Fuzzy, I agree that closed-shops, protectionism or stopping people coming into industry are questionable in our free market society. Im glad you agree, all too often the product is used to fight the argument which is unfair
I wish to pick up 'knowing the facts' - and the situation of some people knowing more facts than others. Isnt this the fact across everything? It isnt the fault of the qualification
The credit crunch started with such a moral hazard as poor people took out loans, which the sellers knew, they would be unable to re-pay. The seller was party to 'facts' that the buyer was not. The product was sold, with the buyer ignorant of the risks involved again this isnt the fault of the product but the seller, many sales people have sold inappropriately in the past, this is not a plumbing issue let alone a qualification issue. its an issue with sales. Blaming the qual for bad salespeople is misleading
If we now consider plumbing candidates or students wishing to do plumbing courses. They take advice from teachers, assessors and career advisors who have a vested interest in certain facts - like the 'fact' that qualification is fit for purpose.say like going to a shop and asking the salesperson for advice? this is the case in every shop ive ever been too. we now have the internet to get further advice and feedback from such as this forum, then we can make an informed choice, something i keep promoting
However, how do we know the qualification is fit for purpose, and what does 'fit for purpose' mean Qualifications are written and produced by professionals, they are then moderated bu professionals from various areas of the trade. The qual id then checked by ofqual for fairness. there is a thorough procedure to go through. This doesnt mean it is going to be 100% but the system is about as close as possible.
In order to adress the above questions we would need multiple opinions about the qualification, and substantive 'evidence' of the 'knowledge' learned on the course, extending or underpinning competent performance of a candidate in an occupational field such as plumbing. this does happen In addition, we would need to observe the perfomance of candidates in the field to assess if their college learning was valuable to them, and if the candidate was indeed performing to competent standards as a consequence of the course in the case of a tech cert this happens, the nvq then judges the performance in the field. the student does not get the full qual until they prove competence in a real working environment
The above evidence scenario is not easy to achieve and to my knowledge no such study has ever been produced to evaluate plumbing qualifications, so there is a lack of research in the field. Therefore, we don't really know whether the plumbing technical certificate is a good qualification or not, becuase we only have opinions to go off at the moment...and these opinions are most often voiced the most loudly from sector skills councils, awarding bodies and training centres selling qualification employers are represented. feedback so far is the skills of people leaving with a 6129 are low compared to fully qualified tradespeople. this is seen as a negative but it shouldnt be, the 6129 does not claim to make them fully qualified and therefore it is unfair to judge them against a fully qualified plumber. they should be judged against other poeple who have completed a centre only basic knowledge qual. then the employers completes the training prior to assessment for the full qual, USA have a similar system and it is judged very well, not sure why we complain about it. i think its because people want a student to do 1 year in a college and come out with all the skills of an experienced plumber, that will never happen so i suggest the judgments in the UK are unfair
To conclude, I don't doubt that people get on and do well in business after doing a tech cert...but I think these people are dynamic, hard working, tenacious, averse to risk, confident, capable and open to learning. I would argue that these people would have done equally well whatever their choice of career, but they are the exception rather than the rule.Again this is not conclusive to plumbing, is it not that people in all walks of life do better when they are hard working and open to learning etc. etc.? does anyone really think there is a qual capable of ensuring a lazy unwilling person into a fully qualified hard working plumber? once again it is not the fault of the qual but the person you are judging here
All qualifications and education for that matter should be open to question. At moment I would be extremely cautious of accepting advice from anyone concerned with the plumbing industry, because the 'facts' are not available.the facts are avilable, contact C&Gs direct if you have any questions, research on-line, talk to colleges and centres, then make up your own mind, like evey other walk of life this is no different