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Case studies

Getting your experience accreditted

Added: 19 December 2007. Last updated: 8 May 2008.

Experienced Painter and Decorator Gemma Woolrych is about to achieve an NVQ level 3 qualification in her trade. But she’s done it without taking time off to attend college on a regular basis. So what’s her secret?

The answer’s simple. WAMT’s ‘Construction and Learning Project for London’, a programme run jointly with BOSS (Building One Stop Shop) at the College of North West London. The project uses OSAT (which stands for On Site Assessment and Training), a process developed by the Construction Industry Training Board. It enables unqualified but experienced workers in the industry to get a national qualification of NVQ Level 3. The whole process is carried out whilst you work on site, so you dont have to take time off to go to college.

Gemma, one of the first women recruited onto WAMT’s OSAT programme, has been working towards her qualification since February. She has been self-employed for six years, and a member of WAMT for five. So what made her choose to do the programme? “It just seemed like an easier way of getting a qualification, because they came to you“. Without this on-site assessment, she wouldn’t have been able to take time off for college study – “It’s really hard when you’re small – if there’s just a couple of you or something.”

Gemma had her future in mind when she took the course on. A qualification like NVQ3 can open doors to site management or other kinds of work, if you ever decide to come off the tools. So, Gemma said, “I thought I may as well do it whilst the opportunity was there“.

The cost was also a consideration for her. I suppose if you worked for a bigger company “ which really isn’t that usual – they’d probably pay for it“. But as a self-employed person, the opportunity for a free qualification was great. “I don’t know how much it costs to do an NVQ, but I’d guess it’s a few hundred pounds, it’s not to be sniffed at really!“

The course starts with enrolment at the college. Students are also required to visit the college to take a Health and Safety test, which, as Gemma explained, is “all multiple choice stuff, so most of its very straight-forward“. But after this, all assessment is done on-site, by a representative from the college, who visits students at work. Gemma’s Assessor from Building One Stop Shop has been out to her three or four times. “He helps a lot, because I’ve not done anything like this before, and I’ve not been to college for many years. He leads you through it, so it’s not daunting. Theres quite a bit of paperwork, but when you sort of break it down, it’s all stuff youve done mainly“. Her assessor has also been on hand to help Gemma with her portfolio, which is required for the NVQ. This contains course paperwork, along with photographs, quotes, drawings – “just basically to show what youre doing“.