8 week gas passport scheme??

[payney1974]

Anyone on here learnt there trade on one of these 8 week courses? A friend of mine is getting made redundant and asked me to look into it. I rang our training centre and they explained its 2 weeks intense training in college then 4 weeks with engineer and then finish off with 2 more intense weeks in college. Apparently you end up with your core gas and 3 add ons of your choice pretty much?? And i thought "how can you get qualified in 6 months?" when the gwinto course came out!!!

 

[wnjswozo]

8 weeks ,it boogles the mind ,to think someone can be out on the district working on gas on there own

 

[oldplumber]

make sure youre friend is insured, he will be claiming on it soon if he thinks he can work safetly on gas appliances after an 8 week course, and you wil see him on rouge traders staring at a combi wondering how it works/or why it dosnt!

 

[andyg0507]

to be fair im not knocking fast track courses in any trade, but how do these companys get away with offering courses like this.

surely someone should stop them, after all theres cowboys out there and these companys are basically cashing in on that by letting someone to do an 8 week gas course

 

[payney1974]

I have told him that the course sounds good but he would have to work as an improver after it for at least 12 months or get a job fitting those smart meters and do a plumbing course at night school.

 

[PDS808]

You can fast track anything if you have the cash, from an academical point of view you will do as much in a couple of months as a 2 year day release, similar to a 5 day driving licence, you still put the hours in, though remember you still have to pass the things and all relevant assessments, which isn't guaranteed. If you're clueless and/or incompetent you simply won't.

Anyone with a bit of common sense will then realise you'll have the basic skills, and be deemed safe, just won't have the multi appliance knowledge years of experience brings.

 

[the baker]

Come on Lads, lets not be to hastey, we dont know what the job is that he is doing at the moment, he might be working in an explosives factory so is conversant with safety issues.

When I took my ACOPS years ago the one thing it taught me was that I did not know much about the gas industry, but thanks to the tutor (thanks Stan) Jaspers(£150 well spent), manufacturers day courses and the spare space to strip down old stuff to see how it worked I was able to plod along slowly increasing my knowledge.

We cant blame the "Training Centre's" for grasping an opotunity thats what entrapeneurial skills are all about surely.

But having said all that I firmly believe that newly registered gas registrants who dont come from an engineering/construction back ground should serve a provisional period with an older gas bloke to gain experience in the areas they are planning to work in.
But to do that the Government would have to provide the mentors with suficient financial support to make up for the losses they will incure whilst trying to help a new comer aquire the experience needed.

Of course that leads us to "why not have apprentices and training Colleges"

Tim

 

[wnjswozo]

Of course that leads us to "why not have apprentices and training Colleges"

we used to years ago,1 day college,4 days work for 5 years

 

[moony]

Of course that leads us to "why not have apprentices and training Colleges"

we used to years ago,1 day college,4 days work for 5 years

still do currently in my third year, 30 yrs old, 2 kids and one on the way trying to survive on the apprentice wage, and fully appreciate what the experience is giving me- i cannot imagine how anyone could do 8 weeks and go to install a boiler or fault find etc. i certainly know that our customers would not like anyone in there house fixing a leaking tap after just 8 weeks nevermind working on gas.

Thing is the problem exists because all these companys are giving them is a piece of paper that we all get after our apprenticeships, the customer has no idea how much experience the person has they just see the piece of paper or id card that the fast track has gained.

 

[amak360]

Hi people,
I am one of the offenders ha.Due to taking custody of kids i took a very well timed redundency package and decided to be a gas engineer in 3 months !!!ha. Let me clear a few things up firstly,out of classes of 20 only 3 us made it into the gas industry.After i passed my ACS ccn1,boilers,fires,gas meters,water heaters etc i then had to serve six months as a operative under supervision.The learning curve was about as steep as everest when i arrived on site with all my theory what a shocker!i realised by tea braek i knew nothing three years on the more i learn the less i know ha.Today i am self employed I can install competenly and do bathrooms and heating gas etc I do have training gaps due to my hasty training regime i do lack fault finding and repair skills which i hope will come in time.I am safe slower than most experienced guys but pride myself having capped off many Id,at risk gas installations so i must have done some good ha.I do think without doubt that a 4 year apprentice is the way forward.I had it put to me by a senior Corgi guy some years ago that if the fast track training was required to improve numbers 110,000 engineers to how many appliances in uk and if the fast track never worked they would look at recognising foreign qualifications and using imported labour and we know where that could end up!!! so give us a break guys ha i do think there would be food for thought to audit fast trackers more reguarly to ensure we meet the standards.