Professional Operator Development Programme

Our belief is that the Professional Operator Development Programme is an opportunity for individuals to create a foundation to build their careers, making a difference to their lives. We feel our apprenticeship programmes gives the individual a personal skill set and confidence to take the opportunity to move forward both personally and in the workplace.

Our Commitment

As both employer of the learners and the employer provider we have communicated our intentions internally in order to gain executive and senior leadership buy in. The managers of learners are communicated with to ensure that they fully understand the requirements and commitments of the apprenticeship, including the 20% “off the job requirements”. This programme is firmly embedded within Tarmac and continues to attract the support of the senior leaders.

Peter Kay, Head of Tarmac L&D, continues as Trailblazer chair, supporting industry adoption of apprenticeships, says, "we will achieve excellence in operational competence and be our customers preferred choice for sustainable construction solutions by fully embedding apprenticeships into the business. Training of operational apprentices will be through exceptional, consistent and proactive training and development programmes”.

Our Aims

Our desired outcomes from the apprenticeship training programme are:

To deliver a successful programme that gives our learners the best opportunity to succeed
To enrol & deliver the apprenticeship standard to 100 new learners annually
To achieve 100% pass rate for those entered into End Point Assessment

The ambition over the next 3 years include:

Successfully deliver and develop as an Employer Provider
Maintaining our National Skills & Safety Park as our operational apprenticeship hub
To achieve an OUTSTANDING Ofsted report

Success stories

"The PODP is heavily designed around developing skills and awareness within my role whilst emphasising the importance of Health and Safety. The programme also acts as a gateway into other areas of Tarmac outside of my environment, which is an eye-opener in itself."

- Liam Martin, Operative

Ofsted

What is it like to be a learner with this provider?

Apprentices receive excellent training and support. All staff involved in their training
communicate and work together extremely well to plan and conduct apprentices’
studies. This includes expert trainers who teach workshops and training managers
who oversee apprentices’ progress. A team of assessors evaluate apprentices’
competence, and line managers ensure that their training extends into work. As a
result, apprentices thrive and are fully equipped to take their next steps.

Staff provide apprentices with rich and varied opportunities to experience the scale
of Tarmac’s operations. Apprentices visit each other’s sites. They visit the biggest
quarries in the country but also see how smaller plants operate. As a result,
apprentices develop a full breadth of understanding about their industry.
Apprentices thoroughly enjoy and value their training and rarely miss any aspect of
it. They benefit from a culture in which staff and apprentices learn and support each
other. For example, apprentices with strong digital skills help those with less
confidence. Mature apprentices freely share their wider experience to the benefit of
younger apprentices.

Leaders offer apprentices a wide range of beneficial support services. They can
access an online doctor and earn rewards for a healthy lifestyle. Apprentices attend
a useful occupational health suite to understand and tailor their personal protective
equipment to meet their needs. Apprentices feel very well cared for and rightly value
the support they can access.
Apprentices have a comprehensive knowledge of health and safety. They have a
detailed understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe at work. They
know who to contact if they have any concerns about themselves or a colleague.

Click here to view full Ofsted report.

External Partnerships

Tarmac Ltd are committed to delivering high quality learning opportunities as part of their Employer Provider delivery status. Maintaining those high standards both by the internal Tarmac team and also the two subcontractors acting on behalf of Tarmac is a key area of focus.

The majority of the Mineral Processing Mobile and Static Plant Operations L2 Apprenticeship Standard delivery will be carried out by the internal Tarmac Ltd team. In two instances we will work with subcontractors who will support our delivery. The rationale is to enhance the learner experience through the expertise and professional qualification of the delivery partner.

Our subcontract relationships will be:

Subcontract for Functional Skills English and Maths delivery will be via “The Sheffield College”.

Subcontract of IOSH Working Safely, for Mineral Products which is accredited, will be delivered via Safety Coaching. Safety Coaching may also be requested to support on occasional PODP workshop delivery.

Each subcontractor must pass a detailed due diligence process to be accepted and maintained as a subcontractor.

Frequently asked questions

You will have reached Gateway once you have:

Attended and passed all of your workshops
Completed all of your coursework
Completed all 5 workbooks
Achieved your Vocational Qualification
Passed Level 1 English and Maths and at least worked towards and sat Level 2
Updated your portfolio in Learning Assistant
Had your 20% off the job hours have been met and approved

When this is all done, you have reached what is known as the Gateway, which is where you, your line manager and training manager will decide if you are ready to take the End Point Assessment (EPA).