Glossary of Terms

Accelerated apprenticeship

An accelerated apprenticeship is where the apprentice’s planned duration is shorter (by at least 3 months) than the typical duration of the standard, based on prior learning. Minimum requirements of an apprenticeship must still be met, including the 12-month minimum duration and minimum volume of off-the-job training.

Additional specialist competence (specialist knowledge and skills)

An individual has knowledge, skills and behaviours that build on those that employers expect for occupational competence, so they can work in a specialist area of an occupation. E.g., the competence a learner obtains from completing a specialist level 3 qualification such as hybrid car mechanic.

Apprenticeship

An apprenticeship is employment with training to industry standards in a recognised occupation. It will involve a substantial programme of on and off-the-job training.

Apprenticeship standard

An apprenticeship standard is made up of the occupational standard plus additional requirements specific to the apprenticeship.

Approved occupational standard

An occupational standard has been approved for an occupation.

Career starter apprenticeships

Career starter apprenticeships are apprenticeships that provide a starting point for a young person at the beginning of their career journey. To be badged as a career starter apprenticeship there must be a good supply of vacancies, attractive earnings potential, and career progression opportunities into a highly skilled well-paid occupation and there should be no specific entry requirements that may exclude a school leaver.

Career starter information - https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/apprentices/career-starter-apprenticeships

Cluster

A cluster is a sub-set of a pathway and brings together the occupations that are most closely related in terms of their knowledge, skills, and behaviours.

Cross functional competence (knowledge and skills that are useful in a range of jobs)

An individual has knowledge, skills and behaviours that can be found within a range of occupations. This improves a person's competence, so they can perform a specific function (e.g.: overseeing workplace health and safety), alongside their occupational competence.  E.g., the competence a learner obtains from completing a cross-functional level 3 qualification such as emergency first aid. 

Dark-green occupation

A dark green occupation, for example wind turbine engineer, is embedded within the green occupational landscape and delivering sustainable outcomes.

Degree apprenticeship standard

An apprenticeship that mandates a full bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Duty or duties

The activities/competencies that will be carried out by a competent person in a specific occupation; requires the application of knowledge, skills and behaviours in the workplace. Duties always begin with a verb.

Employer-led

We work with employers, using their expertise to develop and approve technical education products that meet their needs.

End-point assessment

Rigorous robust and independent assessment undertaken by an apprentice at the end of training to test that the apprentice can perform in the occupation they have been trained in and can demonstrate the duties, and knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) set out in the occupational standard.

Funding bands

Each apprenticeship standard is allocated to one of 30 funding bands. The upper limit of each funding band caps the maximum amount of digital funds an employer who pays the levy can use towards an individual apprenticeship.

Green Job Taskforce

The Green Jobs Taskforce launched in 2020 to set the direction for the job market as we transition to a high-skill, low carbon economy. It was convened by ministers from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Department for Education (DfE), and was made up of members from industry, trade unions, the skills sector. The taskforce concluded in July 2021.

Green occupations

Green Occupations and the occupational standards that describe them are the basis of apprenticeships and technical qualifications. Occupations have been categorised as mid and dark green via a leaf icon on the maps to indicate the impact that the occupation has, in terms of scale and influence, on helping the UK achieve net-carbon zero by 2050.

Dark-green occupation
A dark-green occupation, for example wind turbine engineer, is embedded within the green occupational landscape and delivering sustainable outcomes.

Mid-green occupation
A mid-green occupation will remain the same in overall scope but there might be a need for new knowledge, skills and behaviours to be embedded to enable the use of new technologies and approaches. 

There is evidence from research that young people want jobs and careers that align with their passion for tackling climate change and environmental issues and employers would like to see the breadth of occupations available to equip their organisations with the climate change and environmental skills they need.

Green themes

Through the improvement of working practices, all occupations can contribute to the country’s achievement of its environmental and climate changes goals. However, there are occupations in certain areas, such as offshore wind electricity generation, that are particularly important to helping the country meet these goals.

Building on the initial work of the Green Jobs Taskforce and the subsequent work of the Green Jobs Delivery Group we have identified 11 areas that are particularly important, which we are referring to as green themes, and where appropriate we have mapped occupations to these themes.

By allowing users to select themes to display, they will quickly be able to identify all occupations that are relevant to a particular green theme that might be of interest to them.

Higher Technical Qualification (HTQ)

Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) are level 4 or 5 qualifications that have been quality marked by IfATE to indicate their alignment to employer-led occupational standards. New or existing level 4 or 5 qualifications submitted to IfATE’s approvals process will receive a quality-mark if the qualification satisfies our approvals criteria.

HTQs align to existing occupational standards at level 4 and 5 and allow learners to enter their chosen profession or progress onto higher education. HTQs are a great choice for learners progressing from T-levels and allow progression onto higher apprenticeships at level 6 and 7.

HTQs can also be embedded within occupational standards as part of a mandated qualification, and accelerated apprenticeships.

Occupational standards marked with an orange HTQ symbol indicate that there are approved HTQs aligned to the standard.

IfATE approved product

A product (apprenticeship, T Level, technical or higher technical qualification) that has received IfATE approval.

Integrated degree apprenticeship standard

An apprenticeship that mandates a full bachelor’s or master’s degree, which incorporates the end-point assessment. The higher education institution delivering the degree must be on the register of apprenticeship training providers and the register of end-point assessment organisations.

Knowledge, Skills, Behaviours (KSBs)

What is needed to competently undertake the duties required for an occupational standard.

Level 2 and 3 occupations (Technical occupations)

These occupations require the application of knowledge, skills and problem solving in a range of activities or tasks, which can be complex and non-routine. They may require responsibility for supervising others.

