New 2357 electrician qualification looming...

Yes alright, it really has been a long time this time. I do continue to update the site as frequently as it is warranted but time, as ever, is at a premium. Having lost my Dad, got a new job and had my first child, it has been a bit of a roller coaster 9 months all said and done.

Anyway, I am currently picking through the 2357 syllabus released by the Guilds to see what it is all about. Early indications suggest that the content has pretty much remained, but the delivery time has been substantially shortened. The emphasis will be on the learner to make up over 100 hours that will be missing. That equates to somewhere between 15 and 20 days teaching (or more than half a year). That's a hell of a lot of time for the student to catch up on. On top of this, further education faces huge cuts in funding following the spending review. It doesn't take the resurrection of Einstein to work out that the course is going to be about 33% shorter than it currently is (meaning that 33% of people who deliver the apprenticeship may well be knocking on local contractors doors). I suppose this would not be so bad if all the students who came through to study were mature, A level standard types. The reality is that a lot of apprentices are 16/17, have probably never been responsible for their own study and have the capability, but not really the inclination. I'd be lieing if I said I was any different at that age myself. I can foresee problems with timely completions already, the same problems that had been pretty much dialled out with the NVQ will be returning in a new guise. With timely completions now being the soup du jour, you can see how everything is becoming tighter and tighter.

My biggest issue is that this qualification smacks to me of the rather infamous C&G2351. A qualification that the entire industry thought was shocking. A qualification introduced because the C&G2360 was too difficult and the completion rate of apprentices was about 50%. They dumbed the electrician qualification down far enough that a chimpanzee war veteran (who'd lost an arm during Battle for the Planet of the Apes) could still get through provided they had the patience to sit the internally multi choice paper for the umpteenth time. It took some supreme effort to fail the 2351 believe me. In fact, anyone who did fail it should have been given the qualification for showing sheer determination in the face of mediocrity.

We are led to believe that the 2357 is the qualification that has been requested by industry. I believe that in 10 years time we may well add the the 2357 to the list that contains the 2351 and EALs Part P as the "Things other people thought were great but everyone else couldn't wait to see the backside of".

I hope that I am proved wrong...

Check out the new information site at www.cg2357.co.uk for more information on the new qualification and up to date news.

For ages...

It does seem like that, and indeed, looking at the last blog it absolutely was.

Things rarely seem to change though. I am now running a department in the South West and having the same problems as before; we simply cannot recruit. We have been through several rounds again of trying but to no avail. You would be thinking that in this climate there would be a plethora of people looking for work but alas no, it seems not. I do think that a lot of companies are surviving (just, by the sounds of some of the stories) so are not quite yet ready to relieve the kneecaps or the back.

I also think the next academic year is going to be tough on colleges though. How many people out there are taking on apprentices? Early indications are of course, none.

I guess the proof will be in the proverbial pudding!

New term, new challenge, same old rubbish?

So we start again. I suppose it's testament to how busy we are that it has took me nearly 2 months to record my thoughts here.

There seems to be a sizeable shift here with the students in terms of attitude. Unfortunately it's not a positive shift (arguably nor is it negative) but it is a shift in perhaps mental age of the students. I always seem to end up with the full time group, which doesn't really bother me, but this year the group is a nightmare. If someone was to just record the group, sound only, no video, then you would think you was in a room with 10-11 year old kids. Teaching them reminds me of the last time I saw my nephews who are 9 and 10 years old.

Then there is the level 3 group I am teaching too. It's incredible that these people are in the final throws of qualifying as electricians, I wouldn't trust them with bonding clamps yet alone full installations. In fairness, there are a lot of good students in the class, just a lot of very immature ones too.

Don't know where I am going with all this. It does seem difficult at the moment, even worse with an Ofsted inspection looming in 2 weeks time. Perhaps it will get better, I don't know.

Perhaps it's time for a change.

This is the end...my only friend

Well that's it for another year, and what a year it's been.

Ever since I moved to this college, it's never been right. We have always had some sort of backlog to deal with. On top of that some of the practical tasks that were being used had a date of 1973 on them (coincidentally the year of my birth), some of it was completely irrelevant and I had so called experienced lecturers all around me telling me things I should know.

