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PLUMBING CONNECTION
SPRING 2015
STATE OF THE ART TRAINING
A
pprentice training delivery varies greatly around the
country and as you might recall, we ran a story last
year on the methods being adopted in Melbourne
and New South Wales. Industry run bodies such as PICAC
in Melbourne and the Master Plumbers in New South Wales
have really taken training into their own hands and while
TAFE still plays a big role in plumbing training delivery, times
are certainly changing.
As we look to South Australia, the contrast is quite vast.
The Master Plumbers Association works closely with TAFE
South Australia to ensure the best practices are delivered
and the close working relationship simply works. This
is a sentiment shared by TAFE SA’s Plumbing Lecturer
Rob Gilman and Group Training Manager, Master Plumber
Association of SA’s Greg Lyng.
We caught up with Rob and Greg to find out where South
Australia was at when it comes to educating plumbers.
“In South Australia TAFE SA Plumbing School
delivers Certificate II, III and IV Plumbing qualifications
across three campuses. The majority of Certificate III
and IV training is completed face-to-face at our new
state of the art Tonsley Campus at Clovely Park and our
Certificate II programs run at Elizabeth in the north of
Adelaide and Noarlunga in the south. We have a ‘case
management’ approach for students that wish to have on-
job assessment for the areas that they cover extensively in
the workplace,” Rob says.
“The majority of students prefer face-to-face, especially
at the more complex Certificate IV level. Our Certificate II
program is delivered to both school based students on a
part-time basis over 1 or 2 years as well as to those who
have left school as a six month full-time program. These
programs include a four week work placement for students
to gain on-job experience and to demonstrate their skills to
perspective employers.
“TAFE SA Plumbing School has an excellent relationship
with the Master Plumbers Association of South Australia
(MPASA) and we have supported each other with sharing of
training resources.”
The MPASA currently deliver a Certificate 1 in
Construction as well as the Doorways to Construction -
Plumbing Plus program to a number of high schools across
Adelaide which is supported by the Construction Industry
Training Board (CITB). A point of difference is that the MPASA
delivers at the high schools using their own trainer or the
school’s tech studies teachers.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA IS EXPERIENCING A BOOM OF PLUMBING APPRENTICES AND THE TREND IS EXPECTED TO
CONTINUE WELL INTO THE FUTURE.
JUSTIN FELIX
REPORTS ON PLUMBING TRAINING DELIVERY ACROSS THE STATE.
APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CERTIFICATE III AND IV
This is a question we receive a lot at
Plumbing Connection
. We asked
Rob to explain it in simple terms:
The Certificate III in Plumbing is the training that plumbing
apprentices are required to complete through a Registered Training
Organisation (RTO). The qualification is made up of six streams:
Water; Sanitary; Drainage; Gas; Roofing; and Mechanical Services.
Of these Water and Sanitary are mandatory and between two and
four of the other streams must be completed. In SA our Plumbing
Industry Reference Group has recommended that apprentices do all
bar the Mechanical Services stream, and hence this is what TAFE SA
deliver.
Once apprentices have completed the qualification and been
signed off by their employer they are eligible to receive a Plumbing
Workers license which enables them to work as a licensed plumber
for an employer. In other states this is referred to as a Journeyman.
The Certificate IV in Plumbing is the next step for a plumber to be
able to work for themselves and become a Plumbing Contractor. In
South Australia most Plumbers complete 12 units of competence of
the 15 from the qualification. This varies from state to state.