Level 4 and 5 occupations (Higher Technical occupations)

These occupations require the application of knowledge, skills and problem solving in a broad range of activities or tasks, which are complex and non-routine. They require the ability to analyse, interpret and evaluate information and ideas. They may also require responsibility for managing others, and a level of planning, autonomy and judgement.

Level 6 and 7 occupations (Professional occupations)

These occupations require the application of advanced knowledge, skills and problem solving across a wide range of complex settings. They require the ability to critically analyse, interpret and evaluate complex information and ideas. They may also require responsibility for leading others, and initiating, planning and developing complex tasks and processes.

Mid-green occupation

A mid-green occupation will remain the same in overall scope but there might be a need for new knowledge, skills and behaviours to be embedded to enable the use of new technologies and approaches. 

Not applicable (technical education progression)

Progression to a product is not applicable where a learner may have covered the content to a high level as part of a previous technical education product. They will not need to complete the apprenticeship in this step. There may be some areas a learner will need to further develop in a workplace environment following a T Level to reach full competence.

Occupation

An occupation is skilled employment which has similar requirements across employers and workplaces. The basis of IfATE approved apprenticeships and technical education products are occupations that meet our criteria.

Occupational competence (ability to do the job effectively)

An individual has all the knowledge, skills and behaviours in the occupational standard, and is able to apply them practically in the workplace as required by employers. E.g., the competence a learner obtains from completing an apprenticeship.  

Occupational entry competence (job ready)

An individual has knowledge, skills, and behaviours that employers have identified as sufficient to enter skilled employment, with a need for further learning or training in work to reach occupational competence. E.g., the competence a learner obtains from completing a T Level. 

Occupational level

Level assigned to an occupation, based on its difficulty and degree of autonomy. An occupation’s level is determined by its knowledge, skills and behaviours.

Occupational maps

The occupational maps show all the occupations for which apprenticeships and technical qualifications are available. They group occupations with related knowledge, skills and behaviours, making it easier to see how they relate to one another.

Occupational profile

Description of what someone in the occupation usually does, including duties.

Occupational progression

A progression link between two occupations indicates there are knowledge and skills used in the occupations that may be transferable from one to the other. This means that individuals with knowledge and skills from one occupation could potentially progress into the other. Progression could take place between occupations in the same route, between occupations in different routes and may be displayed across different levels or at the same level.

Progression links have been identified using a range of information which includes individual learner record data, data comparing the knowledge and skills in occupations and employer insight.

Progression links are indicative, therefore, individual careers advice and guidance to further inform training requirements and/or individual progression options is advised.

Occupational standard

Occupational standards are employer-led descriptions of an occupation with associated duties, knowledge, skills and behaviours. They are the basis of all of IfATE’s apprenticeships and technical education products.

Occupational standard in development

An occupational standard is being developed for an occupation.

Pathway

A pathway is a sub-division of a route and groups occupations with similar knowledge, skills and behaviours into occupational clusters.

Potential occupational standard

Employers have identified this as a recognised occupation but a trailblazer group has not yet formed to develop a standard to define the occupation and form the basis for the development of technical education products.

Progression

Progression is the development of an individual’s career by building on their knowledge and skills through further learning or training e.g., an apprenticeship, qualification or on-the-job experience.

Provides occupational competence

The description of the occupation must fully define what employers expect an individual skilled in the occupation to be able to do.

Route

The 15 routes group skilled occupations with related knowledge and skill requirements. Each route has a corresponding occupational map.

Royal apprenticeships

Salary

The average (median) salary for the occupation's associated SOC code.

This data is from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), released 26 October 2022, statistical bulletin, Employee earnings in the UK: 2022 (ASHE Table 14 4 digit Occupation)

Sector Subject Area classification (SSA)

Classification system used to classify qualifications into sectors or subject areas. It is owned by Ofqual and used widely across the education and skills system. Our SSA maps group occupational standards into 15 Sector Subject Areas.

Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)

Common classification of occupational information for the UK. It is used to classify workers into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data.

The extended Standard Occupational Classification addresses user need for increased granularity by creating an additional level of detail within the existing SOC 2020. This level of the classification is termed "Sub Unit Group" (SUG) and comprises six digits.

T Levels

T Levels are new, two-year, technical study programmes, designed with employers to give young people the skills that industry needs. They will provide a mixture of:

• Technical knowledge and skills specific to their chosen industry or occupation
• An industry placement of at least 45 days in their chosen industry or occupation
• Relevant maths, English and digital skills.

T Levels are allocated UCAS tariff points. Please consult the list of providers that accept T Levels for entry onto a minimum of one course and check with a specific provider to determine if it accepts T Levels for a particular course.

Technical education

Technical education is training or learning that provides individuals with the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are needed for one or more occupations. This training or learning can be both on and off the job, through apprenticeships and technical qualifications.

Technical education progression

T Levels are based on occupational standards and provide a mixture of technical knowledge and skills specific to a chosen industry alongside an industry placement of at least 45 days.

Learners can progress into a range of options including employment, apprenticeships, and higher and further education (including degrees and Higher Technical Qualification).

T Levels attract UCAS points in line with A Levels to help support progression into higher education.

Many learners will be able to move onto a relevant apprenticeship at level 4 or above. In some cases, learners might want the opportunity to work in a different or more specialist area. This would take into account the prior learning gained through the completion of a T Level to reduce the duration and identify the learners specific training needs.

To be confirmed (technical education progression)

The apprenticeship is in revision or further work is taking place. This will be updated as soon as possible to indicate if the apprenticeship can be accelerated or is not applicable.

Trailblazer

Groups of employers and other stakeholders that develop, review and revise IfATE’s technical education products.

Training provider

Any organisation that delivers apprenticeship training. For example, a college, higher education institution, private training organisation. Training providers delivering training for apprenticeships must be on the register of apprenticeship training providers.