For MATs and Education Employers
Level 6 Service Designer Apprenticeship
for Education Leaders
School improvement is continuous.
The Capability to drive it should be too.
Every school and department in your trust is on an improvement journey. The quality of that journey depends on the leaders who design how that service works, build the systems that make it happen and plan how improvement is sustained over time.
The Service Designer Apprenticeship (ST0894) builds exactly that capability.
The case for this capability
The difference between good and great is usually about design, not intent.
Most improvement efforts start with the right intent but often fall short in implementation. More often than not this happens because the provision being improved grew in response to immediate need, not informed by evidence of what works.
Service design changes this. It brings structured user research, collaborative redesign and continuous iteration to the services that matter most - creating provision that works for pupils, families and staff, and building the culture of evidence-informed improvement that sustains a high-quality school.
Opportunities to Innovate in Education
The education sector has an abundance of opportunity for exemplary service design, with many leaders and staff already drawing on service design practices within their roles every day.
This programme gives that expertise a professional foundation. Shaped specifically for the demands of education leadership, it offers a rigorous and practical route to professionalising that expertise: one that takes both the complexity of the sector and the experience leaders already bring to it seriously.
Level 6 Service Designer Apprenticeship
Building Trust Leadership Capacity
This programme is designed for mid-to-senior staff who are stepping up or already responsible for the quality of provision within their area.
The apprentice's role must involve the design or improvement of services as a core part of their job. If you are uncertain whether a member of your team is the right fit, the conversation with us is the right starting point.
Funding note The Service Designer apprenticeship is Level 6 and is unaffected by the January 2026 withdrawal of government funding from Level 7 programmes. Levy funding applies in the usual way. Speak to us about the funding position for your trust.
466 Off-the-Job hours
Delivered over 24 months
Blended learning approach including:
Face-to-face workshops
Virtual workshops
Self-paced digital content
Real work from day one
Apprentices work on live improvement projects within your trust from the outset, generating immediate value while building the qualification.
Education-specific throughout
Every tool and methodology is introduced through education examples, in the language of the work apprentices already do.
Integrated Coaching
Each apprentice works with a coach for across the duration of the programme - grounding development in their specific trust context and their specific improvement priorities.
Designed for a demanding role
Off-the-job learning is structured to be purposeful and proportionate to be directly applicable to the work context.