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Should Electrical Tutors at FE colleges in the UK be mandated to complete a minimum of 1 week per year working in industry?

Sergio Fernandez

Should Electrical Tutors at FE colleges in the UK be mandated to complete a minimum of 1 week per year working in industry?


Points to consider
The work placement could be in Domestic/Commercial/Industrial and could also include specialisms like ATEX (ATmosphères EXplosibles)

The placement could be seen as a type of Enhanced CPD (Continuing Professional Development) so to speak

Experiences onsite could filter back into the educational space with regards to new techniques and modern day materials being used,  EG use of RCBO type B or SPD type 2 in CU/DB(Consumer Unit/Distribution Board) or GRP containment.

Broadening the horizons of the FE tutor could also lead to more rounded educational experience for the learners, this could include activities like commenting on feedback on the public draft of BS 7671

This tutor placement/work exchange could also help form a better relationship between the local FE college and future employers when the learners progress to requiring evidence for NVQ modules.



As always please be polite and respectful in this purely academic debate.





Come on everybody let’s help inspire the future.

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  • Andy Millar said:
    However of course that doesn't mean they are up to date...we really want students to come out of college more up to date than their employers, not less (which can happen if their tutors are teaching them what they did when they left industry 10-20 years earlier

    Agreed but someone will need to have a searching look at the syllabus for many courses. Take the 2391 practical assessment, for example. The rigs today are exactly the same as they were when the course was introduced many years ago. Not even lip service paid to EV, PV, batteries, smart home technologies etc, no SPDs, AFDDs, bi-directional devices etc, etc. 

    You may wonder why. It is my belief that there are commercial decisions being made by the accreditation bodies that hold back the changes that would be needed for some qualifications to better reflect the ever changing nature of the electrical installation industry. 

  • in reply to lyledunn

    someone will need to have a searching look at the syllabus for many courses. ,,,,,,{things} today are exactly the same as they were when the course was introduced many years ago.

    And that's not a new problem either.. Many years ago I had a tutor who was  fairly new to the university where I was studying physics. And he contributed a question to the pool of questions that might be asked in a finals exam. The topic  was very definitely stuff on the syllabus but not in the style of any questions from any previous years.

    It was rejected by the exam committee.

    because - with some extra accompanying waffle removed for clarity

    'Truly original questions are to be discouraged as they cause  unnecessary effort for the examiners; and potentially stress and high failure rates for the students'

    So the system favours those who mug up on last year's papers and don't think too hard, because that is more or less what the examiners do as well

    Not quite what they said, but certainly what they meant.

    FE syllabuses are not alone in having a bad case of  cobwebs and inertia.

    Mike.

  • in reply to mapj1

    Perish the thought that examiners might have to work out an answer for themselves! Even in the Fens.

  • in reply to lyledunn
    lyledunn said:
    You may wonder why. It is my belief that there are commercial decisions being made by the accreditation bodies that hold back the changes that would be needed for some qualifications to better reflect the ever changing nature of the electrical installation industry. 

    I suspect it's much simpler than that, it's just a lot of work and investment - and indeed arguing between everyone involved as to what it should be - to change a syllabus (and to be sure it's correct). The exam body itself doesn't have the expertise to do so, their expertise is running exams. This is the sort of thing that the IET (or rather, one of their relevant committees) could influence by making noises at the exam bodies to let them know that they are out of date.

  • in reply to Chris Pearson

    yes well, I was not studying in the fens of course, but in the other place as folk more pompous than I like to call it.

    Mike ;-)

  • in reply to mapj1
    mapj1 said:
    in the other place

    :-)

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