Neil Phillips and I talk through the pro's and con's of the existing electrical training routes Pt1
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- Опубліковано 13 вер 2024
- This is the first half of a chat that I recently had with Neil Phillips from Electrical courses UK based in Cambridgeshire.
Neil approached me because he got the impression that I was slightly one sided on the routes into the industry and more pro apprenticeship, rather than the Diploma self funded route.
Personally, I find that all the routes have their problems, and one of the biggest problems that I hear about from people who have been through the Diploma route, is that they struggle to find employment after completing the course.
It might be that from an employers view, they only have classroom experience and not real life site experience, and there is a huge difference between the two. So Neil also wanted to point out that another option open to people looking for work after completing a Diploma route, might be to get a job as an electrical improver with the JIB who advertise their rate at around £16ph.
Another option that I have seen people talking about in the Sparky Ninja Facebook group, is being forced to use agency work as a way of gaining experience. I once did agency work for around 3 months and I found it soul destroying, and it still sounds like nothing has changed.
It is however, another option for gaining experience and a way of completing the workplace logbook (also known as the NVQ or Portfolio), and once that is done and you pass the AM2 you are then a qualified electrician in the eyes of the industry.
Hopefully agency work, is then a means to an end.
Anyway, this is Part 1 of our discussion... Any comments, suggestions or help gratefully received.
Part 2 out soon
Watched a number of your videos and find them informative but as the description says a tad biased against intense route (I mean that in a polite way!). I decided to take redundancy from my current job and retrain as a spark but my end date isn't for 6 months. I have agreed with my current employer to do 3 days a week until then and luckily managed to secure work for the other 2 with an electrician who pretty much only does house work. I am swayed towards an intense course at the start of next year with a number of months (admittedly 2 days a week) on the job experience under my belt. My hope is a lot of classroom stuff will bring what I know to life in a more theoretical way.
I am not 100% sure if this is the best way but having done a lot of research and weighed my options up I think this may work best for me. From your videos, many others and reading a fair few things it sounds like what ever way you choose there is likely to always be things you do not know/forget.
Looking forward to seeing part 2 and Neils take on the intensive route a bit more!
To be fair, I’m completely honest that every route has it’s pros and cons, that is even what it says in the title.
There are also so many variables it is hard to say what works best and how the learner comes out the other end.
I can only talk from my limited 2 years experience of observing learners and they do struggle to retain information.
I had a chat with the Sparky Ninja who also agrees that people need tine to digest the information handed to them.
There is an old saying
“The longer it takes to build, the harder it is to tear down”
Having said that, Neil has been doing it a lot longer than me, and he has success delivering this course over 16 weeks, but as he has adults who are invested in the course and CPD I can see how it makes the job easier for those individuals.
The only way to really find out, would be to take 50 learners doing the apprenticeship and 50 learners doing the intense.
Measure their abilities at the start and then record their exam grades, attempts and failures.
Then at the end of the 3 years apprenticeship compare the apprentices against the intense learners, and see who has retained more information, who has the better skillset, and who has the better portfolio.
Only then would you get an accurate evaluation
@@Pure_electrical_training I completely agree about that being the only fair way to test. But from my research I think its hard because some sparks do very varied jobs and then some stick to quite a tight lane i.e. only do domestics etc. So a lot of what you actually learn will be about who you work with.
The one thing I know is that it is very confusing and clear info is very hard to come by. I must say your videos are some of the clearest I have come across and found it really helpful. I also found this site helpful. www.sparkyfacts.co.uk/How_to_become_an_electrician.html
As I said I am not 100% sure the route I am likely to take is the best but I don't think any route is likely to be the best I just find that the route people take tends to be the route they suggest.
Thanks for the content as I said they have been very helpful! If you are still doing them I am happy to have a chat this time next year once I have done my course and have a lot more experience under my belt.
That would be amazing 🙌
Did part 2 ever come out for this?
Not yet, I haven’t had the time and have been focussing on my inspection and testing series 😬
@@Pure_electrical_training No problem and thanks for the reply. I am about to start 2365 level 2 and after that level 3 to try and break into the industry. As a 40+ year old your videos have been invaluable for me to temper the expectations and give some much needed insights into how tough its going to be to get a foot in the door.
I'm going to try my best though and if it doesn't happen for me it certainly won't be through lack of effort on my part.
Thanks for taking the time with the videos as they have helped me immensely.