DCG Success Stories

In her learning support role with Derby College Group, Josie Hardaker-Smith helps young aerospace engineering apprentices at Rolls-Royce to stay on track. 

Josie, 35, is an apprentice progress coach, working with level 2 and level 3 Rolls-Royce apprentices who are taking their programmes with DCG. 

And, when she’s not supporting her apprentice cohort at work, she’s busy building on her own teaching skills via DCG’s Level 3 Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring. 

Josie said: “I enrolled on the part-time course as part of my continuous professional development (CPD), but also to gain greater insight into professional coaching. I wanted to see how the catering apprenticeship and ran her own café for several years.” 

But Josie, who modestly admits to “doing okay at school,” decided to revisit her academic ambitions during lockdown.  

Denied the chance to go into sixth form after GCSEs, she enrolled on the part-time gateway Award in Education and Training Level 3 with DCG. She was a learning support assistant with the college’s STEPS school leaver programme for a year before becoming a progress coach.

Josie added: “My boss at Rolls-Royce, John Wilson, is fantastic. He’s incredibly supportive and encouraged me to further my qualifications.  

“Also, my course teacher, Claire Moore, has helped me build my confidence and self-belief so much. 

“It can be nerve wracking being observed in class, and adult learners sometimes get embarrassed about asking questions, but Claire is so approachable.” 

Josie’s job entails making sure the DCG apprentices she supports are passing their exams and identifying where they might need additional help from college. 

She added: “The Rolls-Royce aerospace engineering course is hard, especially the engineering maths element.  

“The apprentices have a heavy workload, but they are all extremely bright and keen to succeed.  

“If something is bothering them outside work, it will impact their work and studies, but we are here to support them if they wish to talk to us.  

“I try to let the apprentice know I see them as a person. I truly want to help them succeed, I don’t want them feeling like they’re just an apprentice number on a spreadsheet.  

“It really is a pleasure to be a part of their journey and watch their confidence grow during their first year or so with me before they are passed onto a DCG assessor. 

“It’s a great course, and when I qualify, I’ll be a member of the CMI, the Chartered Management Institute, and together with my other courses, have qualifications equivalent to three A-levels.” 

In addition to mentoring and coaching, Josie brings valuable previous life experience to her role. Mum to a three-year-old daughter, she trained as a hairdresser with Derby College when she first left school, then took a level 2 professional cookery course as part of a work-based apprenticeship. 

DCG encourages employees like Josie working in teaching and learner support to take coaching and mentoring qualifications, with other DCG teachers and staff who work in pastoral care being part of the full cohort on her course.