Emailed a company very local to me regarding their course and fast track and end off qualifications etc.
For those interested in opinions, here's the good lady's reply.
[FONT="]Hi Paul,[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Paul has forward me your email to take a look at. Sorry for the wall of text below, but I have tried to summarise some advice and options here for you as there are so many different opinions on these courses and which is “best” for new entrants. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Unfortunately the beginners course we offer is not free as we are not classed as a college nor have any funding.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]There are a couple of different options for new starters depending on how long they want to take and their funds. There are college courses which are free but take a few years and shorter courses with training centres but they cost more, so its weighing up which option is right for you/your lads. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]If they decide to go the college NVQ/C&G route you should ensure that the certificate leads to, or is an equivalent to an ACS. We have had occasions where students have come to us expecting their certificates to be aligned to the ACS from a college, only to find out later that it isn’t worth the paper it is written on so have had to do our beginners course in addition to their college course. My advice is to triple check this and keep on at the college to ensure they will end up with their ACS. If you have any course codes for an NVQ or City and Guilds qualification that they are interested in i.e.: 6014 level 2 etc I can take a look and see if they are aligned at any time, just give me a call. Some customers have also found, 2 or 3 years after doing their NVQ that the college has stopped doing the ACS (or equivalent) so you also need to check if it is a course that they definitely, won’t be cancelling over the next few years and it is well established. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The other “Fast Track” courses are quicker routes but can cost a substantial amount. Even if you chose not to do a faster track course with us, I would highly recommend you don’t put them on one that does it all in consecutive days, i.e. 3 weeks in one go. The engineers on these courses seem to majorly lack in knowledge and experience. If you do put them on a fast track, then try to do one that spreads it out into 5 day chunks over a couple of months, this way engineers can go out and work on real world problems and then ask questions in between these weeks. In addition, some centres also say they will organise an engineer to work with, again, please double check this person is competent and has a good record of feedback with their students. This latter option is the one that we offer. Also, just on advice and stories we have heard from other customers, if you are paying for a course, try to do one that can be paid for in chunks/instalments. That way if they decide this isn’t the right career for them, or if you are unsure of the training provider, you haven’t paid a big sum up front and don’t risk losing a large amount of money. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]We only tend to accept candidates that have been working alongside an engineer for awhile, and we tend to advise complete novices to get an engineer to work with first so they know this is the right career for them and they can get hands-on experience before shelling out to do this course which they would struggle on without this experience. If they have been working with you for awhile and have plumbing/basic gas experience then we would take them onto our course which is the Pathway to Gas, although we do teach them as if they have no experience at all. If they don’t have experience with you, again I would recommend they come out with you for 5-6 months and gain some experience first. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The Pathway to Gas course we offer is 35 hours a month, for 3 months. During this time they are given a portfolio and asked to complete a minimum of 20 Gas jobs supervised by yourself. This way if they do a handful of jobs in between the weeks with us, we can check that they are going along the right lines and answer any questions they have. At the end of each week, they also have a progress test, and anything we find during these progress tests, they are expected to go out and work on during their time with their engineer. Once they have completed these 3 phases and their portfolio successfully, they can then do their initial ACS. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]With us, they can spread their weeks out over a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 12. For example they would do 1 week commencing 7[SUP]th[/SUP] April, then either May and June or they could do 7[SUP]th[/SUP] April, followed by November & December. We ask they complete all 3 phases and their portfolios within 12 months, if they take longer than this time, they will have to re-sit the last phase that they did with us. This is to ensure they still remember everything and to make sure they are working to the most current standards. I can give you a list of start dates, if you need these please just let me know. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The total cost for our course, up to the domestic core CCN1 and 1 appliance is £2365 + VAT and this is broken down into payments as follows: Phase 1: £500 + VAT, Phase 2: £500 + VAT, Phase 3: £640 + VAT and the initial ACS is £725 + VAT. Each payment is required 2 weeks before the next week that they are due in. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]As above they are only allowed to do their CCN1 and 1 appliance on their first go with us. This is usually CENWAT – Boilers. Once they have received their certificate for this and have been Gas Safe Registered, they can then come and add on any additional appliances or changeovers that they need. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]All in all, we always recommend hands on experience is the best for beginners. They will learn so much more practically than being stuck in a classroom with a stack of books. We always highly recommend any courses that will get them out there, in real world situations where they are supervised and can learn on the job. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]I know there is a chunk to read through here, but I hope there is some helpful advice in there. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the options further, please pop me an email or give me a call on the number below. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Thank you,[/FONT]
[FONT="]Alannah. [/FONT]
For those interested in opinions, here's the good lady's reply.
