Town Planner degree-level apprenticeship set to launch

The government has approved the first degree-level apprenticeship scheme for Chartered Town Planners after the Royal Town Planning Institute agreed to include face-to-face interviews as part of the assessment process.

The RTPI had hoped to introduce the Level 7 scheme developed by the Chartered Town Planner Trailblazer Employer Group last year but faced opposition from the Institute for Apprenticeships after it highlighted concerns around the assessment method.

With face-to-face interviews about the candidate’s vocational experience now included in the RTPI’s scheme and with the government approving the new apprenticeship, employers in the private and public sectors can start recruiting candidates immediately with a view to kicking off the programme in the autumn.

Apprentices will achieve Chartered Town Planner status once they have passed the End Point Assessment, which the RTPI said was in line with its established Assessment of Professional Competence process for assessing non-apprentice candidates from other routes.

At the moment most planners join the profession once they have graduated from RTPI-accredited undergraduate or post-graduate planning degrees.

More than 80 employers have shown interest in the scheme, which is expected to be completed within three to six years, the RTPI said. Existing graduates or employees with no planning qualifications may be eligible, it added.

Victoria Hills, the RTPI’s chief executive, said: “I am delighted that we can finally boost the training of planners that the country so desperately needs, and make this exciting profession accessible to many more people who might not have considered it before.

“The fact that we have successfully embedded our tried and tested route of assessment for chartered membership in the degree apprenticeship testifies to the RTPI’s role and expertise in assessing professional competence and is especially timely as we prepare to celebrate 60 years of our Royal Charter.”