Animal Care and Welfare Assistant Level 2 Apprenticeship

Throughout the apprenticeship you will gain the essential knowledge, skills and behaviours needed of an Animal Care and Welfare Assistant.

Knowledge
You will gain a comprehensive understanding of a range of knowledge areas, including:

• UK and EU Animal related legislation
• Assessing animal health and welfare
• Basic medication, routes of administering medication, safe handling and disposal of medication
• Safe and suitable accommodation and environmental requirements
• Species-specific animal behaviours and how they impact its care and welfare such as stress/distress/pain/fear/frustration
• How animals learn and the basic principles of re-enforcement techniques
• Skin and coat care requirements
• Basic anatomy and physiology
• Basic reproduction, obstetrics and reproductive behaviour, including neutering
• The importance of the human and animal bond
• The changing needs of animals’ dependent on their life stage

Skills
You will gain a number of skills including:

• How to work effectively in a safe and healthy working environment following legislation and workplace policies
• Maintaining hygiene, bio security procedures and infection controls including quarantine and isolation
• Approaching/handling/restraining/moving/recapturing animals
• Exercising/socialising animals and providing appropriate enrichment
• Providing food and water and monitoring intake
• Identifying and describing animals
• Maintaining and updating records
• Delivering customer experience in line with workplace policies and procedures
• Responding to animal first aid, urgent, ongoing and preventive care requirements

Behaviours
You will look at safe working, work ethic, responsibility, teamwork, communication and professionalism.

PATHWAYS
In addition to the core knowledge, skills and behaviours you will undertake further learning relevant to your job role and interests. There are a number of pathways you can choose at The College of Animal Welfare, these are:

Animal Interaction & Handling
Typical job roles of those undertaking this apprenticeship include Dog Day Care Assistants, Animal Welfare Assistant and Farm Park Assistants.

Rehoming
Typical job roles of those undertaking this apprenticeship include Animal Welfare Assistants, Zoo Keeper Assistants and those working in animal rescue centres.

Movement and Transportation
Typical job roles of those undertaking this apprenticeship include Animal Collection Officers, Animal Ambulance Drivers and Wildlife Rehabilitation Assistants.

Breeding
Typical job roles of those undertaking this apprenticeship include Animal Welfare Assistants working in breeding centres.

Working Dog Handler
Typical job roles of those undertaking this apprenticeship include Animal Handlers, Security Dog Handlers and Service Dog Handlers.

Operational/Reception Duties
Typical job roles of those undertaking this apprenticeship include Pet Retail Shop Assistants, Kennel/Cattery Assistants and Animal Day Care Assistants.

Wildlife Rehabilitation
Typical job roles of those undertaking this apprenticeship include Wildlife Rehabilitation Assistants, Zoo Keeper Assistants and Farm Park Assistants.

Functional Skills
Apprentices under 19 years of age will be required to undertake Functional Skills Level 1 and/or 2 in English and Maths unless exempt.

Off-The-Job Training Hours
You will undertake a minimum of six hours a week of off-the-job training hours, this is learning that takes place during your normal working hours. These could comprise of working through online course materials, time spent on your portfolio, undertaking relevant webinars etc.

You will compile a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate your knowledge, skills and behaviours. Once you have completed your portfolio, Functional Skills and a minimum of 12 months of training, you will be able to undertake the End Point Assessment (EPA). The EPA consists of:

1. Practical Assessment: An observation of the apprentice by an independent assessor completing two practical tasks.
2. Professional Discussion: A structured discussion between the apprentice and the independent assessor, made up of a portfolio review and 10 competency-based questions to establish an applied level of knowledge, skills and behaviour.

Your performance in the EPA will determine the apprenticeship grade of fail, pass or distinction.

This apprenticeship can be started at any time, once you have secured employment in a suitable animal care environment.

There are no formal academic entry requirements. However, you will need to be living and working in England within an animal care environment (such as a boarding kennels, cattery, rescue centre) and earning at least the National Minimum Wage for Apprentices. To complete this apprenticeship within the anticipated timeframe you will need to be working for a minimum of 30 hours per week, if you are working less than 30 hours a week the length of your apprenticeship will be extended depending on your working hours.

International qualifications
Students with foreign qualifications are required to have their certificates translated using a UK ENIC Statement to confirm if they have previously achieved Level 2 English and Level 2 maths for their apprenticeship. If a student has not previously achieved this, they will need to complete Functional Skills English and/or maths as part of their apprenticeship. More information about how to apply, how it works and prices can be found on the UK ENIC’s website here.

Additional Information
As our courses include online learning components, students are required to have access to a PC or laptop with a reliable internet connection.

Apprenticeship course fees are payable by the employer. Fees are dependent upon the size of the organisation you are employed in.

Course fees for Growth and Skills (Apprenticeship) Levy Paying Employers
(organisations with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million)

These employers will pay the full apprenticeship amount of £5,000 using their digital account.

Course fees for Non-Levy Paying Employers
(organisations with an annual pay bill of less than £3 million)

These employers will pay 5% (£250 in one payment) towards the cost of the apprenticeship using their digital account.

Please note that fees may be free for those aged 16-21 years, working in a non-levy paying organisation with less than 50 employees.

These are current figures and may be subject to change. The differences in course fees reflect the level of funding that is available as a result of government policies and priorities. These may be as a result of age, employment status, previous education achievements, or location for example, and are outside the control of CAW Business School (The College of Animal Welfare).

If you have not achieved your qualification by the planned end date detailed in your individual learning plan, your employer will be able to pay monthly direct debit payments to allow you to continue to receive support and access to your course until certification of your award.

Completing your apprenticeship is just the beginning of your journey in the animal care industry. By the end of the programme, you will have developed the confidence, practical experience and professional skills employers are looking for in modern animal care settings.

You can progress directly into roles within kennels and catteries, rescue and rehoming centres, doggy day care facilities, pet retail, farm parks, wildlife rehabilitation organisations and animal welfare charities, for example.

Many apprentices continue building their careers by taking on greater responsibility within their workplace, supervising junior staff, supporting animal training and enrichment programmes, or becoming key members of animal welfare and care teams.

If you want to continue studying, you can progress onto higher-level qualifications such as the Level 3 Animal Care and Welfare Manager Apprenticeship.

Most importantly, you will leave with real industry experience, recognised qualifications and the opportunity to build a rewarding career making a positive difference to the lives of animals every day.

Yes. In order to undertake this apprenticeship, you must be living and working in England in a suitable animal care organisation, such as a boarding kennels or cattery, doggy day care centre, city farm, animal rescue centre etc.

Off-the-job (OTJ) training hours are mandatory, paid learning hours for apprentices that take place during normal working hours to help them to gain new skills and knowledge outside of their normal daily work duties. This could be working through online course materials, undertaking webinars, time spent on your portfolio etc. Each apprentice has to undertake a minimum of six OTJ hours per week (this may be pro-rata for part-time employees).

Unfortunately not, apprenticeships must be paid for by the employer. It is also important that your employer is supportive of you undertaking the apprenticeship as they would have to allow you a minimum of six hours a week of off-the-job training.

At the current time, you would need to find your own employment in an animal care organisation to begin this apprenticeship. We are sometimes asked by employers to help them to recruit an apprentice; any apprenticeship vacancies we know about will be advertised on our Apprenticeship Vacancies webpage – you can also sign up to receive new apprenticeship job alerts via this page.