Learning & Development

“On the journey to achievement, you must be learning all the time“

John Patrick Hickey

Our Learning & Development teams are committed to supporting you and your learning journey with Midcounties and are constantly innovating to improve learning and development for all our colleagues.

What can you expect from learning and development at Midcounties?

We want to make lives more rewarding and are committed to investing in a variety of learning and development opportunities to help our colleagues shape their own career path.

To find out more about our plan to do this please click here.

Quick Links

i.learn

On i.learn, your online learning platform, you’ll find a variety of courses from compliance training, refresher training, management resources and more, you’ll be able to book onto some of our courses and to search useful documents, videos and links to help you learn and develop at Midcounties.

We've created a guide to help you learn about how to develop and launch your progression, from Masterclasses and Apprenticeships to Coaching, Mentoring and Leadership development, and much more.

Click here to access your Learning & Development Guide

How do I develop my career?

If you are thinking about progressing your career but you don’t know what the next step is or how to get there … take a look at our Career Framework, Career Framework roadmap and LEAP programmes below, and arrange a Career or Development check in with your line manager to discuss your options.

What is the Career Framework?

The career framework makes it clear to all colleagues what knowledge and experience is required at each level of the Society. This allows you to tailor your development plans to focus on what you’re great at, where you can improve and gain new knowledge and experience to perform at your best and prepare you for your next step.

Across the Society, we have a diverse workforce with a wide range of talent, skills and experience and we want to make it as easy as possible to progress your career with us, our Career Framework will help you to understand what is expected in different roles across our society which will aid development conversations, succession planning and recruitment.

You can request a Career or Development Check In with your manager to discuss your next steps – click here for more information about Check In’s.

What is the Career Framework guide?

The Career Framework guide clearly describes what knowledge and experience is required within each job family and at each level of the Society.

View the Career Framework Guide here

What is the career framework roadmap?

The career framework roadmap enables you to easily navigate through different areas of the business to see what career path options you have, either where you currently work or elsewhere in the Society, along with what development opportunities are available to make that next step. It is a really useful tool for colleagues and managers when having career and development check ins.

View the Career Framework Roadmap here

What is the LEAP programme?

Our award-winning structured training programme, which we call LEAP (Learning, Earning, Achieving, Progressing) offers a range of apprenticeships from intermediate (level 2) and advanced (level 3) to degree (levels 5-7) across all our businesses.

We have learners across all our trading groups from Early Years Educators in Childcare, managers in our food stores, property maintenance, technical sales and finance assistants in our support functions teams.

Our LEAP programmes are open to existing colleagues who are looking to progress and develop their career within the Society.

LEAP programmes kick off with an induction where you will learn more about the Society and your structured training programme. We encourage self-led development and support this with a range of e-learning and face to face learning sessions.

Making sure our learners feel supported at all times is important to us so you will have your manager, a personal tutor and a buddy assigned to you that you can turn to for help and support as you need it.

We offer further support for our learners that may be useful depending on where you are in life, such as CV writing and interview skills, mental health and wellbeing, debt and managing your finances.

If this sound interesting but you’re not sure what the next steps for you are, please refer to the Career Framework roadmap and request a Career or Development Check-In with your manager to discuss your options.

For LEAP programme or apprenticeship enquiries, please contact societylearningdevelopment@midcounties.coop.

Does Midcounties offer Apprenticeships?

Yes we do...

All entry-level apprenticeships will be advertised on our career’s website, which you can find by clicking here.

If you are an existing colleague interested in completing an apprenticeship then you may want to take the LEAP – please see above for details.

A great starting point when it comes to developing yourself is to request a development check in with your manager to talk about your development needs and create a Personal Development plan.

Your personal and professional development is important and we have a range of resources to help you build up your own awareness, knowledge and skills, enabling your performance to be great and for you to progress your career.

Our learning resources are available in many forms, ranging from articles, podcasts and video’s, through to eLearning modules and Live Online sessions.

These resources can all be found within “Your time to focus on you” on our learning platform, i.Learn by clicking here.

Each trading group has its own dedicated learning area on i.learn. Please follow the links below to explore the wide array of learning resources that are available to you:

L&D Calendar

We have created a quarterly Learning and Development calendar to inform you of the ‘Opportunities to Develop’ available to you and the training required to be completed each quarter.

Click here to access the Q3 Learning and Development Calendar

Click here to access the Q4 Learning and Development Calendar

Please see below the timetable of planned start dates for LEAP Programmes across the Childcare, Food and Travel trading groups.

