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NARRATOR:'High-tech engineer, dental nurse, hairdresser. An apprenticeship can be a great way to get yourself skilled up without going to uni, and earn some hard cash while you're training.

NARRATOR:'There are currently over 1,500 types of job you can do as an apprentice. To find out more, we got together six school students. Each will discover what it's like to be an apprentice for a day.'

NARRATOR:'Here's Evie's story.'

EVIE:Hi, I'm Evie. I'm 15. I'm doing ten GCSEs, my favourite one is PE, but what I really love doing is playing football.

EVIE:I've played it since I was seven and it's a great feeling when you score a goal.

EVIE:I live in the Lake District, so I love outdoor activities. I love hill walking and I do a lot of road cycling. For my future, I've been considering university courses but I've also been looking at apprenticeships and I'd really like to find out more.

NARRATOR:'Evie and the other, would-be apprentices meet someone who knows plenty about jobs and how to choose the right one.'

AIMEE:The fantastic thing about apprenticeships, from your point of view, is that you're getting a qualification as well as being paid. Okay? So, you're actually getting a salary. You're getting the experience on your CV that will benefit you throughout your career.

AIMEE:Before even thinking about what apprenticeship you should take, I think it's really important that you guys start thinking about what you're good at. What's most important is that you enjoy what you do. Because if you're happy, then you'll be successful.

NARRATOR:'Evie has an in-depth session with careers mentor Aimee.'

EVIE:I'm into loads of different sports. I've played four different sports at county level.

AIMEE:Do you get involved in the coaching side of it?

EVIE:Yeah.

EVIE:I help out with the PDC, which is, Play Development Centre in Cumbria, and I help coach the under 11s and under 9 girls.

AIMEE:OK. Do you enjoy that?

EVIE:I do, I love it. I'm not bothered about money and that sort of stuff. I just want to–

AIMEE:–I was gonna ask what motivates you.

EVIE:Yeah.

EVIE:I'm motivated by doing what I love doing and helping people.

AIMEE:And the good thing about not being motivated by money is that that allows you a massive amount of freedom, because now you can just, "Look right, what do I really love doing?" And make that your career and it can be done, for sure.

EVIE: Yeah.

AIMEE: For sure.

EVIE: Yeah.

AIMEE:Okay, so taking on board, all of the things that you enjoy and also the things that you are good at, we'll organise for you to spend a day with one of the leading outdoor educational centres. How does that sound?

EVIE:Sounds brilliant. I'd love to do that, yeah.

AIMEE:I think you'd be fantastic at it.

EVIE:Thank you.

NARRATOR:'Evie's going to spend the day shadowing apprentice outdoor learning tutor, Tom.'

TOM:Guys shuffle out over here, please. Go and stand over there for me, please. Go, go, go. So, team, may I introduce Evie. Evie is gonna be working with us today.

ALL: Hi, Evie!

NARRATOR:'And it's straight in at the deep end, leading a group of inner city youngsters up a mountainside torrent.'

EVIE:Good balancing, there.

TOM:'When I came in, I didn't really have any qualifications as such. I've got a lot of outdoor experience,' but I didn't have any actual pieces of paper to back that up. But they could see that I was keen and willing to learn.

NARRATOR:'Tom's halfway through his year apprenticeship. When he's finished, he'll have an NVQ Level 3 qualification and a Mountain Leader Award. But it's not just about doing adventurous activities. To be a successful outdoor tutor, you need to know how to deal well with children.'

TOM:'It's a lot about projecting the right kind of attitudes to the kids.

TOM:If something is difficult,' then you need to make them think that they can do it, because a lot of them, they have the capacity to do these things, they just… There's an overriding discomfort there, because a lot of these kids have never even walked on uneven ground before, you know, so to take them up a mountain, it's a big step.

TOM:The bigger ones can get their feet on. The littler ones can only get their knees on and they will just come up on their knees.

EVIE:Yeah.

EVIE:If you can, you can put your foot here. If you can.

EVIE:There we go. Brilliant.

EVIE:'Why did you decide to do this sort of qualification instead of going to university?'

TOM:You can come out of university having spent about 48 grand after three or four years at uni, and you'd come out with maybe a couple of qualifications. You can learn things doing this every day that you don't learn in the classroom.

TOM:Three years spent working in the outdoors versus three years studying the outdoors doesn't give you the same level of experience. Shall we carry on? Who's going to be our next leader?

EVIE:It's a bit cold, but it's good fun. You have to be 18 to do this apprenticeship and you actually live here whilst you're doing it. How do you find that?

TOM:'It's amazing, yeah. I mean, the pay's not great but at the end of the month I still get 400 quid in my pocket. I don't have any overheads. I get all my food.' I never have to worry about anything like that, so you know I think it's a pretty good shout. 'And for the view that I've got, looking out across Derwent Water, it's second to none.'

EVIE:Would you recommend doing an apprenticeship?

TOM:Absolutely. Yes, yes, I would. I think it's a superb way to spend time. 'And, you'll get a sound base of skills, people skills, group skills, teamwork skills, that will help you in any job. So, you know my personal confidence' three years after starting down this road is so much greater than it was when I started.

TOM:Yeah, I'd absolutely whole-heartedly recommend it.

EVIE:The sun's out now. Beautiful.

NARRATOR:'Evie meets the boss, to find out more.'

EVIE:When you're employing an apprentice, what sort of qualities are you looking for?

ANDY:I guess we're looking for… some confidence working with young people.

ANDY:So we are look for some evidence that apprentices have either worked in the past with kids, or they've done some volunteering like, you know, through sort of Scouts and Guides, or even just gone to, like, the local primary school and asked if they can sort of help out and do stuff like that.

TOM:One more, Alexis. Hook that foot up onto the next one.

EVIE:So bring your feet up. Brilliant.

ANDY:'From a skills point of view, if you look at sort of, you know, canoeing, kayaking, hill walking and rock climbing, those are like, sort of, your mainstay of activities.'

ANDY:We're really after some strength in a couple of those, maybe some qualifications, even just at a basic sort of level. But also we are after people who have got quite a lot of personal experience. If you are working at sort of this level with kids, then you need to have a personal experience level of,

ANDY:you know, something like that, to give you a decent buffer zone in case you come across any problems.

EVIE:Would you recommend an apprenticeship as a good way into the outdoor industry?

ANDY:Yeah, definitely. It's one of a number of ways in and it's one of those jobs where there isn't a clear career path in.

ANDY:'Certainly here, it gives young people a great opportunity to come and be based in the Lake District and to get out, and when you're not working, get out and play in the Lake District as well, which is actually encouraged because it's all working on your personal experience.

ANDY:It's not a particularly well-paid industry.' There are good jobs out there, but they are hard to get, and you need to be good, so the younger you start, the more chance of sticking in you have to get those good jobs. Outdoor education is a kind of a worldwide phenomenon really.

ANDY:It's a fantastic opportunity to travel, to get a suntan and just be able to enjoy yourself, and do those activities in lots of different places and it's just wonderful. [LAUGHS]

EVIE:I've had a really good day today. I've seen that Tom does something which he really loves to do. He's earning money while he's still getting an education. I'm really interested to go find out more about all the different apprenticeships that are out there.