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�The Evolving Apprenticeship Workforce: Navigating Change in Tripartite Roles

Dr Helen Charlton – h.charlton@northumbria.ac.uk

Dr Phil Power-Mason – p.power-mason@herts.ac.uk

Dr Nicky Westwood (UVAC Associate) – DrNWestwood@NIWConsultingLtd.com

Thursday 20^th November 2025

UVAC Conference 2025

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Session Outline��

Historical context of the HETP role
Current status of the role
Exploring (your) diverse institutional practices

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Historical Context

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Higher Education Tripartite Practitioners (HETPs): An Overview

Specialist roles working at the intersection of HEIs, employers, and apprentices
Function as boundary-spanners: translating, brokering and assuring quality across settings
Focus on integrative learning and authentic assessment in the workplace
Contributes to the continuity across recruitment, induction, on‑programme support and end‑point assessment

Charlton & Power-Mason (2025). Higher Education Tripartite Practitioners as an Emerging Role in UK Higher Education. Vocation, Technology and Education. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54844/vte.2025.0939

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Higher Education Tripartite Practitioners (HETPs): An Overview

Critical in ongoing relationship management

Key link contact with line managers; often involved in needs assessments and/or support personalisation

Ensuring key records and templates are in place; induction and/or welcome activities

Ensuring and assuring professional development, apprentices timely progress, attendance etc.

Undertaking PRMs, supporting link between training to practice

Facilitating access to appropriate work-based learning; managing compliance records and evidence

Hosting collaborative gateway meetings; EPAO or assessor submissions; timely completions requirements

Preparation and ‘mock’ exercises; next steps and career progression.

Can bring ‘modal’ expertise in tripartite work

Starting points of learners- KSB alignment

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How did these roles emerge?

Expansion of degree apprenticeships and work‑integrated provision in England
Introduction of the apprenticeship levy, ESFA funding rules, and subsequent Ofsted inspection framework stimulated new institutional infrastructures
Need for coordinated tripartite communication, compliance and quality assurance
Professionalisation of functions: skills coach, trainer‑assessor, work‑based learning tutor

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What do we know about HETPs?

Currently operating under a diverse range of role titles, responsibilities, organisational structures, and disciplines
Address common tripartite challenges: alignment, communication, monitoring and evidence
Enable integrative learning practices that link compliance to development
Mediate demands faced by individual apprentices across work, learning and wider personal experiences
Improve employer engagement and learner progression through structured review cycles

Power-Mason, Charlton, & Tran (Forthcoming). Navigating Tensions in Higher Education Tripartite Practice: Experiences of the Intrinsic–Instrumental Nature of Apprenticeship. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning.

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Current Status

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Where are these roles now? Policy shifts and inspection

Increased scrutiny of quality and impact for apprenticeships and work‑based learning
Education Inspection Framework (EIF) from November 2025 heightens focus on curriculum intent, implementation and impact
Stronger expectations for employer partnership, learner development and evidence of progress
Data stewardship and compliance integrated into day‑to‑day HETP practice

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Situating Current Practice within the Education Inspection Framework

Quality of Education (aligned to the Education Inspection Framework)

Intent: Linking curriculum rationale to occupational competence; milestones and evaluation co-produced with employers and learners to ensure relevance and currency.
Implementation: Higher Education Tripartite Practitioners (HETPs) model disciplinary–workplace translation, calibrate mentors, scaffold reflection and evidence routines, and triangulate on-/off-the-job learning to show progression.
Impact: Moderated authentic assessment and employer-validated portfolios/artefacts evidence competence, learner confidence, and readiness for progression.

This slide positions current practice against the Education Inspection Framework by showing how the pedagogic framework operationalises each judgement area. For intent, programme outcomes are explicitly mapped to workplace competences and threshold concepts, with co-set progression milestones that specify what learners should know and be able to do and when. For implementation, Higher Education Tripartite Practitioners (HETPs) convene routine tripartite reviews, run workplace translation conversations to render academic aims actionable, calibrate mentors, and scaffold evidence-gathering so delivery is coherent across on- and off-the-job settings. For impact, moderated portfolios and other authentic artefacts are tied to standards, validated by employers, and tracked through defined indicators (progression, retention, destination), providing inspectable impact signals.

The same framework embeds behaviour and personal development through coached reflection and planned workplace tasks that surface professionalism, resilience, safeguarding and Fundamental British Values. Under leadership and management, the effective management of HETPs—clear remit, targeted continuing professional development, caseload norms, and ethical data stewardship—yields consistent records, dependable quality assurance and structured employer partnership governance, enabling providers to evidence a secure line from intent to implementation to impact.

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Situating Current Practice within the Education Inspection Framework

Behaviour & Personal Development

Coached reflection on professionalism, resilience, and FBVs within live workplace contexts; behaviours enacted and evidenced in authentic practice.
Systematic capture of learner voice and welfare indicators demonstrates an inclusive culture and targeted developmental support.

Leadership & Management

Leaders define the HETP remit, valid and industry informed CPD, and manageable caseloads; they govern consistent data, quality assurance, and partnership arrangements.
Curriculum governance, data stewardship, and tripartite collaboration are quality-assured through continuous monitoring, moderation, and improvement cycles to evidence Education Inspection Framework readiness.

This slide positions current practice against the Education Inspection Framework by showing how the pedagogic framework operationalises each judgement area. For intent, programme outcomes are explicitly mapped to workplace competences and threshold concepts, with co-set progression milestones that specify what learners should know and be able to do and when. For implementation, Higher Education Tripartite Practitioners (HETPs) convene routine tripartite reviews, run workplace translation conversations to render academic aims actionable, calibrate mentors, and scaffold evidence-gathering so delivery is coherent across on- and off-the-job settings. For impact, moderated portfolios and other authentic artefacts are tied to standards, validated by employers, and tracked through defined indicators (progression, retention, destination), providing inspectable impact signals.

The same framework embeds behaviour and personal development through coached reflection and planned workplace tasks that surface professionalism, resilience, safeguarding and Fundamental British Values. Under leadership and management, the effective management of HETPs—clear remit, targeted continuing professional development, caseload norms, and ethical data stewardship—yields consistent records, dependable quality assurance and structured employer partnership governance, enabling providers to evidence a secure line from intent to implementation to impact.

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A pedagogic framework for practice

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The dual orientations of HETP practice �– a framework for practitioners and managers

Activities focused on development, forward-looking aspects, and the inherent value of learning and growth.

Activities focused on results, compliance, record-keeping, and meeting external requirements and standards.

Integrative: Practices which build on the necessity to align these orientations.

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Exploring diverse institutional approaches

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https://padlet.com/pm11aeb/HETP_Practice

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A facilitated group conversation

…then click here

Click on the theme you are discussing

Hit the ‘add post’ button.

Do this and then hit submit

And voila, your comment appears live – now tell us about it!

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Pulling the conversation together

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Where next?

What resonated most / least in our pedagogic frame?

How might we further evidence the impact this apprenticeship work(force) and it’s professionalisation?

What further support and development do practitioners, and institutions, need?

How might the conversations today help us all prepare for an evolving funding and regulatory landscape?

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Shameless Plug

If you are thinking about ‘what next’ for tripartite practice and organisation in your context, please get in touch:

P.Power-Mason@herts.ac.uk

h.charlton@northumbria.ac.uk

DrNWestwood@NIWConsultingLtd.com


Higher Education Tripartite Professionals	20^th January 2026 – 2-4pm	14/4/26 – 2-4pm	2^nd June 2026 2-4pm	October 2026 - TBC

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Thank you