ilovesettsonmondays wrote:yes london there is . i have city and guilds roadwork craft years 1 and 2 , which most apprentice streetmasons got years ago when an apprentice with the local authority . about 5 years ago i gained my nvq level 2 in modular paving .(in about an hour )
I did Roadcraft, back in the late 70s, and have some idea it was stopped in the early 80s when Thatcher reckoned we were all going to be stockbrokers and computer programmers, as there'd be no need for manual trades.
There are currently 2 NVQs in modular paving: one targeted at the civils trade and one at the landscaping (amenity horticulture) trade. At the behest of Lantra/BALI, I re-wrote the amenity horticulture version in 2007 and it is considered to be more 'up-to-date' than the civils version which has been stagnant since the mid 90s. Before the training group disappeared up its own arse, we were looking at combining the two into a single NVQ, regardless of which sector the candidate worked in. That may still come about, assuming Construction Skills still has a role/funding under this new government.
There is also a full apprenticeship scheme for modular paving which I wrote and developed for Construction Skills in 2009 and was subsequently accepted by the sector skills body in November 2009. It was supposed to launch January 2010 but was buggered up by the incompetence of the training group management and postponed until May 2010, when I was supposed to lead an 18 month course in Milton Keynes. That was then cancelled with just 7 days notice, leaving me with 12 months lesson plan development work for which I would not be paid.
In theory, the apprenticeship scheme is still available, but the useless apparatchik that was running the scheme has now retired )or so I've heard) and there's a distinct lack of will from the rest of the training group to actively promote either the apprenticeship, the NVQ or any of the many other training courses we've put together over the last 5 years.
The executive cttee (of which I'm a member) hasn't even met since last spring on the grounds that no-one is doing any training. To my naive way of thinking, the fact that no-one is doing any training is one massive reason why the executive ctte *should* be meeting, to discuss why the situation is as it is, and what we can do about it, but I am a lone voice amongst the pencil-pushers.
There are lads and lasses out there looking for quality training to give them genuine skills. There are good courses prepared to give them the skills they desire. The blockage in the pipe is the frigging management which are more concerned about their own salaries than actually training anyone.
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