Francesca Coakley – University of Worcester

Francesca lived and grew up in Greater London where she obtained her GCSE’s and then stayed on at the 6th form to complete her A levels. While doing this Francesca became a qualified kayak and canoe coach and realised that this was something she wanted to pursue further. She applied to university to study outdoor education and took a place at the
University of Worcester to study Outdoor Adventure leadership and Management. Graduating in 2015, Francesca then took a trainee position at a local authority outdoor education centre in mid Wales to put into practice the theory and skills she had learnt at University. She spent a year at this centre gaining more experience before taking a job
back at the University of Worcester at their new Lakeside Campus. Initially starting as an instructor, Francesca gradually built up more knowledge and is now a supervisor at Lakeside, which involves working with university students, school groups, charities and clubs across all the outdoor sports facilities at the University.

As Lakeside is such a new campus at the University of Worcester and is going through rapid development and
change, her line manager suggested that she should consider the MBA qualification. Having not previously thought at all of post graduate study the more Francesca considered her options the more excited she got by the prospect of researching more into her specific interests. However, Francesca wasn’t sure she wanted to commit to a Masters that would increase her already sizeable student debt from her undergraduate degree. Then she found out about the Senior Leader Masters’ Degree Apprenticeship which was mapped against a Masters’ in Business Administration and the apprenticeship fees covered by the University’s apprenticeship Levy.

Talking of her experience of the Level 7 apprenticeship Francesca said, “my apprenticeship has provided me with
the opportunity to apply the learning and knowledge acquired in lectures straight away in my day to day job by
making improvements and drive changes at a strategic level. The Masters apprenticeship is truly adding to my
career development with the full support of my Manager too.”

If you would like to know more about apprenticeships, please contact Worcestershire Apprenticeships by email at
info@worcsapprenticeships.org.uk