Experienced Plasterers who need NVQ

What You’ll Learn

If you are a time-served Plasterer 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 Plasterer.

To help deal with this issue, Construction Skills has developed a fast track programme for those experienced Plasterers 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 plastering experience and who do not need any further Plastering training. All candidates must:

• Be site experienced in all the stated skills of the Plastering 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 Plastering) 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 plasterer for quite some time and you are competent in your Plastering ability and have a very good general knowledge in all areas of plastering, then come along to Able Skills to meet with one of our Plastering Assessors to discuss your route to gaining a Plastering qualification. A short meeting to establish your competence could put you well on your way to obtaining a Plastering NVQ, a requirement for any construction site worker.

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

Step 2: At your profiling appointment (which will last for approximately 2 hours) our Plastering 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 Plastering ‘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 Plastering employment. If there is insufficient evidence but it is clear that you are a competent Plasterer, you will be advised of what additional Plastering 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 Plastering assessor. This will be followed by a recorded professional discussion to assess your knowledge of Plastering; 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 QUF 839 level 2 NVQ Diploma in Plastering (Construction) - Solid (Full) and you will be required to provide evidence of:

• QCF 01: Conforming to general safety in the workplace
• QCF 02: Conforming to efficient working practices in the workplace
• QCF 03: Moving and handling resources in the workplace
• QCF 66: Producing Internal Solid Plastering Finishes in the Workplace
• QCF 67: Producing External Solid Render Finishes in the Workplace

Supported by TWO optional units from:

• QCF 65: Applying Finishing Plaster to Background Surfaces in the Workplace
• QCF 68: Installing Direct Bond Dry Linings in the Workplace
• QCF 69: Laying Sand and Cement Screeds to Levels and/or Falls in the Workplace
• QCF 70: Applying Projection Plaster and Maintaining Equipment in the Workplace
• QCF 71: Installing Mechanically Fixed Plasterboard in the Workplace

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 Plastering 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 Plasterer. 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