Caroline's Career Journey in Health and Social Care

Caroline Dagg, an apprentice of Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber Training, has been working in the Health and Social Care sector for years. She has worked in a variety of settings such as day care, community care and residential care, but for the past 10 years she has been working as an occupational therapy assistant and has been supporting hospital discharges.

For Caroline, the apprenticeship route was more appropriate for her as she did not enjoy school and by year 11, she decided that staying on for A levels wasn't for her. An exciting opportunity came along for Caroline to do an apprenticeship in the sector she loved which was Health and Social. Caroline enjoys looking after others and making a difference and so therefore the Health and Social Sector was ideal for Caroline.

Caroline says "I feel the advantages of doing the apprenticeship are that you don't have to give up your work and you are able to be paid whilst you are learning and training within the job role. By having a wage too is a great benefit, as costs are rising, so it is important to have an income. Staying on at school wasn't for me, so I didn't finish any, or I didn't do any A levels. I chose to go down an apprenticeship route and I got my NVQs instead. By doing an apprenticeship, I had no student debt to pay for and I feel like it is a great route to go down to meet your career aspirations!"

Since Caroline has done a level four apprenticeship, it has given her the qualifications to be able to go to university to do an occupational therapy apprenticeship. Caroline attends university one day a week whilst working four days a week. Caroline's apprenticeship has widened her options to progress onto a level 4 qualification. Caroline’s story proves that you don’t have to stay on at school to be able to go to university and that apprenticeships open your career path options.

If you are interested in doing an apprenticeship then please email enquiries@cw-chambertraining.co.uk or call 024 76231122.