What is OTJ and how do I complete it during my apprenticeship?

‘OTJ’ counts as any time you’ve spent learning during your apprenticeship outside of the recurring tasks in your working role. There’s two types of OTJ activities you’ll need to complete in order to meet the UK government standard for apprenticeship.

Protected learning: Protected learning refers to dedicated periods within a work schedule that are set aside for learning and professional development.

Applied learning: Applied learning is defined as the hands on application of skills in the workplace

If you work 30 hours a week, 6 out of 30 hours need to be spent on OTJ related activities.

There’s lots of ways to fulfil your OTJ time and a portion of these will already be scheduled in your calendar by your coach during your apprenticeship. Other activities you will need to seek out yourself. Think about how the OTJ activities you choose relate to your apprenticeship before you complete them. Below are some areas you could focus on to collect OTJ hours and learn on your apprenticeship.

During your apprenticeship, you’ll attend online bootcamps led by coaches who are experts in your apprenticeship field. The coaches will deliver your course curriculum, assign tasks to help you apply your learning and help you prepare for any exams you need to complete on your apprenticeship. Apprentice bootcamps will count as a big portion of your OTJ time, as they’ll be delivered in block sessions of 3 hours up to 1 day at a time.

OTJ time earned: 3 hours - 8 hours at a time (depending on session length)

In-between bootcamp sessions, you’ll have a 1:1 monthly catch-up call with your coach to assess your progress and work on your personal and professional development.

OTJ time earned: 1 hour monthly

As well as professional learning that will be scheduled in by your coach, you’ll also need to seek out opportunities for ‘Applied learning’ which covers a broad range of activities you could complete. For an OTJ activity to qualify as ‘applied learning’ it needs to relate to the hands on application of skills in the workplace. For instance, using your recently learnt skills outside of your apprenticeship bootcamp. For example:

You’ll work with your coach on areas for personal and professional development and these areas could include development of key soft skills needed in the workplace. The following would count as applied learning for soft skills:

OTJ time earned: 30 minutes - 8 hours plus

The Multiverse community provides a wide range of opportunities to take part in in order for you to earn OTJ hours for your apprenticeship.

You could attend events. For example:

The community hub also offers a great range of articles to read and video content to watch, all of which adds to OTJ time. To generate regular OTJ time, you could aim to attend 1 community event per week. Please note, not every community activity will count towards your OTJ time. Check with your coach if you're unsure.

OTJ time earned: 20 minutes - 6 hours

Exam revision and completion during your apprenticeship also counts as OTJ time.

You can log:

OTJ time earned: 30 minutes - 4 hours plus

After you’ve completed an OTJ related activity for your apprenticeship, you’ll need to formally log it with evidence.

Multiverse apprentices have access to a specialised platform in order to do this, where they can log OTJ activities with categories, dates and times. The platform also helps apprentices organise their apprenticeship, track their progress and keep track of key upcoming dates like exams.

Multiverse apprentices also have access to a 1:1 coach they can reach out to for support. If you’re stuck for what to do for OTJ time or you’re falling behind, you could send an email to your coach asking for advice, ask peers on the community hub or reach out to your apprentice manager.

If you're looking for an apprenticeship, Multiverse offers apprenticeships in tech, data and digital skills all year round.

Start your application here.