[FONT="]Hi Paul,[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Paul has forward me your email to take a look at. Sorry for the wall of text below, but I have tried to summarise some advice and options here for you as there are so many different opinions on these courses and which is “best” for new entrants. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Unfortunately the beginners course we offer is not free as we are not classed as a college nor have any funding.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]There are a couple of different options for new starters depending on how long they want to take and their funds. There are college courses which are free but take a few years and shorter courses with training centres but they cost more, so its weighing up which option is right for you/your lads. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]If they decide to go the college NVQ/C&G route you should ensure that the certificate leads to, or is an equivalent to an ACS. We have had occasions where students have come to us expecting their certificates to be aligned to the ACS from a college, only to find out later that it isn’t worth the paper it is written on so have had to do our beginners course in addition to their college course. My advice is to triple check this and keep on at the college to ensure they will end up with their ACS. If you have any course codes for an NVQ or City and Guilds qualification that they are interested in i.e.: 6014 level 2 etc I can take a look and see if they are aligned at any time, just give me a call. Some customers have also found, 2 or 3 years after doing their NVQ that the college has stopped doing the ACS (or equivalent) so you also need to check if it is a course that they definitely, won’t be cancelling over the next few years and it is well established. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The other “Fast Track” courses are quicker routes but can cost a substantial amount. Even if you chose not to do a faster track course with us, I would highly recommend you don’t put them on one that does it all in consecutive days, i.e. 3 weeks in one go. The engineers on these courses seem to majorly lack in knowledge and experience. If you do put them on a fast track, then try to do one that spreads it out into 5 day chunks over a couple of months, this way engineers can go out and work on real world problems and then ask questions in between these weeks. In addition, some centres also say they will organise an engineer to work with, again, please double check this person is competent and has a good record of feedback with their students. This latter option is the one that we offer. Also, just on advice and stories we have heard from other customers, if you are paying for a course, try to do one that can be paid for in chunks/instalments. That way if they decide this isn’t the right career for them, or if you are unsure of the training provider, you haven’t paid a big sum up front and don’t risk losing a large amount of money. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]We only tend to accept candidates that have been working alongside an engineer for awhile, and we tend to advise complete novices to get an engineer to work with first so they know this is the right career for them and they can get hands-on experience before shelling out to do this course which they would struggle on without this experience. If they have been working with you for awhile and have plumbing/basic gas experience then we would take them onto our course which is the Pathway to Gas, although we do teach them as if they have no experience at all. If they don’t have experience with you, again I would recommend they come out with you for 5-6 months and gain some experience first. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The Pathway to Gas course we offer is 35 hours a month, for 3 months. During this time they are given a portfolio and asked to complete a minimum of 20 Gas jobs supervised by yourself. This way if they do a handful of jobs in between the weeks with us, we can check that they are going along the right lines and answer any questions they have. At the end of each week, they also have a progress test, and anything we find during these progress tests, they are expected to go out and work on during their time with their engineer. Once they have completed these 3 phases and their portfolio successfully, they can then do their initial ACS. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]With us, they can spread their weeks out over a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 12. For example they would do 1 week commencing 7[SUP]th[/SUP] April, then either May and June or they could do 7[SUP]th[/SUP] April, followed by November & December. We ask they complete all 3 phases and their portfolios within 12 months, if they take longer than this time, they will have to re-sit the last phase that they did with us. This is to ensure they still remember everything and to make sure they are working to the most current standards. I can give you a list of start dates, if you need these please just let me know. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The total cost for our course, up to the domestic core CCN1 and 1 appliance is £2365 + VAT and this is broken down into payments as follows: Phase 1: £500 + VAT, Phase 2: £500 + VAT, Phase 3: £640 + VAT and the initial ACS is £725 + VAT. Each payment is required 2 weeks before the next week that they are due in. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]As above they are only allowed to do their CCN1 and 1 appliance on their first go with us. This is usually CENWAT – Boilers. Once they have received their certificate for this and have been Gas Safe Registered, they can then come and add on any additional appliances or changeovers that they need. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]All in all, we always recommend hands on experience is the best for beginners. They will learn so much more practically than being stuck in a classroom with a stack of books. We always highly recommend any courses that will get them out there, in real world situations where they are supervised and can learn on the job. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]I know there is a chunk to read through here, but I hope there is some helpful advice in there. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the options further, please pop me an email or give me a call on the number below. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Thank you,[/FONT]
[FONT="]Alannah. [/FONT]
