Upskilling is free mate. Most suppliers now run upskilling courses after hours and theyre very easy to pass, even for dyslexics.

Funny you mention this - I have received info in the last week or two that this will no longer be the case - now that they have their captured market they are going to be charging for all "supplier bbq courses & cpd points" - due to be implemented soon at a trade depot near you...

maybe not this year but next most definately...

Spud - go to your local polytech and ask to go on the Industry Advisory Board.  They have to have one - and provide your feedback there.  The reason pre-trades continue to flourish is that polytechs get 100% of the money for these in their own pockets and therefore they love them.  So, as they are unable to be stopped, you may as well have your two cents worth as to the quality of them.  I agree 100% with Watchdog - training generally needs to be strengthened.  It is the future of our industry.  Much like the new entrants class in a school - if the quality at the polytech isn't good then the end result isn't going to be good.

I am a 4th generation Kiwi - 20 years also.  I do believe in training properly, and supervising correctly - and ensuring that apprentices are held to account for their learning.  I am understanding of some of the learning difficulties that apprentices bring, and also some of the hurdles tradespeople face - and from experience I have seen some excellent tradespeople who have reading difficulties, but who have persevered and succeeded. 

I know that free isn't free  and that I am paying somewhere along the line.  And for the record my friend, I have far more interesting things to do than listen to some poxy sales rep try to sell me shit and dress it up as upskilling.

hi guys(these free courses will disappear and the leaches of the industry will be making there money, just another industry within the industry) and this is when more people will walk away from our trades,cheers

I can see the writing on the wall....but I am having trouble reading it....

Spud - go to your local polytech and ask to go on the Industry Advisory Board.  They have to have one - and provide your feedback there.  The reason pre-trades continue to flourish is that polytechs get 100% of the money for these in their own pockets and therefore they love them.  So, as they are unable to be stopped, you may as well have your two cents worth as to the quality of them.  I agree 100% with Watchdog - training generally needs to be strengthened.  It is the future of our industry.  Much like the new entrants class in a school - if the quality at the polytech isn't good then the end result isn't going to be good.

I am a 4th generation Kiwi - 20 years also.  I do believe in training properly, and supervising correctly - and ensuring that apprentices are held to account for their learning.  I am understanding of some of the learning difficulties that apprentices bring, and also some of the hurdles tradespeople face - and from experience I have seen some excellent tradespeople who have reading difficulties, but who have persevered and succeeded. 

I know that free isn't free  and that I am paying somewhere along the line.  And for the record my friend, I have far more interesting things to do than listen to some poxy sales rep try to sell me shit and dress it up as upskilling.

I think as I get older I probably will start to become more motivated to have a say on this stuff.
I started a new apprentice yesterday, who is 3 weeks off completing the Christchurch Polytechs Pre Trade course. Without a word of a lie, when I asked him to go to the van and get me a trap, he didn't know what I was talking about. I asked him if Polytech had taught him about traps and waste pipes and venting and he said they had touched on it but he still didn't know what a trap was. I just find this absolutely staggering. Either I have employed someone who has no knowledge retention, or the CPIT is not doing their job.
My last apprentice didn't know that hacksaw teeth have to face forward. He had completed the pre-trade course.
When I finished my pre trade about 18 years ago at CPIT I could arc mig and tig weld. I could braze and lead burn, fusion weld, make a lead flashing with just a wooden mallet, pipe out a low pressure cylinder, identify, sharpen and care for hand tools. Make water tight joints in all the plumbing pipe systems, design pipe layouts for buildings, lay a drain to a grade.....the list goes on.......

This is why I am pissed off with the 'dumbing down of our trade'

I know where you are coming from Spud and you are right about the level of training but the frightening thing is the training your guy got on his pre-trade is more than he will get from attending assessments throughtout his apprenticeship. Pre-trade may not be the answer.

Pre trades fill in where Dad's don't.  Once upon a time a teenager helped Dad in the shed, got to know the names of tools and learned basic maintenance of their vehicle, the house - probably changed fuses and tapwashers and generally learned some day to day "good to know" stuff.  Know with so many Dad's absent, who teaches kids this stuff?  They don't learn it in woodwork or metalwork any more.   I don't want pre-trade to "teach" them enough so they are dangerous - and that is the worry - if they teach them too much they will think they know more than they do and go out perking and bugger both themselves and their poor customers.  We have seen this happen with pre-traders who have done the 12 month courses.  The best thing about pre-trades is it gives employers who offer the one day a week work experience - a long 10 week interview of a potential apprentice.

Sure they need to learn the names of tools and fittings - pre trade should do this, but I don't want pre-traders learning how to pipe out a HWC, or do building design, or anything where they could get themselves in trouble.  It should cover a lot of basic trade science - so they are "work and apprentice ready." 

If they get the unit standards at pre trade they still have to pay for them again (although not repeat them) during their apprenticeship - which seems both inefficient and expensive.  I'm not sure what the whole answer is - but I'm working on it!

[
I totally disagree. Im pretty surprised by these comments. Lets not teach pre-traders too much because they might get themselves into trouble? Arent there other things in place that will stop a pre-trader getting into trouble? Whats wrong with learning how to pipe size a house or install a hot water cylinder on a pre-trade course? They cant just go and pipe out someones house on the weekend as a cashie can they? What kind of builder will let them do that? they have to be certifying to do that!

Geez Louise! The short sightedness and lack of vision of some in our trade worries me.

Hi Spud.  Unfortunately that is exactly what is happening, particularly in the Auckland area.  Cultural and race issues also enter into the fray where cost over rides legality. The black market also exposes the failures of our registration system where people get to licensing level but are not really qualified in that they are still under supervision.

I don't think shortsightedness or lack of vision comes into it as we are in a regulated industry but do people on pre-trades come into that regulation? As it stands people who are operating under supervision who are not registered are not subject to the same regulation as the rest of us and in fact it is their supervisor who must license them and be responsible for them.

Everyone in the industry should be subject to the same rules.