QCF Plumbing Courses

You may have heard about changes being proposed for City & Guilds training and also wondering how this might affect construction trade qualifications, especially if you are thinking of beginning your training with Able Skills on the City & Guilds Technical Certificate in Plumbing Studies (6129).

The new qualifications will replace the current ‘technical certificates’ or VRQs and NVQs at levels 2 and 3 for the Plumbing industry and have been designed to reflect occupational competence.

These qualifications are designed to suit those of you new to the Plumbing industry as well as those who are existing practitioners, similar to the current technical certificates and NVQs.

For several years the Building Services Engineering sector has used NVQ’s as the currency for an individual to demonstrate competence. During this time SummitSkills has reviewed and revised the National Occupational Standards for the industry in consultation with employers.

In addition to this SummitSkills has carried out extensive consultation with other qualification stakeholders, including Lecturers and Assessors; Learners; Trade Associations; Trade Unions; Competent Persons Scheme operators. This extensive consultation is the basis for the design and content of the new qualification.

The development of the new Plumbing qualification has been carried out by the three organisations. SummitSkills and the two Awarding Organisations, EAL and City & Guilds who will be responsible for having the qualifications accredited.

EAL and City & Guilds will be responsible for determining the final assessment instruments/methodology utilised within the Plumbing units/qualification in accordance with assessment strategy, e.g, written tests or assignments, simulated performance activities and on-site assessment.

The changes are not due to come into operation until late in 2010 and will not fundamentally alter the level of knowledge and training requirements,  they are in fact intended to greatly improve learning capability by making the Plumbing course units easier to understand, more flexible and allow for interchangeable skillsets.

City & Guilds have extended the current ‘end registration’ dates for C&G 6129 levels 2 and 3 and for the C&G 6089 NVQ. This will allow continued provision of these courses at Able Skills ... 

Until the changeover, which has had many start dates deferred, the industry recognised City & Guilds entry qualification for plumbing training is :

City & Guilds 6129 level 2. An 8 week course of intensive plumbing training - 50% of which is devoted to practical work - the 6129 Level 2 provides all the necessary foundation knowledge for entrants to undertake domestic plumbing work.

Covers all the basic principles of plumbing installation, basic pipe work skills, complex plumbing tasks including airing cupboards, bathroom suites, above ground drainage, central heating installation, lead work and low carbon steel as well as an understanding of Health & Safety requirements and knowledge of the organisation and structure of the plumbing industry.

The end registration date for this award has been extended by City & Guilds to 01/04/2011 with a last certification date of 31.12.2012 so effectively this qualification remains valid and industry recognised and achievable at Able Skills as long as registration is submitted before 01/04/2011

City & Guilds 6129 level 3 A 6 week course of intensive plumbing training and assessment and the natural progression from level 2, this is a requirement for moving forward to the next stage to obtain a plumbing NVQ at level 3.

The end registration date for the 6129 at level 3 has been extended by City & Guilds to 01/04/2011 with a last certification date of 31.12.2013 so effectively this qualification remains valid and industry recognised and achievable at Able Skills as long as registration is submitted before 01/04/2011

The plumbing NVQ itself is currently : City & Guilds 6089 levels 2 & 3. Site based work assessment and portfolio building with support and guidance from Able Skills NVQ Assessors.

In order to qualify for assessment for City & Guilds 6089 – NVQ level 2, you must hold: City & Guilds 6129 level 2

In order to qualify for assessment for City & Guilds 6089 – NVQ level 3, you must hold: City & Guilds 6129 level 3

The end registration date for the 6089 Plumbing NVQ Level 2 award has been extended by City & Guilds to 01/04/2011 with a last certification date of 31.12.2012 so effectively this qualification remains valid and industry recognised and achievable at Able Skills as long as registration is submitted before 01/04/2011

The end registration date for the 6089 Plumbing NVQ Level 3 award has been extended by City & Guilds to 01/04/2011 with a last certification date of 31.12.2013 so effectively this qualification remains valid and industry recognised and achievable at Able Skills as long as registration is submitted before 01/04/2011

Moving forward with the QCF C&G Diploma in Electrotechnology 2357

Able Skills will remain under the guidance of City & Guilds and we will, when everything is ready, be delivering training and assessment for C&G Level 2 and Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Plumbing and Heating

Regardless of the changes in the structure of the delivery and achievement of the QCF Plumbing & Heating Diploma, Able Skills will remain at the forefront of Plumbing training and will be ready with whatever the changes are.

