Thank you teabreak for your eloquent posting, I could not agree more!
Your reasons for wanting to teach sound the same as mine 10 years ago. Although I would say I still had the passion to pass it on, you can't help but get beaten down by the poor wages, the use of teachers with little or no site experience & so much paper work along with senseless meetings. I am afraid the days of the old FE technical colleges that we attended are long gone. Too much paperwork and meetings is a sign of the times with FE/HE and Schools and probably other sectors, I hear this complaint all the time from teachers in schools and on the TV, is it Ofsted?
My local one was staffed by the made up store man, Two H&V fitters one who had been on site for only a couple of years & the other who had done the course & then was the store man before being asked to teach it. Good lads but what a joke!This isnt good at all, any tutor should be experienced and trained to pass on their skills, its very disappointing that Colleges feel this appropriate and should be stopped
We also had management going to Australasia & NewZealand to recruit did not seem to worry them that the plumbing systems are not the same, still bet they didn't go anywhere near the beach.
Some people may wonder why I bang-on about the non NVQ qualifications being all about the money (income for the colleges) well perhaps you see why! Well they have to make money, or they wouldnt exist, but not at the expense of unqualified staff
To enforce my point, I here that in the next funding review there will be no more public money of any Level 2 plumbing courses, as this is deemed to be too lower a skill set for modern plumbing & heating engineer. Only a course that goes through to Level 3 will have any funding.
Lets hope that this knowledge can be passed onto joe public if you want a bathroom fitted then employ a bathroom domestic installer, anything else & you had better get a Level 3 NVQ Plumbing & heating engineer. I hadnt heard that funding for L2 was going? Or that the qual at L2 was going? What about all the bathroom installers? Will they work without quals? Will this open the door for more tech cert installers?L3 is a very difficult course, what about all the handy practical people, will they not qualify?
I am about ready to accept two level or grades in the trade, the sparks now have it!!! Electrical is a different trade, L2 has never been recognised in elec. Are we saying people who have a L2 and worked in the industry very well for years are now not qualified? Would this open the door to many other providers to offer their own L2 courses as colleges wont get paid for it?
Though it breaks my hart.
oint. 