I think part of my problem was I respected some of these people too much. It turns out I really had no need to, I worried over nothing. Now I know that I can go back to being me and concentrating on the task. Only, the task never ends. Another member of the team is now going, leaving a rather large experienced hole with it. This means another year of helping, supporting and plying new and inexperienced people through. I have no problem with that, I enjoy it to be honest but if we have another year like this (I am 178 hours over my contact hours this year) it will be simply too much.

The general mood at our place is one of intense exhaustion, resignation almost. The looks on peoples faces says it all; it has been one tough year. Now at this point I suspect there are tuts abound from the non-teachers, but I promise you (as someone who is joining us in August straight off the tools after 2 months of teaching said), this is damn site harder than the graft on the tools. It's not the physical side, but the constant mental battle that gets you in the end.

Anyway, one more day to go then 7 in Greece for a beer, a dip and a read of my crap book. Can't wait.

It's been that long/17th edition

Well, I finally got my 17th. Interestingly enough the private training provision I had seemed to think that reading the Regs front to back for 3 days constituted teaching. No wonder lecturing has a bad name with people like this about.

The exam was tougher than I thought it was going to be, certainly a lot tougher than the 16th Edition before it. Most of it was in the questions, a lot are struggling for the plain English award I can tell you. Many of the people in the class were caught out (badly prepared you could say) and a couple just scraped through looking at their results.

To be honest, I went their to learn about the new stuff, the EM stuff, the harmonics, RCD protection etc. and the only thing that I really learned was that a bad tutor can actually have a rather bad effect on everyone. Perhaps a useful lesson?

Could this year get worse?

Back again eh? Well, in reference to the title the answer is generally yes. I am most certainly looking for another job, that's for sure. Anybody want a 35 year old experienced electrical installation tutor? Fully qualified to C certificate, stage 3 teacher training, A1 assessors etc. can teach installation, science, maths and the ilk, rather good at the ILT side of things (see www.electricalexams.co.uk for proof)?

Yes I am now officially moving on, although I have nowhere to move yet. Things have got no better and after having quite a heavy year so far on the teaching/managing/assessing/babysitting/preparing other peoples lessons front, I am tired and want to move on.

The problem is, I care too much. If I say 'no' then I know that it's the students that suffer, not the continually inept management (or their conscience) . So of course when X situation occurs, I say (with a sigh) "yeah ok, I'll do it". Of course, all this does is further compound the issue, we have little time spare as it is, any movement in this spare time pushes it onto evenings and indeed, relationships. Now fortunately, I have a very understanding wife and no kids to speak of (that was a joke) so get away with it but, and this is a big but, many people do have more demanding better halves and 2.4 children. This means potential teachers are further put off once more by the commitment.

Well, "whatever" as the students say. I am preparing for a holiday and when I return with a fresh vigour (facing 32 Level 3 students doing the 302 and 303 assignments), my thoughts may not be entirely on my current position as they say.

Let's see what's out there...

Isit really that bad?

Well, we are now past the half way mark and managment are starting to talk about achievements. Of course, the problem we have been pointing out is that they have still (for the 4th time) failed to recruit. The last guy we interviewed was offered the job but under the new payspine could expect a salary of £19k. In context, a decent level 3 apprentice could make that.

Talking about the payspine...it is yet another example of how vocational courses don't work within an academic requirement. To get the wage I am currently on, some bright spark has said I need a relevant level 6 qualification and have got to get one in 3 years. Well, I'll happily do an electrical engineering degree but I think it'll take me more than 3 years and may well be expensive. Also, when I get it I'll no longer be working in education as I can command twice as much again in industry.

I think that there is a problem with academic management not understanding vocational subjects. It's not just us, there are a lot of vocational courses in the colleges, many of them drawing more funding than the traditional A level courses. It's just that the colleges expect to staff them on bare minimum levels whilst still expecting achievements, it simply cannot be done, something has to give eventually and this is the achievement. Personally I prefer the teaching side of things and (as results are saying anyway) I have that pretty covered. I also prefer the teaching as for some reason they pay assessors less as in some way they have less of an impact on the future qualifications. It's about time they realised that in the system, both have equal importance as they both contribue to the achievement. Doubt they will though.