Helen Hatter explains how apprenticeships are at the heart of driving lifelong learning, empowering people with knowledge, and providing opportunities for skill development and career growth.   

This year’s theme for National Apprenticeship Week 2026 (9–15 February) is Skills for Life, and it could not feel more timely, or powerful.

This theme challenges us to reflect on the critical role that skills and lifelong learning play in driving growth, innovation, and resilience in a rapidly evolving world. For me, it also captures something fundamental about apprenticeships: they break down barriers. They open doors, create pathways, and transform lives.

Throughout the week, we will be inviting our course teams, apprentices, support staff, employers, and partners to reflect on and celebrate the incredible impact apprenticeships have. From shaping careers, upskilling talent, strengthening organisations, and creating new opportunities. We will be encouraging people to share their stories, because the real power of apprenticeships lies in lived experience.

Apprenticeships are rightly seen as an attractive proposition for young people, offering the chance to earn while learning, which is particularly significant in the current cost-of-living climate and gain real-world experience. But for me, their true value goes even further.

Apprenticeships are opportunities for all. They sit at the heart of Canterbury Christ Church University’s widening participation ethos, deeply embedded within Vision 2030. They also drive meaningful innovation in the workplace by investing in the existing, experienced workforce, empowering people with new knowledge, confidence, and professional progression that directly improves services and outcomes.

Over the last fortnight, we have been privileged to witness the sheer joy of our recently completed degree apprentices as they celebrated their graduations. In March, we will see our Nursing Associate apprentices graduate; moments that remind us why this work matters. Seeing individuals realise ambitions they may once have thought were out of reach is genuinely aspirational and profoundly moving.

As part of National Apprenticeship Week, we are proud to be celebrating our health apprenticeships through a dedicated showcase event. This will bring together local health and social care employers with our senior leaders and course teams to explore workforce transformation, future skills needs, and how we can support the effective use of apprenticeship levy funding to build sustainable, skilled workforces.

National Apprenticeship Week is a celebration, but it is also a call to action. A reminder that skills for life are not just about qualifications, but about confidence, opportunity, belonging, and the power of education to change lives. 

Find out more information about Apprenticeships at CCCU.

Helen Hatter is Head of Apprenticeship Quality in the School of Nursing, Midwifery, Allied and Public Health, and the University’s UK Partnerships and Apprenticeships Unit.