Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Practitioner Apprenticeship

The Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Apprenticeship develops the skills needed to innovate and drive ambition for social and environmental change within organisations.

As societal expectations for responsible business practices continue to grow, this apprenticeship provides a strong platform for delivering meaningful impact. Apprentices gain hands-on experience in implementing their organisation’s CR&S strategy while responding to these wider expectations.

This Level 4 apprenticeship also builds a solid theoretical foundation, enabling apprentices to understand the core principles of corporate responsibility and sustainability.

What’s Included

Programmes tailored to your organisation

Free practical short courses

Personalised support

Dedicated mentor

Study Options and Start Dates

Our apprenticeships are taught via live online workshops, supported by a one-to-one monthly trainer meeting with our subject experts. We have flexible start dates throughout the year. Get in touch with our team to find out more.

What’s Involved

Structure & Delivery

Our apprenticeships are delivered through a blend of virtual and face to face sessions, led by subject specialists. Our flexible delivery mode and small cohort sizes enable us to tailor apprenticeship programmes to your particular requirements.

During their time on the programme, apprentices will cover a range of core areas and topics including:

Strategy development and project planning
Identifying CR&S opportunities and threats
Researching the CR&S landscape
Managing change
Building stakeholder relationships
Creative thinking
Fund raising, budget and event management
Actively champions the CR&S agenda
Committed to developing self and others to support CR&S engagement
Seeks innovative ways to add value to CR&S issues while remaining objective
Ethical and non-judgmental.

Entry Requirements

For apprentices aged 16-18, achieving Functional Skills qualifications in Maths and English is mandatory, unless already obtained the equivalent GCSE at grade 4/C or above.

For apprentices aged 19 and over, undertaking Functional Skills is optional but must be agreed with the employer.

Details of the Programme

Once completed, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Practitioners will have acquired the following knowledge and skills, and will be able to exhibit the following behaviours:

Knowledge:

How the positioning of the CR&S function within an organisation can impact CR&S performance.
Techniques for managing and influencing stakeholder relationships.
Techniques for reporting on CR&S delivery against objectives.
Principles for developing a strategy that manages the social, environmental and ethical risks and opportunities of an organisation.
The importance and impact of the sector specific factors (the legislation, guidance and best practice) when developing a CR&S strategy.
Principles of CR&S budget management.
How CR&S delivery is impacted by the environment, social and governance agendas affecting industry.

Skills:

Balance own CR&S workload to prioritise competing demands and achieve key performance indicators.
Contribute to the negotiation of external CR&S projects of mutual benefit.
Contribute to the drafting of the CR&S strategy.
Select and analyse data that is relevant to the CR&S issues being considered, to form evidence-based conclusions on CR&S performance.
Contribute to reporting externally on CR&S strategy and delivery, in line with industry and legislative requirements.
Research the CR&S landscape, escalating best practice opportunities within own organisation.

Behaviours:

Actively champion the CR&S agenda/ethos.
Commit to developing self and others in ways that support SC&R engagement.
Work within own level of authority, seeking support when needed.
Take the lead in helping others to achieve CR&S results (within limits of own role).
Seek innovative ways to add value to CR&S issues, while remaining objective.
Stand by difficult CR&S decisions and hold your team/organisation to account.
Be ethical and non-judgemental.

Career Progression

The Level 4 CRS Apprenticeship with Oxford Professional Education is a pathway to progress further within the field of sustainability. This apprenticeship can support career progression towards the following roles: