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Bill Graves started at BAE Systems in Barrow as an apprentice in 1983 and ended up being named top apprentice of that year: He later moved into the draftsman department at BAE and he then pursued another challenge.

Bill approached BAE management and asked if he could do the A1 assessment course, overseeing engineering apprentices to help them pass their NVQs. He has done so well, Bill has been awarded an A1 assessor award.  His success in assessing has taken him from the draftsman department to learning and development within BAE. This means he now gives presentations to new apprentices or people coming into the company about what the company does within engineering.

But it doesn’t stop there – now Bill is training to be an IV assessor (internal assessor) meaning he would be qualified to assess other assessors. “I’d always been keen to take on learning and development so I approached management and asked if they would fund me through the A1 course at Furness College. To do that I have been assessing engineering apprentices to pass their NVQs. It is all modular work, so you are checking to see all modules are complete and they have the correct information.”

One of Bill’s biggest help to his learning to be an assessor has been Julie Casson, his Furness Training lead assessor, who is an assessor at the college – and Bill’s IV assessor.

Bill enjoys passing on his experience and knowledge to the large amount of apprentices, which BAE regularly takes on. Bill said; “There are a lot of apprentices so there are a lot of people with knowledge and a lot of young people you need to get the knowledge across to. The apprentices cannot be left alone, and that is not just a health and safety issue, but to ensure they are carrying out correct procedures. They do need to be supervised.”

For his training, Bill had to oversee three engineering apprentices through their NVQ and was observed by the college (including Julie) as well as using taped discussions and question and answers to make sure the apprentices understood what they were learning in their modules. “2As an assessor you need to know they understand what they are learning.”

Being an assessor has given Bill a new work direction and widened his options. BAE has been very supportive by allowing Bill to talk to the apprentices while they are working and speaking, observing and seeing the apprentices in their work environment.

In his role Bill also has to keep up with modern technology and so he is constantly reading rules and regulations manuals to keep up with the latest information and latest standards. Also, I keep learning as I progress from being an apprentice assessor to assessing assessors and learning at the college.

For the future, Bill wants to work with the IV assessor already working at BAE as well as completing general teaching qualification which he is studying at Furness College.