Last week was National Apprenticeships Week 2022 (NAW) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, during the week, more than 1,200 events took place. This year’s theme was ‘build the future’ and throughout the week, ADS showcased apprentices working in the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors and also marked International Women in Science Day on Friday 11 February. Here’s what took place during the week:

ADS launches new infographic

Prior to NAW 2022, ADS conducted a survey with members and found there are 19,250 apprentices in our four sectors across the UK, representing around five per cent of our overall workforce.

Our latest infographic celebrates that our sectors support more than one million jobs across the country, providing high-wage and high skilled careers that boost local economies and communities. See the full infographic here.

Apprenticeships Unlocked Webinar

On Wednesday we hosted a one-off webinar which included speakers from the Aerospace Growth Partnership, the High Manufacturing Catapult’s Emerging Skills Project and two apprentices from Spirit AeroSystems and Thales. You can catch up on the webinar below:

Meet the Apprentice blogs

Throughout the week we featured a range of apprentices from across our member companies. It was inspiring to read that all the apprentices we spoke to would recommend an apprenticeship and the biggest piece of advice they gave was for people interested in apprenticeship was to believe in themselves and grasp every available opportunity. You can view our full blog collection here, thank you to all the apprentices who participated.

Looking ahead

For our members in Scotland, Scottish Apprenticeship Week takes place from 7 to 11 March and ADS looks forward to marking the occasion and showcasing talented apprentices working in Scotland.

In the meantime, if you’re an apprentice or new professional working in the sectors, take a look at ADS’ New Professionals Forum which is a networking and professional development forum for industry professionals new to the Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space sector.