How an Apprenticeship Helped Shape Surrey’s Traffic Future

Surrey Adult Learning (SAL) continues to deliver on its vision to change lives through inclusive and inspirational adult learning and to open progression pathways that enable every learner to fulfil their potential. Every year, thousands of adults join SAL from a wide range of backgrounds and for many different reasons, whether to gain a qualification, re-train for work, support their children’s learning, build independence, or connect with their community.

Through its broad adult learning offer and apprenticeship programme, SAL helps:

• Adults to gain English and maths qualifications needed for work, progression, or self-employment.
• Learners to succeed in their chosen career pathway through apprenticeships.
• People to develop digital skills and cross the digital divide.
• Parents to better support their child’s engagement and learning at school.
• Adults with learning disabilities to build independent living skills and progress towards employment.
• Residents to engage in local community activities that improve wellbeing and reduce social isolation.

Recent analysis of the 2024/2025 academic year shows Surrey Adult Learning’s apprenticeship programme continuing to deliver outstanding results

• achieving a 72.5% overall achievement rate, well above the national average of 65.4%,
• 100% End Point Assessment (EPA) achievement rate
• 80% of apprentices achieving a distinction.

Trung's Story

Trung's career at Surrey County Council highlights the real‑world impact of investing in people. Joining the council in 2012 as an intern, Trung could not have predicted that just over a decade later he would be leading a newly created Network Optimisation team within Traffic Operations.

His career and personal development was accelerated by learning. In 2023, Trung enrolled on the Team Leader/Supervisor Level 3 Apprenticeship to strengthen his leadership capability and gain insight into areas of management he had not previously encountered. “I wanted to develop my skills to become a better manager and leader,” he explains. Balancing study alongside a demanding role was challenging, but with the support of his tutor, Trung helped translate learning into practice and achieved a Distinction. One pivotal moment came through 360‑degree feedback, which identified delegation as a key development area. With tailored support, Trung tackled this head‑on, empowering his team, improving efficiency and seeing measurable change reflected in post‑apprenticeship feedback.

Now, equipped with new confidence and a broader leadership toolkit, Trung is building a brand‑new team from the ground up. "Before, when I was handling issues, I only had a limited array of methods I would use, a one-size-fits-all approach. Now I feel more effective because I have an arsenal of tools, like a Swiss Army Knife, to handle whatever comes my way.” His focus, optimising Surrey’s traffic signal network to improve reliability, safety and outcomes for residents. His journey demonstrates how apprenticeships enable Surrey County Council staff to grow, progress and lead with confidence, while directly strengthening the services delivered to the community.

“I'd like to thank Surrey Adult Learning for the fantastic job they do as a learning provider and all of the support they provided me throughout my apprenticeship journey.”