SBTV AND the Department for Education have collaborated with a group of young people to create a music video for MC P Money, showcasing the benefits of apprenticeships.

Shola West, a 19-year-old digital marketing apprentice at WhiteHat and Tafadzwa Muchenje, a 24-year-old junior content producer at Channel 4 worked with Jamal Edwards, entrepreneur and founder of SBTV, to launch the exclusive track and music video last Friday.

The duo were among nine apprentices who recorded, produced and launched The Calling, a song inspired by apprenticeships.

Shola said: “I feel strongly about promoting apprenticeships because I did not hear much about them growing up. My time as a digital marketing apprentice has been such an amazing life-changing experience and I want more young people who feel that university is not for them to know that the apprenticeship route is equally as good.”

The project, which forms part of Department for Education’s Fire It Up campaign, is designed to showcase apprentice talent and the wide range of opportunities that apprenticeships offer.

Muchenje said: “It was such a great opportunity to be involved with this project. To share my newly acquired knowledge, as well as learn new things was something truly exciting! I enjoyed being involved in the marketing strategy about how we’d promote the video.

“Ultimately, I hope we help smash the taboo around apprenticeships and show young people the range of apprenticeships available. We want to challenge the idea that going to university is the only way to kickstarting a rewarding career.”

These hopes were echoed by Edwards. He said: “When I decided not to go to uni, people told me I’d fail. These days, I’m passionate about showing young people that there are many ways to reach their potential. There’s still an assumption that you can only do apprenticeships in trades like plumbing and construction. That view really needs to be reversed, and I hope this track will help get the message out there.

“My advice to parents would be to talk to your kid and work with them to figure out how they can achieve their dreams. It’s been incredible to work with this talented group of apprentices, share my network, and help fire them up for the future.”

To see how the videos came together, watch the behind the scenes footage here.