it's my great pleasure to be at Wigan and Leigh college and i'm here with Paul
and we're going to try and answer this question Paul when i leave school i want
to be an electrician so we're not talking about necessarily getting an apprenticeship from school
what can the college offer those people that are thinking about being electricians okay so we offer
level one level two and level three courses level three you can't go on from school it's a City
Guilds requirement you have to go through level one or level two depending on your GCSEs when you
leave school often i hear the phrase don't know at school you're not very academically minded
the best thing you can do is go and get yourself a trade and i'll agree with the best thing you can
do is go and get yourself a trade and that'll be electrical however we're going to need those maths
and English grades to be above what level really we want them above grade four for level two and
that's especially in math and that's due to the maths content in the course we don't want to take
students on with a lower grade and disadvantage those students for the sake of filling up courses
and it's really important because you're going to need those grades of above four in math and
English when you do get an apprenticeship but remember the full-time course actually gives
people a chance to try before they buy that's right yeah they're undecided now if you haven't
quite got those grades you talked about that level one course what gets me on a level one yeah so
grades at three math in English uh at uh for level one okay so i've got those grades i'm really keen
to come in i've maybe done a taste aday i've come on some of the careers fairs maybe the school
have done and that's it i wanna come to college to become an electrician or start that journey
how many hours is a full-time course it always gets me yeah so for full-time courses it's not
that school at five days a week you'll be in college approximately two and a half days
and the other time you would be expected to complete directed study units or and all work
related learning as well okay and work-related learning is really important and that's work
experience work experience yeah yeah again i say to anyone coming into a college center i want to
be something so i'm not sure so i'm going to try this course i want to be an electrician
so i come and do the course i really enjoy it and then i get on site and i absolutely hate it you've
made a lovely decision and actually you don't want to be electrician and that's what college gives
you does it gives you that flexibility it does yeah yeah so you complete a level one or level
two course and you go off and do something else i always say to people complete the course you're on
yes we've got that maths element in there but really what we're excited about when we come to
an FE college it actually gives you the practical element of the course how many hours might i be
spending in the workshop so on our level two courses you'll be spending four hours a week
in the workshop don't panic don't cheer this is not your level one end point practical exam is it
we're not doing anything this complicated at those levels but let's jump in at maybe that level two
so we're spending four hours in the workshop what sort of wiring systems are we only handling then
okay so a level two there would be cables clipped to wall boards and using steel conduit plastic
conduit using singles to wire lighting circuits radial sockets outlets and ring uh psychical
circuits as well trunking tray there as well yes steel trunking in there as well because that is
on the final practical or it was on this year's final practical exam so when it was announced
by the Guilds what the spec would be we could then start practicing those elements okay so let's jump
that back to level one now level one has more time in the workshop which is great and i would argue
that a level one maybe we don't spend as much time as younger people now doing more practical
tasks we're probably more i.t savvy how many hours would a level one learn to be in the world
level one's gonna get six to eight hours a week in the workshop and they get a watered-down version
what you just described level two that's slightly diluted but not as much as what you would think
they still do with the containment systems and a mix of wiring using twin and singles
cables brilliant so i would say always that that level one is not a negative to start at level one
especially if you want to just make a little bit more effort on your your math and English because
you get a lot of time to perfect those practical skills so when you do potentially either get a job
after level one or you progress that level imagine just jumping in at level two with only four hours
in a workshop and all of a sudden you have got to get up speed quite quickly haven't you yes you do
yeah when we're thinking about the level two exam okay how's that broken down so the exam is broken
down into a multi-choice holistic exam this year it was in April and the Guilds do a low one reset
in June okay so i've heard that you could pass it in April and reset it in June you can under
there is that possibility to increase your grade like that yeah yeah and there's also a design
assignment to do okay and the practical elements as well okay so the practical element i don't
think's as many people gonna cheer at this one so i'll go into my practical exam the one thing
that i think i'm really gonna crush this and have a bad day and let's say i'm unsuccessful
when i do that practical exam can i resit that quite quickly no okay when's the reset
the reset would be the next year oh wow so that puts a lot i like that as well though there's a
lot of emphasis on that practical element which people allegedly want to do when they take on
a skill based course so we get two two reps at the online exams and one at our practical exams
now there's there's a missing element here i think to get that job in the electrical industry
now you've decided hopefully at level one and level two when you're deep into that course
that i want to be an electrician isn't it work experience now work experience absolutely vital
to to gain that work experience and also on the eFIXX website there's the CPD elements that the
units do that students can complete those units print off the certificates and again they can take
that to employees to say i am driven i'm motivated i'm determined i have that level of dedication
this is this is a career choice for me yeah i like that so i've got i've got my level two exam
maybe level one and level two depending on where you are so i've got that level two i've got some
additional certificates so don't take a lot of time on that eFIXX apprentice hub i've got those
i've got work experience which is super important to get out there because you might not like it
and you can make that decision then actually when i left school i didn't want to be a electrician
i'm going to find something else which is also a good decision we'll say that to learners look your
parents loved ones and carers in the eye and say i've tried it for a year get your qualification
whether it be a level one on a level two and say i've decided after that i want to do something
different because when you find something you absolutely love like we do you end up making
a career out of it in that industry also having the math in English yeah so we're going to leave
we only take apprentices that do have maths and English onto the apprenticeship course as well and
that's a little bit breaking news for me because normally what they do on that as well is say
if you're mathematically we'll try and increase that on the course and that's not the case here
we'll be different around the country and i always say to learners when they come to me in the past
you've had 12 years at school the least you can do is bring your massive English with you i can't