A DOZEN apprentices have been given a major career boost by a North-East steel firm.

The group from training charity TTE in Middlesbrough have secured sponsorship from Tata Steel for advanced level apprenticeships after completing a year of TTE’s Engineering Pathway programme where they achieved vocational qualifications and workshop-based practical experience delivered by industry experts.

The apprentices will spend a further 12 months at TTE’s specialist technical training centre before joining the workforce at Tata Steel gaining invaluable on-the-job experience while also achieving additional industry-respected qualifications.

At TTE, the students take part in significant workshop-based training to develop the core skills required by employers. Students work towards Level 2 or 3 qualifications alongside practical experience utilising industry-standard equipment at TTE’s large workshop facility and are trained by industry specialists who also deliver skills and qualifications to global companies.

Once they join Tata Steel’s workforce in 2015, they will work across a range of roles at either Teesside Beam Mill or Special Profiles in Skinningrove, based on their engineering disciplines.

The group consists of mechanical, electrical, fabrication and welding apprentices. Their progress will be assessed by TTE staff, who will visit the apprentices on site, as they work towards to completing their apprenticeship and securing further qualifications.

Teesside Beam Mill employs more than 200 people in the rolling and finishing of structural sections for use in the construction industry. The mill supplies to worldwide markets of both stockholders and end-users.

Special Profiles is considered to be the world’s leading manufacturer of custom-designed, hot-rolled special shaped steel profiles.

It supplies a wide-range of industries world-wide including earthmoving equipment, materials handling, shipbuilding and mining.

This latest group of apprentices is following in the footsteps of a group of 16 TTE students who were sponsored by Tata Steel at the end of their Vocational Study Programme last year and are entering the final year of their training with Tata Steel.

Tony Malone, a maintenance engineer at Tata Steel said: “Apprenticeships are an essential part of our workforce development and it’s important to generate new opportunities for young people keen to enter industry.

“The current group of apprentices, who joined us last year, are benefiting from working with our teams at Teesside Beam Mill and Special Profiles and we look forward to tracking the progress of our new recruits until they join us on site in a year’s time.”

Steve Grant, the managing director of TTE, said: “By sponsoring these young people before they complete the Vocational Study Programme at TTE enables Tata Steel to work with our trainers to play a part in the apprentices’ development. This adds value to the knowledge the apprentices will bring to Tata Steel when they join the workforce alongside the skills and qualifications they will learn at TTE.

“Their training at TTE is giving them the ideal preparation for joining Tata Steel. We operate our training centre like a working environment so students develop important skills such as timekeeping, team working and health and safety awareness alongside their engineering training. This enables them to be workplace-ready and more attractive to employers.”