Employer Success Stories

Working Nationwide with Tesco

YMCA Training delivers a nationwide project in partnership with Tesco, the UK's most popular supermarket. We provide training for Key Skills Levels 1 and 2 to employees aged 16 years plus in 118 stores across the country. Last year, 366 Tesco employees achieved their Key Skills Level 1 qualification as a result of the partnership.

This programme complements the NVQ Level 2 in Retail which Tesco already offers, to provide employees with their Retail Apprenticeship.

We worked closely with Tesco to design the most effective means of delivering the training to their staff. Our Key Skills training is delivered in-store, which ensures the scheme runs efficiently, without affecting the day-to-day running of Tesco's supermarkets. Training Advisers commit to 10 visits to each store involved in the programme, to deliver the Key Skills training in one-to-one, group and workshop visits.

We also support Tesco by carrying out the initial sign-up of the learners and undertaking online testing for their Retail Technical Certificate, which constitutes a component of the Apprenticeship, and by providing additional guidance for the external verification process.

Paula Wrigglesworth, Apprenticeship Manager at Tesco said "Tesco have developed an effective professional relationship with YMCA Training, through delivering work based learning within our stores" We have always received excellent feedback from the learners about their experiences with YMCA Training"

Research shows that the training has been well received by learners throughout the stores, with 80% of all participants during 2005-2006 rating the quality of the Key Skills training provided as "very good." Louise, a Non-Food Stock Control Team Leader at Tesco commented "it's really great for someone to come in and help me update and improve on my skills, especially Maths, as I would like to progress later as a Section Manager."

David Monahan, National Contracts Manager at YMCA Training concluded "YMCA Training and Tesco have developed an excellent relationship as a result of day to day communication, which has ensured the effective delivery of training throughout the stores."