learning a trade
 

Is it possible to learn a building trade and get qualifications from it with out actually being involved in the trade?

I want to learn a trade and get some thing from it. i am in full time employment so it is difficult to work some where else. i've spoken to various college's and they all say "you need to be involved in the trade for the experience and on site assessment to gain any NVQ quals" I've heard of stock brokers/bank managers doing plumbing courses and then becoming good tradesmen. is it possible to do?

cheers Adam

Adam, as i understand it, you do still require to be "time served". My city & guilds in Joinery was basically half my apprentiship in college and the other half on site.

IIRC this is still the case. You can take the exams and pass but you would still lack at least 18 months on site experience. As a lot of lads will tell you, theres nothing like doing it in the flesh to get your real training and the relevent bodies would not "indenture" your trade until you had that experience.


:)

There was a bloke at our place took his NVQ in bricklaying without site experience somehow, and our lot took him on.

BUT, there's no substitute for working on-site whilst doing the college. The guy was nice bloke, but it took him all day to do the simplest of bricklaying tasks due to being as green as grass.

Not recommended imo.

Same as these "diluties" that go do a short course on certain trades at the local skills centre (especially joinery), then they class themselves as time served. Boils my pi$$. They're taking jobs from blokes that served up to a 5 year apprenticeship. I know there's plenty of graft on the buildings at the minute, but it wasn't always like that, and these fcukers have been doing this when real tradesmen have been struggling for work in the past.

Not that I'm classing you as a dilutie if you decide to go down that route, as you'll have done the college, them blokes don't, they make a nailbox and a saw stool and class themselves as joiners!!!

Andy.

gives the game away really, when they should be supping on a cup of tea, smoking a rollie, and reading the sun.

BB:)

We will not employ any tradesmen or engineers unless they have served a recognised time served apprenticeship and achieved the relevant educational qualifications.

I class it as firstly as a Health and Safety requirement as well as a quality issue. If one of these college cowboys injures or kills themselves or someone else then it's my ass standing in front of the HSE, I'm not prepared to take the risk of authorising insufficiently trained people to carry out potentially dangerous work.

Cheers
Lee