City & Guilds 2365-03 Level 3 Course Reviews

Everything was great however I struggled with the practical side much more than the theoretical. I felt like I needed more time physically working than the course had planned in. This is because I'm brand new to the trade and don't yet have work experience (which is assumed to a certain degree when undertaking this course). All staff were excellent and helped me through.

Firstly its a fairly well located centre, and there are some excellent electrical tutors still working there, though you may have very limited access to them as they are in demand and do the shorter courses a lot of the time. I did the combined course whether due to poor timing or whatever, after about week three the organisation of the course just collapsed. In fact there were signs early in the level 2 practical stage where there just was not materials available and key tools missing. (The centre guidance states this may be the case though no attention is drawn to this, so you should be aware of this.) Should you be blessed with one of the excellent tutors you will have an experience that will be as the BBC would aim for. Informed, Educational and Entertaining the time will pass quickly you will cover your subject to the best level you can manage and possibly get advice on further subjects you may consider. On the other hand if your not you'll experience confusion, a lack of focus and possibly wonder if your on the right course. You may be invited to ask questions initially and then on asking be asked to wait until the power point reading session is over (having often forgotten the question by then). You may also find that you do none of the practical aspects of the course and instead focus on aspects which are less critical. (Leaving you with not enough time to complete all aspects of the course). Then having the tutor inform you at the end that you need to speed up to get the course complete. The 2365-02 course was great for weeks 1-5 as we were blessed with two excellent tutors, both experienced and highly qualified with a gift for communicating effectively. However 2365-03 was just a continuation and even ditteriation of what began to go wrong from weeks 6-8 of 2365-02. There was no consistancy poor choice of tutors (when some turned up;) put in to replace our initial tutors and when eventually complaints were made it took far too long to address 4 weeks with little acknowledgement in between. At the start of the final week (8) of 2365-03 we were acknowledged and a minimal sum of redress offered. The good news is that someone new has been put in place to try and address things which appears to include much of has been complained of but at time of official finnishing not the tutoring issue. Speaking to two students currently on week 4-5 of the 2365-02 the tutor issue was still evident and the added issue that they had done no practical at all in the 2-3 weeks. So though I can only speak for the electrical courses 2365-02/03 and 2919 there were tutoring issues. Hope fully the new management team will address in short order and improve quickly.