Shetland trainers get glowing report
APPRENTICESHIP training at the NAFC Marine Centre in Shetland has been rated ‘very good’ and its staff highly praised in an audit by Skills Development Scotland (SDS).
The audit focused in particular on the Aquaculture Apprenticeship Programme, and concluded that it had fully demonstrated meeting SDS’s standards at a high level with ‘major strengths’.
The programme has been developed to provide practical, on-thejob training and skills development for those working at all levels in the aquaculture industry.
It has been designed in collaboration with employers to provide a progression route and career development path, from first entry to senior management positions.
SDS praised NAFC’s ‘enthusiastic, dedicated and confident’ aquaculture training staff and especially the ‘inspirational leadership’ of Stuart Fitzsimmons (section leader).
He was described as ‘experienced and knowledgeable and very open to innovations in the development and delivery of the programme in order to ensure that the courses offered meet community and employer needs’.
SDS also commended NAFC’s ‘very positive and productive relationships with employers’, with all employers commenting on the ‘quality and flexibility’ of the centre’s training and the expertise of its staff.
This had resulted in NAFC’s aquaculture apprenticeship programme becoming ‘the benchmark qualification for local employers in the industry’. NAFC’s strong relationship with the apprentices was also highlighted.