IDE & Wolverhampton University join forces to deliver the first ever Demolition Engineering Degree course in Europe and Asia

Following years of work by a select education committee of IDE Council Members, the institute is now just weeks away from announcing the launch of the degree and the signing of the articles of agreement from both parties.

The signing of the articles will take place in the Mayor's Parlour at Wolverhampton Civic Centre with the Vice Principal of Wolverhampton University and IDE President Duncan Rudall FIDE putting pen to paper to seal a nine year agreement to deliver MSc and BSc qualifications in Demolition Engineering.

The University will deliver the core elements of the course with IDE trainers Terry Quarmby, Duncan Rudall, Mike Kehoe, and John Woodward delivering the specialist demolition sections.

Meetings over the next few weeks will finalise the course content and delivery format with a view to the first MSc courses commencing in September 2017, following full ratification from the University, with BSc courses set to follow in 2018.

The course content will be such that the MSc will be open to existing demolition engineers who wish to obtain an academic qualification in demolition engineering, while the BSc will be tailored to school leavers who want a career in demolition via academic qualification, a route that was impossible until now.

This is a milestone in the history of the IDE and will set the industry on a similar footing to ICE and IStructE.

Are we Educators or Trainers?

A recent article from SHP online (linked to at the end of this article) raises a number of interesting points, which should be recognised by many trainers, covering Health and Safety as well as other subjects.

Amongst other issues in the article the question is asked, at what point does education become training? Could it be said that all training is education, but that not all education is training or more simply are the two things entirely different?

The author Ian Pemberton argues well that the training that goes on today is too heavily based on education (theory based work) and not enough on practical workplace-based learning. His theory is that because of the requirements laid down by national agencies and governing bodies, the courses available have too large a content based on theory, telling people why they need to know something and not enough time telling them how to actually do it safely.

He then takes this one stage further by suggesting that instead of subject-based training we should be offering job- or task-based training. The reasoning behind this being that if we were to train in a job situation we could cover all the safety aspects relating to that job in one go rather than the worker doing one course one day on one subject and then another course the next and so on. Removing all but the very basic theory aspects would allow us then to concentrate the training to suit the person and the client, not the trainer.

While we're not being one hundred percent in agreement with all these principles, the application of the theories would seem to be problematic, the overall principal is something we at C&D would wholeheartedly agree with. Indeed, our mantra “Training when the client wants it, not when the trainer wants it” is testament to our belief that this is the way forward. Couple to this the movement by our trainers towards a more hands-on experiential based approach to training and you can see that in many ways we have already adopted some of these principals. Just how far do we take them?

This is a brief synopsis and discussion of a much more detailed piece which is well worth reading by all professional health and safety trainers. Here is the link to the article:

http://www.shponline.co.uk/getting-health-safety-training/

4 places left on Education and Training Course (PTLLS)

CDP Training & Development has been in touch to inform us they have four places remaining on a Level 3 Education and Training Course (PTLLS). The course dates are the 27th and 28th of April and the 12th and 13th of May.

If you would like to know more, then please email Yvonne Williams at yvonne@cdptraining.co.uk

Why Training Shouldn’t be Like Being Back at School

Putting your average site worker behind a desk and showing them something on a whiteboard will almost certainly have the effect of making them twitch and fidget to be elsewhere. Making training like being back in school is not the right approach. Training should be enjoyable, if it isn’t, then the trainer will almost certainly miss the opportunity to get the message across or, at the very least, it will be a much more difficult task.

That is why here at C&D we make our training sessions as enjoyable as possible whilst maintaining the right balance of enjoyment and expected level of learning.

We make sure that the room environment we use is suitable and comfortable, we keep our presentation slides to a minimum, while enhancing their interest with pictures and videos. We also keep our participants on the move with group work so that they do not get stuck in one place for the whole session. Lastly we take the feedback we receive seriously. All comments, good and the very few bad, are acted upon immediately where possible, to enhance the learning experience of those participants on later courses.

However we also recognise that our trainers also need training. We are constantly updating their qualifications, to ensure that the information we are giving is the most up to date. As a minimum all our trainers have a level 3 Award in Education and Training or equivalent to back up technical qualifications and many years of experience.

This could be why we are so successful at what we do, with many long standing and satisfied clients, who know they can rely on C&D to provide the best possible training experience for their staff.

New PTTLS course dates announced

For anyone wishing to become trainers for demolition and other courses we are running, in conjunction with our training partners CDP, a "train the trainer" course in Wolverhampton.

The course will lead to the new teaching training qualification called Level 3 Award in Education and Training. This replaces PTLLS and CTLLS.

Dates for the course are 24th, 25th, 31st March, and 1st April. The venue has yet to be agreed but it will be in Wolverhampton.

For further information please contact margaret@demolishdismantle.co.uk

NDTG hosting a Training & Education Zone stand at Plantworx 2013

The NDTG have announced that from May 14-16 they will have a stand in the Training & Education Zone at the Plantworx 2013 construction event.

The show is being held in Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, and the NDTG plan to showcase the high standards of training and competency that the Demolition industry upholds and furthermore encourage trainees into this professional and exciting career path.

If you'd like to know more you can visit the Plantworx 2013 website. As for the NDTG, they will be at Stand 11 in the training area.