Delivery features of apprenticeship courses : the influence on the mental health and wellbeing of apprentices

Umeokafor, Nnedinma and Soares, Anabela (2021) Delivery features of apprenticeship courses : the influence on the mental health and wellbeing of apprentices. (Project Report) Kingston upon Thames, U.K. : Kingston University.

Abstract

The mental health and wellbeing of apprentices in higher education has received little or no attention. Using Kingston University, London, UK, the reported study contributes to filling this gap by investigating the influence of higher education apprenticeship on the mental health and wellbeing (MHW) of apprentices. It used questionnaire survey’s and analysed the results with descriptive (Frequency, mean score, percentages) and inferential (Kendall’s tau-b tests) statistics. The study found the following mental health and wellbeing indicators where; ‘stressed caused by the programme e.g. attending school’ - ranks the highest means score (MS) of 3.90, followed by the apprentice experiencing ‘comfortable and affordable living with a MS of 3.53. The Kendall’s tau-b test shows 54 correlations between mental health and wellbeing, and measures of the characteristics of higher education apprenticeship. For example, there is a co-relationship between ‘lack of clarity in the responsibilities of parties in the programmes and ‘help with managing work-life balance’. The strategies for improving the MHW of the apprentices are not limited to being allocated more time to study, which has an MS of 4.28, lecturers being more approachable which has a MS of 4.54; and lecturers ‘making it more clear what is expected of apprentices with an MS of 4.28. The recommendations include making the lecturers approachable to apprentices, demonstrating how the diverse circumstances of the apprentices have accommodation, and lecturers being explicit on their expectation of the apprentices.

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