Contents List | Foreword | Definitions of the types of training available | New entrant training plus roofing courses throughout the UK | Onsite assessment and training OSAT | Construction Skills Certification Scheme | Management and supervisor training | Levy and Grant | ConstructionSkills Roofing Team | Roofing Training Group Details | Trade associations | Manufacturer training | Assessment centres | Abbreviations relevant to the roofing industry
The aim is to recruit and train young people in roofing on behalf of employers to ensure that an appropriate number of qualified new entrants join the industry.
All training activities relate to work-based training for young people, ie facilitating and funding the training of new entrants between the ages of 16 and 25, from recruitment and placement up to the completion of training.
CAS is a registration scheme offering a formal apprenticeship to individuals following a craft or technical career in a construction-related occupation. It is owned by the construction industry and administered by ConstructionSkills.
CAS has the support of many associations and unions and shows a commitment towards the training of new recruits. CAS provides both the employer and the individual with a formal contract, using a Deed of Apprenticeship.
The Deed itself covers such things as employment, structured training towards an N/SVQ in the chosen occupation and a specified period of apprenticeship - usually three years from the time of entering the industry for the first time.
In Scotland this may vary as trainees following Scottish Vocational Qualifications are required to join the Scottish Building Apprenticeship and Training Council (SBATC) Apprenticeship Scheme.
On-site assessment and training (OSAT) is a cost-effective method of qualifying experienced roofing staff to industry's national occupational standards. OSAT enables experienced, but not formally qualified, roofing staff to prove they are competent, safe and qualified to work on construction sites.
This form of training gives a roofing worker, who has no formal skill but some basic site experience, the opportunity to learn a formal skill through a combination of course attendance and/or on-site training and experience.
The duration of training may vary up to a maximum of two years, at the end of which the operative, if successful, could attain an N/SVQ Level 2 and qualify for a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card (see Section 5).
This assessment route has been introduced as an alternative for the experienced worker in the occupation, enabling sufficient time to gain experience across the range of work.
Accredited assessment centres will be able to use this method to assess experienced candidates. This method is not being introduced to replace existing assessment methods, but to offer an alternative.
National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) or in Scotland, Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs), are work-based qualifications designed to prove that the standard of work required has been met.
There are five different levels of NVQ/SVQ:
A qualification is made up of individual units. When all the units are achieved as required, the N/SVQ is awarded. N/SVQs are designed to show that an acceptable level of competence has been reached to enable work to be carried out correctly and safely.