Experienced Bricklayers who need NVQ

What You’ll Learn

If you are a time-served Bricklayer but have never had the opportunity to achieve qualifications, this Experienced Worker route may be what you are looking for.

With the requirement for all site workers to hold Experienced Worker cards or Skilled Worker cards, the need for experienced tradesmen to gain NVQs has never been more important. Without the right qualification, you will be unable to gain access to site to undertake your work as a Bricklayer.

To help deal with this issue, Construction Skills has developed a fast track programme for those experienced Bricklayers to achieve NVQ without the need for site visits: EWPA = Experienced Worker Practical Assessment

This is a fast route open through Construction Skills (CITB). It is available for workers with a minimum of five years Bricklaying experience and who do not need any further Bricklaying training. All candidates must:

• Be site experienced in all the stated skills of the Bricklaying NVQ
• Have sufficient experience of the skills of the NVQ, so that planning your working day, problem solving and decision making and working to deadlines (with regard to Bricklaying) are a usual day-to-day activity
• Have an ability to cope with the demands of an intensive practical assessment process
• Have an ability to work safely at all times
• Have an ability to discuss your work activities with others

This fast track route is non complicated and can be completed in a relatively short time frame if all of the evidence required is readily available.

If you have been working as a Bricklayer for quite some time and you are competent in your Bricklaying ability and have a very good general knowledge in all areas of Bricklaying, then come along to Able Skills to meet with one of our Bricklaying Assessors to discuss your route to gaining a Bricklaying qualification. A short meeting to establish your competence could put you well on your way to obtaining a Bricklaying NVQ, a requirement for any construction site worker.

Whether you are looking to gain a Bricklaying NVQ for the purposes of obtaining a Skilled Worker CSCS card or if you are considering emigrating and taking your Bricklaying skills to another country, this experienced worker fast track option is a fantastic route to gaining that all important Bricklaying qualification.

How You’ll Learn

The 4 Steps of EWPA - Experienced Worker Practical Assessment

Step 1: Upon contacting Able Skills, we will arrange a profiling appointment for you and make recommendations of the kind of information and evidence you may wish to bring along to support your application as an experienced Bricklayer.

Step 2: At your profiling appointment (which will last for approximately 2 hours) our Bricklaying assessor will introduce you to the process and make an initial assessment to ensure you are suitable to qualify through this method. They will look over any items of Bricklaying ‘evidence’ you may have with you, evidence you provide can be in a written form, such as witness statements from customers or supervisors worked with in the past, or it can take the form of photographs of your work, site plans, qualifications or proof of Bricklaying employment. If there is insufficient evidence but it is clear that you are a competent Bricklayer, you will be advised of what additional Bricklaying evidence is required which you will have to bring back to the Centre to undertake a review.

Step 3: Once all of the required portfolio evidence is complete, you will undertake a practical assessment of your skills which will be observed by our Bricklaying assessor. This will be followed by a recorded professional discussion to assess your knowledge of Bricklaying; we will aim to complete this process over a period of 2 days.

Step 4: If you are successful, you will receive your NVQ certificate through the post in a relatively short period of time. If you do not pass the assessment all is not lost: the work you have done can still count towards your qualification through OSAT.

The following mandatory units make up the QUA level 2 NVQ Diploma in Trowel Occupations (Construction) - Bricklaying and you will be required to provide evidence of:

• QCF40v2: Erecting Masonry Structures
• QCF41v2: Setting Out Masonry Structures
• QCF641: Conforming to General Health, Safety and Welfare
• QCF642: Conforming to Productive Working Practices
• QCF643: Moving, Handling and Storing Resources

Supported by ONE optional unit from:

• QCF42v2: Erecting Masonry Cladding
• QCF44v2: Erecting thin joint masonry structures
• QCF45v3: Placing and Finishing Non-Specialist Concrete
• QCF47v2: Maintaining Slate and Tile Roofing
• QCF50v2: Repairing and Maintaining Masonry Structures
• QCF639v2: Installing Drainage

Courses Open To You After

Once you have achieved NVQ level 2 via this route, you may wish to consider being assessed on-site to achieve level 3 at a later date.

Additional Info

The entire Bricklaying EWPA process can be completed quite quickly if all of the evidence is in place.

This is an opportunity for you to have the paperwork that is sometimes an official requirement to prove that you are an experienced and skilled Bricklayer. NVQs are now the requirement for any site based employment, without the qualification and the CSCS card, you will not be able to continue working in the way that you have been.

CSCS and EWPA

Registering for the EWPA NVQ route will initially generate a: Red Card - EXPERIENCED WORKER. Registration will take place at profiling stage and as long as you sit/have sat a Construction Skills health and safety test, this card will be generated.

The card is issued on a temporary basis, while the NVQ is being achieved. The card is valid for one year and is non-renewable. An Experienced Worker Card cannot be replaced by a Construction Site Operative or a Basic Skills Green Card.

Once you have successfully completed the EWPA process and achieved the NVQ level 2, a SKILLED WORKER Blue Card will be issued (again – subject to you having sat a CSCS test)

Duration & Cost

The cost to achieve NVQ level 2 via this EWPA route is £750.00 if completed through the week or £995.00 if completed at the weekends- prices include vat.

Availability: In stock

£750 inc VAT Please call 0808 100 3245 to book