Emergency Fire Service Operations

Learning Programme Content

The Learning Programme provision shall comprise of three mandatory elements:

• Qualifications,
• Essential Skills
• On/off the job training

The total minimum credit value required for the Level 3 Emergency Fire Service Operations pathway is 45 credits.

Entry requirements

The following skills and attributes are essential to apprentices in this occupation:

• motivation to succeed
• willingness to learn and apply that learning in the workplace
• ability to communicate effectively with a range of people
• ability to work in a team environment
• ability to achieve operational physical fitness

Firefighters often work under a shift based system; so an apprentice must be prepared to Work days, nights, weekends and bank holidays as required.

There are no formal entry conditions for this pathway, however anyone wishing gain employment as a firefighter within any of the three Welsh Fire & Rescue services will have to go through a stringent recruitment process. Detailed below are some of the activities that will be undertaken as part of that process:

• Applicants will be put through a range of ability tests including psychological tests to assess their ability to process information, problem solve and work with numbers.
• There is a questionnaire to assess their personal qualities and attributes.
• Applicants also have to complete numerous physical tests which assess their physical competence and their confidence and ability to follow instructions.
• Applicants will undergo a medical that will include eyesight and hearing standards

Due to the high-risk nature of the work applicants to Fire and Rescue Services will be required to reach the age of 18 years or over before undertaking any physical tests and/or operational duties.

This pathway is for firefighters from a Fire and Rescue Service. Firefighters respond to emergency situations and rescue life and property from all types of incidents. They protect the environment from the effects of hazardous materials during fire and rescue incidents. They also make an area safer by minimising the risks, including the social and economic costs, caused by fire and other hazards. This Level 3 pathway will allow

firefighters to build the knowledge and skills needed to perform their job role competently.

Apprenticeship pathway learning programme(s)

Level 3: Emergency Fire Service Operations

Level 3: Emergency Fire Service Operations Qualifications

Participants must achieve the combined qualification below.

Please see Annex 1 for the relationship between the competence and knowledge units within the combined qualification.

Essential Skills Wales (ESW)

Essential Skills Wales qualifications assessment languages are English-Welsh

On/Off the Job training

On/Off the Job Qualification details (Minimum Credit & Hours)

Emergency Fire Service Operations  - 667 hours (minimum).

On/Off the Job Essential Skills details (Minimum Credit & Hours)

• 6 credits/60 GLH Level 2 Essential Skills Wales Communication
• 6 credits/60 GLH Level 2 Essential Skills Wales Application of Number
• 6 credits/60 GLH Level 2 Essential Skills Wales Digital Literacy

Other additional requirements

Applicants have to complete a declaration of any criminal convictions that are unspent (under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974).

This qualification is available to learners aged 18 years and over.

Progression

Progression into this pathway

Progression into this pathway can be from a variety of routes including:

• direct entry from a school, college or other training programme
• direct entry from another occupation
• direct entry from young firefighter schemes
• direct entry for existing firefighters
• those who are not currently in education, employment or training
• training and qualifications such as Welsh Baccalaureate with Principal Learning Qualification in Public Services or BTEC Level 2 Award/Certificate/Diploma in Fire and Rescue Services in the Community

Progression from this pathway:

Jobs:

Progression from this pathway, with further experience/training, may be into more senior roles within the Fire and Rescue Services, for example:

• Crew Manager
• Watch Manager
• Station Manager
• Group Manager
• Area Manager
• Brigade Manager

Progression from this pathway may also be into other roles within the Justice and Community

Safety sector, for example; Police Officer, Police Community Support Officer (PCSO).

Further training and qualifications:

Progression within the Fire Service will involve firefighters expanding and extending their

occupational knowledge into areas and qualifications such as:

• Leadership
• Management
• Command
• Community Safety
• Fire Safety
• Learning & Development
• Other professional qualifications

The achievement of the qualifications within the pathway will offer entry opportunities into Higher Education.

Equality and diversity

It is important that apprenticeship Pathways are inclusive and can demonstrate an active approach to identifying and removing barriers to entry and progression. Pathways should advance equality of opportunity between persons who share protected characteristics and those persons who do not as identified in the Equality Act 2010.

The Protected characteristics identified in the Equality Act are age, disability, gender re-assignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity. Marriage and civil partnership is also included although only in respect of the requirement to eliminate discrimination in employment.

Training providers and employers MUST also comply with the other duty under the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that applicants are not discriminated against in terms of entry to the industry based upon those nine protected characteristics.

A key concern of the sector is that it does not reflect the community it serves.  Women, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, and those who identify as LGBT are currently under-represented within the operational workforce.

Within the Fire and Rescue the workforce is predominantly white male. The general make up of the wider workforce in the Justice and Community Safety sectors is around 53% male and 95% white.  Over half of the Justice and Community Safety Sectors workforce is between the age of 35 and 54 with around 10% aged over 55.  Low staff turnover and high application rate (3,000 +) means it will take an extensively longer period of time to increase not just diversity of applications but also the diversity of successful applicants.

Likely reasons which have contributed to this imbalance include - A perception of the sector as high risk; and a perceived lack of career opportunities may be limiting the number of applicants.  People wishing to enter the sector are often unaware of the breadth of opportunity and different roles that the Justice and Community Safety sectors offer, as well as the scope of career pathways from these roles. In particular the ways in which they could enter one area of the Justice/Community Safety sector by transferring skills gained in another area lack of an Apprenticeship route which offers a high quality standardised programme of training and development within Fire and Rescue Services and across the wider Justice and Community Safety sectors

In order to address these issues, awareness of Fire and Rescue Services as a profession is being raised through:

• producing careers information, advice and guidance including, career progression pathways and case studies.
• raising awareness to encourage people from under-represented groups to consider the Fire and Rescue Service as a career.
• development of Apprenticeships to create progression routes into and from occupations within Fire and Rescue Services.
• positive action initiatives have been set up to encourage an inclusive environment and positive culture within the workplace, such as promoting development opportunities to all staff, looking at new ways to increase representation in both staff and service delivery.

Skills for Justice will monitor take up and achievement of all Apprenticeships in the Justice and Community Safety sectors.

Employment responsibilities and rights

Employment Responsibilities and Rights (ERR) is no longer compulsory.  But it is recommended that all apprentices (especially the 16 years -18 year group) receive a company induction programme.

Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the Training Provider and Employer to ensure that the requirements of this pathway are delivered in accordance with the Welsh Government Apprenticeships Guidance.

Further information may be obtained from: Welsh Government

DfES-ApprenticeshipUnit@gov.wales

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