Ultimately, the requirements to become a competent and qualified Plumber have not changed, only the manner in which you get there has.

The simple fact is that you still need to understand and demonstrate knowledge of fundamental plumbing principles, the same way that you do with the current C&G 6129 technical certificates and NVQs – the work of an Plumber has not changed!

The change to the qualification structure will ultimately mean good news for the Plumbing industry as the requirements to achieve a full and recognised qualification are more stringent in that the demand is for all knowledge units within the qualification to be consolidated by work based assessments to prove competency, thus giving us a better quality of Plumber all round.

There will be two main qualifications under this qualification number: plumbing and domestic heating. Candidates will become either a plumber or domestic heating engineer depending on the rules of combination of units achieved and pathway taken.

The qualification will consist entirely of mandatory units, but there will be a choice as to which fuel route candidates may wish to take. The qualifications proposed are:

•    NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Plumbing and Heating
•    NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Domestic Heating
•    NVQ Level 3 Diploma in Domestic Plumbing and Heating (either gas option, oil option, solid fuel option, or environmental technologies)
•    NVQ Level 3 Diploma in Domestic Heating (either gas option, oil option, solid fuel option, or environmental technologies)

The qualification contains knowledge and performance units:

•    Knowledge only units will be assessed by On Line examination assessment.
•    Performance only units will be assessed by work-based evidence only and design based assignment.
•    Combination units will be assessed by On Line examination assessment and in-centre practical work.

As you can see, there is a requirement to demonstrate competence and with Able Skills own Plumbing contracting Company and the contacts we have within the industry for work placements and so on, this will not be an impossible task for us to complete.

These new qualifications will not affect the ability of Able Skills to take you through a structured course development, in order to train you through the required levels to be fully ready and industry compliant within your chosen occupation.

We will structure courses to meet all of the requirements as soon as we have access to practical assessment equipment guides, specifications and handbooks containing the syllabus.

For those of you who have undertaken the 6129 at level 2/3 or both but never achieved the NVQ, there will still be an opportunity to enter onto the QCF 6189 to achieve a full qualification once the ‘mapping’ of units has been determined by EAL and City & Guilds.

QCF basics ...

A QCF qualification will be made up of manageable ‘chunks’ of learning.

Credit is awarded on the completion of a unit.

The required qualification credits will have a credit ‘value’ which is a measure of the notional ‘learning time’ and may be used in a set rule of ‘combination’.

Progression is assisted by the accumulation and transfer of ‘credit’.

This allows for more flexible career pathways, with reduced repetition, as learners can build on previously ‘banked’ credit as they move through sizes and levels.

How QCF will work ... General basics to remember

All units in the QCF use the same unit template, consisting of:

•    Learning outcomes - what a learner needs to know, understand or do.
•    Assessment criteria - which specify if the learner has met the outcomes to a defined level.

A ‘credit value’ and level are assigned to every unit.

The ‘credit value’ is a measure of average time, where one credit = 10 hours of notional learning.

Many units will still include guided learning hours too.

IMPORTANT: Some units will appear in more than one qualification and the credit can be transferred between qualifications, as long as it forms part of the ‘rules of combination’.

Rules of Combination ...

•    Rules of combination set out the combination of credit - through units - that must be achieved to complete a qualification.
•    The rules list the mandatory and/or optional units to be accumulated, including what can be transferred from other QCF qualifications.
•    Credit can come from more than one level, but more than 50% of the credit must be at the level of the qualification. Some qualifications still require 100% at one level.
•    Opportunities to count certificated achievements from outside the QCF can be identified in the rules of a QCF qualification as ‘exemptions’, to avoid repetition of learning. Equivalent QCF units can also be identified.
•    Non certificated learning and achievement can be assessed and awarded under ‘recognition of prior learning’, previously known as Accreditation of Approved Prior  Learning (APL).

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