Trading Group	LEAP Apprenticeship Programme	Information Workshops	Application Window	Selection	Enrolment Window
Food Retail	Retail Team Leader Level 3	2^nd June 2023 7^th June 2023	12^th – 25^th June 2023	26^th June – 9^th July 2023	10^th – 31^st July 2023
		4^th January 2024 12^th January 2024	15^th – 28^th January 2024	29^th January – 11^th February 2024	12^th – 29^th February 2024
		6^th June 2024 10^th June 2024	17^th – 30^th June 2024	1^st – 14^th July 2024	15^th – 31^st July 2024
Food Retail	Retail Team Manager Level 4	6^th July 2023 11^th July 2023	17^th – 30^th July 2023	31^st July – 13^th August 2023	4^th– 29^th September 2023
		31^st January 2024 9^th February 2024	12^th – 25^th February 2024	26^th February – 10^th March 2024	11^th – 31^st March 2024
		2^nd July 2024 12^th July 2024	15^th – 28^th July 2024	29^th July – 11^th August 2024	2^nd – 30^th September 2024
Childcare	Early Years Practitioner Level 2	1^st June 2023 5^th June 2023	12^th - 25^th June 2023	26^th June – 9^th July 2023	10^th July – 31^st July 2023
		3^rd August 2023 9^th August 2023	14^th - 27^th August 2023	28^th August – 10^th September 2023	11^th – 30^th September 2023
		1^st December 2023 4^th December 2023	11^th - 24^th December 2023	1^st -14^th January 2024	15^{th –}31^st January 2024
		28^th February 2024 8^th March 2024	11^th - 24^th March 2024	25^th March – 7^th April 2024	8^th – 30^th April 2024
Childcare	Early Years Educator Level 3	1^st June 2023 5^th June 2023	12^th - 25^th June 2023	26^th June – 9^th July 2023	10^th July – 31^st July 2023
		3^rd August 2023 9^th August 2023	14^th - 27^th August 2023	28^th August – 10^th September 2023	11^th – 30^th September 2023
		1^st December 2023 4^th December 2023	11^th - 24^th December 2023	1^st -14^th January 2024	15^{th –}31^st January 2024
		28^th February 2024 8^th March 2024	11^th - 24^th March 2024	25^th March – 7^th April 2024	8^th – 30^th April 2024
Travel	Travel Consultant Level 3	2^nd June 2023 6^th June 2023	12^th – 25^th June 2023	26^th June – 9^th July 2023	10^th – 31^st July 2023
		8^th September 2023 12^th September 2023	18^th September – 1^st October 2023	2^nd – 15^th October 2023	16^th – 31^st October 2023
		1^st December 2023 4^th December 2023	11^th - 24^th December 2023	1^st -14^th January 2024	15^{th –}31^st January 2024
		4^th March 2024 14^th March 2024	18^th – 31^st March 2024	1^st – 14^th April 2024	15^th – 30^th April 2024
Travel	Team Leader/ Supervisor Level 3	1^st June 2023 7^th June 2023	12^th – 25^th June 2023	26^th June – 9^th July 2023	10^th – 31^st July 2023
Travel	Team Leader/ Supervisor Level 3	1^st December 2023 6^th December 2023	11^th - 24^th December 2023	1^st -14^th January 2024	15^{th –}31^st January 2024

To support our colleagues’ apprenticeship applications, Line Managers will be asked to complete a recommendation as part of the selection process. This recommendation outlines how the colleague demonstrates the expected behaviours for the apprenticeship they’ve applied for, as well as the potential they have to move into their next role with Midcounties.

The Manager Recommendation Competency Qualifications document is to be used for: Travel Consultant Level 3, Early Years Practitioner Level 2 and Early Years Educator Level 3 Apprenticeships.

The Manager Recommendation Leadership Qualifications document is to be used for: Retail Team Leader Level 3, Retail Team Manager Level 4 and Team Leader/ Supervisor Level 3 Apprenticeships.

You can click on the links below to download these documents:

How do I log into i.learn?

Click here and use your Midcounties username and password to sign in. This is the same as your Kronos and your payslip. Watch this video to find out more - click here.

I can’t remember my i.learn password or log in...

You can use FastPass to reset your password by clicking here. Please note - this will reset your password for all your accounts with your Midcounties username.

I recently joined the Society and don’t have a log in yet, how do I get into i.learn?

Your line manager will receive an email with windows account details, this may be 24 hours after your start date. You can then choose your own password using our Fast Pass system by clicking here.

The below flowchart shows how and when the colleagues' accounts are created:

I’ve just started where can I go for more information about my role and Midcounties?

Your manager will be able to tell you everything you need to know about your role, your team and where to go for further information. Colleagues Connect is a useful source of information, where you can find the latest stories, helpful information and our Society policies.

You can also log into your online learning platform, i.learn, by clicking here. There you will find learning courses and essential health and safety and compliance training which may be needed for your role.

I’m looking to progress at Midcounties, where can I go for more information?

Take a look at the Career Framework Roadmap by clicking here and request a Career or Development Check In with your manager to discuss your options. You may also be interested in one of our apprenticeships or LEAP programmes – contact societylearningdevelopment@midcounties.coop

I recently moved to manage a new team but am still seeing my old team on i.learn, what should I do?

This takes effect once IFS has been updated (up to 2 weeks), managers are automatically assigned to their stores / teams.

Do I have to mark my colleagues exempt for different courses? For example, Age-restricted / PCI / DSS

No, once a colleague is marked exempt that applies to all courses. Colleagues should be marked as exempt if they are on Maternity Leave, Long Term Sick, or have specific learning requirements.

Contact Us

We hope some of the FAQs on this page might help answer your queries, but if you still can’t find what you’re looking for, please contact us on societylearningdevelopment@midcounties.coop