Coach Core win prize at the AAC Apprenticeship Awards
Coach Core took home the Apprenticeship Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Provider award at the 2023 FE Week and AELP AAC Apprenticeship Awards
Held at the ICC in Birmingham during the Gala Dinner at the Annual Apprenticeship Conference, the AAC Awards are a celebration of excellence in apprenticeship delivery in the UK and provide an opportunity to give the recognition to employers and providers.
Coach Core were nominated in two categories:
- The Widening Participation Recognition Award which recognises the outstanding activity of a provider or employer regarding widening participation with their apprenticeship offer. Organisations must demonstrate how they’ve successfully led a campaign to fully embrace apprenticeships to recruit apprentices with personal characteristics such as long-term unemployed, ethnicity, English as a second language, former offenders, special educational needs, gender or disabilities.
- Apprenticeship Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Provider which recognises apprentice providers who’ve made an outstanding effort to increase the diversity and inclusivity of the apprentices they work with and their organisation’s workforce. This award focuses on those organisations that can evidence a commitment to ensuring fair treatment and opportunity for all. It is aiming to eradicate prejudice and discrimination based on an individual or group of individuals’ protected characteristics.
“To win this award in a very special year for the charity, as we celebrate a decade of changing over 800 young lives up and down the country, is amazing. Coach Core wants to level up the playing field for all young people - no matter their background. We can’t do this alone, so this award is not just for us but also for the incredible employers, supporting partners and our training provider Lifetime Training.”
18% of apprentice starts were from those living in most deprived areas (down from 26% five years earlier). Only 5% of UK adults with a learning disability are currently in paid employment. 14% of apprentice starts are from ethnically diverse groups. Following the recent review of our strategy, we are redoubling our efforts to make sure even more young people from marginalized groups are supported by Coach Core. So it’s amazing to be recognized for our efforts – and those of our wider partner network – in this area.
Apprentices like James, who has battled against the discrimination of having a criminal record, or Ahsan, who doesn’t let his physical or learning disabilities hold him back from achieving what he wants to, are a brilliant example of how young people facing barriers, challenges, lack of opportunity and discrimination can go on to achieve extraordinary things when they are given the chance and the support to thrive and flourish.
The Awards were established in 2017 as a joint project by FE Week and AELP, with the national awards ceremony taking place at the Annual Apprenticeship Conference Gala Dinner. Entries to the AAC Apprenticeship Awards are reviewed by a group of experienced leaders from across the apprenticeship sector.