Advice on Which course to do

[Pd1221]

Evening all,

I am considering retraining and like a few on here I am in my 30s and currently working full time, four days a week.

I read a bit about NVQ qualifications but was unclear on the best route to take. My local college runs a City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in Plumbing Studies two evenings a week over a calendar school year starting soon but was wondering if any one knows exactly what this leads towards. I seem to think it does not particularly offer any formal qualification so to speak but more just a look in to what the profession involves, am I correct?

I do have a friend who is a plumber and had previously done a few saturdays with him but unfortunately started just before the pandemic and so stopped as a result and never ended up doing another days work experience with him. At the time he seemed to think courses were just a waste of money and you just need experience but it's not always easy to find the older you get and I am not fully sure on what qualifications you actually need to even work as a plumber.

Can any one offer any advice on this course or perhaps better ones to enrol on/consider? Thanks

 

[WC1]

1. Get more hands on experience before making any decisions. As much as you can, and then some more.
2. You do get a formal, nationally recognised qualification I think it's 6035 (at the moment)

 

[Ric2013]

Your friend is right in that experience and aptitude are more important than a qualification, and wrong. Increasingly you need an academic background in plumbing to do the eventual specific courses for certain things that otherwise you won't be legally allowed to touch. I do know a plumber who thinks as your friend, but he seems to spend much of his time working for an electrical firm and not doing plumbing at all, and what he does do isn't always quite to standard and legal as he's now out of touch with modern trends (which he doesn't mind as he disagrees with them - but he's nearing retirement which you aren't).

The diploma won't be that useful from that point of view (you'll need the NVQ to progress), but it will teach you a lot and City and Guilds at a college over a year is barking up the right tree at least. When I went to college (not that long ago), most of my classmates were working in the industry and being sent to college by their employers, so they obviously thought it worth while. The difference between the two courses are that the NVQ includes a record of some practical tasks carried out in real site (i.e. someones home) conditions (not just the practical assessments carried out in college).

 

[Kay101]

1. Get more hands on experience before making any decisions. As much as you can, and then some more.
2. You do get a formal, nationally recognised qualification I think it's 6035 (at the moment)

6035 is the diploma, 6189 is the NVQ.

9189 is the apprenticeship qualification, available only in an apprenticeship