delivered onsite through an assessor from PETA. 

Ethan explained that:

I have a list of criteria to go through, and my assessor comes down once a month to review the work I’ve done.

Some months I’ve had too much work on and sometimes I’ll give him four units worth of work at once but seeing him every month generally helps me keep on track."

Ethan is able to reap the benefits of working with the PFA when the union’s ‘Achievement Through Sport’ programme runs events at the club, such as the Learning Centre Best Practice Day in October 2016, when he took photographs and ran a live social media feed as well as designing a 40-page booklet about the day afterwards. 

Ethan said:

That’s probably the biggest design piece I’ve ever created and definitely the one I’m most proud of."

Other PFA events Ethan has worked on include ‘Empowering Women In Sport’, a free one-day event jointly organised with PITC in May 2017 for young women, featuring workshops on playing, coaching and working in the sports sector as well as inspirational guest speakers.

He also took part in the PFA event in Portsmouth for National Apprenticeship Week in March 2017, reports PFA Project Worker Riz Rehman, who has worked with Ethan on all the union’s events at PITC. 

Riz recalled the event and said:

Ethan shared his journey to inspire the young people in the room, talking about how he became an apprentice, the skills sets he’s picked up and what he would like to do in the future.

Any activities or programmes we facilitate at the Learning Centre, we give Ethan the opportunity to promote them so he gets that experience.

We support a number of apprentices at our learning centres across the country, offering information, advice and guidance to encourage follow-on education and CPD for their development."

Ethan is always keen to take advantage of opportunities through the union, and said:

Working on events with the PFA gives me the chance to broaden my skills."

Overall, Ethan believes the apprenticeship has helped him do exactly what he hope it would. Etham summed up saying:

I’ve become much more confident in my skills since I’ve been here. I’ve had a lot of guidance from my mentor in the commercial marketing department and from people at the PFA like Riz, and my design work now is much better than when I started."

This case study first appeared in “Unionlearn - Unions supporting high-quality Apprenticeships” which can be downloaded from the unionlearn website: https://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications