Don't get me wrong i'm glad to be doing an NVQ but I thought when i began the course that at the end i would be a fully qualified tiler but nothing could be further from the truth. I've learnt more about tiling on this forum in the last 6 weeks than i have in the last seven months on the NVQ 2 Wall and Floor Tiling course. I don't know what the syllabus of an NVQ is but i'm looking into it, i have been 'taught' how to put tiles on a floor and a wall in different patterns for the last seven months. I have to do three projects to get my NVQ, when doing projects i realized that i know very little about tiling but this forum has taught me more than my NVQ did, but i cant learn through text i need someone to show me but my tutor doesn't do that. Obviously my knowledge of tiling is weak but here through this forum is what i know i haven't been taught-

trim- never been shown how to cut it or anything else, never mentioned

sealant- never been shown how to apply it, it has never been mentioned

chalk line- never been shown how to use it, never been mentioned

movement joints- 10 mins total tuition

Teaching students of all the different type tiles and how they should be approached and handled- absolutely nothing, no info or direction

preparation of surface- told how to prepare surface on paper for NVQ assignments, never shown practically.

how to tile very large areas and what are those gold borders i see in shopping centers? - no information

Preparing surface- making walls/floors/steps level before tiling, told i need to but never been shown how, never been shown how to use leveling compound?

How to lay backerboard or whatever its called, or put wood(?) floor down in order to tile onto it? Spoke of a few times but never greatly explained or PRACTICALLY SHOWN!!!

How to overcome difficult surface preparation in order to begin tiling on a sound surface- how many times shown- NEVER

Under tile heating- wouldn't know where to start, never mentioned?

and there is more, i could not become a professional tiler after this course

Is this the normal NVQ?

I understand where you are coming from and can only empathise with your frustration.

My first couple of weeks on an NVQ :

I was told to learn to look telephone numbers in London up

Taught to make a tile staff through a video

Allowed to tile a Herringbone pattern I grouted it and got a bollocking no grouting till at least three months.

Taught how to calculate M2 area I learnt that when I was 10.

It went on and on

Some time ago i interviewed a guy who had just completed his NVQ 2

I asked him three questions

What is the difference between Class B and Class AA adhesive? (I know the classifications have changed now as well) (No Idea)
Explain Briefly Tanking? (No Idea)
Tell me what a Datum Line is? (No Idea)

He added things to his answers of no idea but I won't bore you with the drivel

Give me a tiler who has paid for a good quality intensive course any day

Kev

Kev

Did mine at the sheffield college

Is urs at a college or with a training provider?

Learnt all the above skills at college which u have not yet been taught in 7 months

Very strange indeed.

All the best anyway mate welcome to the forum

its like any trade,you need hands on exsperience, college course on its own no good, you need practical and theory, site and classroom to be taught properly

Originally Posted by vesco

Don't get me wrong i'm glad to be doing an NVQ but I thought when i began the course that at the end i would be a fully qualified tiler but nothing could be further from the truth. I've learnt more about tiling on this forum in the last 6 weeks than i have in the last seven months on the NVQ 2 Wall and Floor Tiling course. I don't know what the syllabus of an NVQ is but i'm looking into it, i have been 'taught' how to put tiles on a floor and a wall in different patterns for the last seven months. I have to do three projects to get my NVQ, when doing projects i realized that i know very little about tiling but this forum has taught me more than my NVQ did, but i cant learn through text i need someone to show me but my tutor doesn't do that. Obviously my knowledge of tiling is weak but here through this forum is what i know i haven't been taught-

trim- never been shown how to cut it or anything else, never mentioned

sealant- never been shown how to apply it, it has never been mentioned

chalk line- never been shown how to use it, never been mentioned

movement joints- 10 mins total tuition

Teaching students of all the different type tiles and how they should be approached and handled- absolutely nothing, no info or direction

preparation of surface- told how to prepare surface on paper for NVQ assignments, never shown practically.

how to tile very large areas and what are those gold borders i see in shopping centers? - no information

Preparing surface- making walls/floors/steps level before tiling, told i need to but never been shown how, never been shown how to use leveling compound?

How to lay backerboard or whatever its called, or put wood(?) floor down in order to tile onto it? Spoke of a few times but never greatly explained or PRACTICALLY SHOWN!!!

How to overcome difficult surface preparation in order to begin tiling on a sound surface- how many times shown- NEVER

Under tile heating- wouldn't know where to start, never mentioned?

and there is more, i could not become a professional tiler after this course

Is this the normal NVQ?

We cover the lot in our NVQ programme that lasts 26 weeks (6 weeks practical & 20 weeks to get your NVQ assessments in). We even go into natural stone and different grouts / adhesives. We work very closely with Weber Building Solutions that provide us with up to the minute tech data on product changes.

We get a few students that have been to college and dropped out after a couple of months because they are fed up of learning nothing. They come to us and get straight on with their NVQ programme.

I must add here, that an NVQ2 does not require you to install UFH. This is an optional module if required.

Kev, is that over a tiler with 5 years experience on the tools?

Dosen't sound very good, does it.

My course was bad as it was. never mind an NVQ course being just as bad, or even worse.

Just goes to show that this forum and the helpful members we have can beat hands down even an supposedly NVQ training center, with the correct practise and methods, and all advise is free here too

I know it still does not beat propper hands on training, but this forum does bridge the gap between poor training centers and the good.

Originally Posted by Fekin

Dosen't sound very good, does it.

My course was bad as it was. never mind an NVQ course being just as bad, or even worse.

Just goes to show that this forum and the helpful members we have can beat hands down even an supposedly NVQ training center, with the correct practise and methods, and all advise is free here too

I know it still does not beat propper hands on training, but this forum does bridge the gap between poor training centers and the good.

Your right, thats why I have contributed thousands of posts on here in a past life, to help others that have had poor training or are just looking to improve themselves generally.

Plenty of advice on here, and it is an excellent tool for personal development to enhance the BASIC skills you learn at college.

This is coming from a guy that has sat on both sides of the fence

when i started my apprenticeship i was sent to college in liverpool i started it a yea after i was tiling after a year on the course i dropped out absolute waste of time not the tutors fault really he spent most of the time filing registers in and the amount of nob heads in the class didnt help i wasnt to bad i didnt need to much help but they didnt cover alot of things ( the course didnt even show the lads how to grout properly) ill say no more the theory side was extremly boring the most of the units we covered wasnt to do with tiling it was scaffolding and building some of the older lads spent alot of money on the course a i feel sorry for them

i eventually want to get my nvq as im doing alot of site work now but i think id rather go to chase tiling ( when i get some spare cash) i believe you do a weeks plumbing course know C hase ill be going on that aswell

Originally Posted by ChaseTiling

thats why I have contributed thousands of posts on here in a past life

Past life, sounds intriguing

That's got you thinking hasn't it..........

Well, I see he/she's a forum mod now too

seems you haven,t took much notice adam..because Ant has been a moderator of the NVQ forum for quiet a while now.......

Ahh, well I don't go in there, and never noticed the mod bar in the avatar boxy thingy, and what with the name in yellow, it don't stand out that much

Ask Chase what his CONCEPT is?

He's pht then.

thanks for replies appreciate them

Raja- I'm doing the NVQ at a proper College

LM Ceramics- that experience sounds very familiar, our tutor has never shown us how to grout either

But i've three months to go and i'm going to try and get my tutor to show things more practically- i'll even go and buy the raw materials myself because the college i'm at has the bare minimum.
Anyway thanks again

These NVQ courses don't sound anywhere as good as I thought they would be

Originally Posted by TilingLogistics

I understand where you are coming from and can only empathise with your frustration.

My first couple of weeks on an NVQ :

I was told to learn to look telephone numbers in London up

Taught to make a tile staff through a video

Allowed to tile a Herringbone pattern I grouted it and got a bollocking no grouting till at least three months.

Taught how to calculate M2 area I learnt that when I was 10.

It went on and on

Some time ago i interviewed a guy who had just completed his NVQ 2

I asked him three questions

What is the difference between Class B and Class AA adhesive? (I know the classifications have changed now as well) (No Idea)
Explain Briefly Tanking? (No Idea)
Tell me what a Datum Line is? (No Idea)

He added things to his answers of no idea but I won't bore you with the drivel

Give me a tiler who has paid for a good quality intensive course any day

Kev

Kev

I just spotted this post and the penny dropped so I then read some of your other posts. Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.

You my friend were only on the NVQ course for two weeks anyway.
You did not receive a bollocking for grouting but you did get one for that crap window that you did saying and I quote “ its not my job to straighten the wall out” I suppose they didn’t teach you that on the two week course you did at PITTS did they.
The interview that you mention is also shall we say economical with the truth.
The boy had just left school at sixteen years old and had not just finished an NVQ he had just started one (unlike you he finished his) so he probably didn’t know the answers to your questions at that time. But can you answer why you told him that if he started work for you he had to pay £250.00 for three t-shirts and two trousers?

You also clamed to be a Specialists in Grinding, Honing, Polishing and Sealing of Marble, Granite, Travertine, Terrazzo, Limestone, & all Natural Stone.
Haws that then as when you went on the NVQ you were a clay pidgin-shooting instructor in Spain.
Is that how you become a specialist now get some tools print some cards and that’s it you’re a specialist.

i dont agree with that comment give me a tiler who has paid for an intensive course i did my nvq at college and i can answer those questions no offence but i would rather have a good time served tiler over a chancer (course tiler) anyday experience is the key

an nvq course with proper training with a time served good tiler is better than a 4 week course you cant call yourself a tiler after a 4 week course same goes for plastering and other trades

Originally Posted by deanotile

I just spotted this post and the penny dropped so I then read some of your other posts. Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.

My god, who'd have though it, Shakespear quotes on our very own TilersForums...my we are going up in the world

Originally Posted by LM Ceramics

i dont agree with that comment give me a tiler who has paid for an intensive course i did my nvq at college and i can answer those questions no offence but i would rather have a good time served tiler over a chancer (course tiler) anyday experience is the key

an nvq course with proper training with a time served good tiler is better than a 4 week course you cant call yourself a tiler after a 4 week course same goes for plastering and other trades

I'm OBVIOUSLY not a tiler then!!! What the flock am I doing on here then......

you know what i mean grumps im dont want to cause any disrespect obviously after a year or so after your course i mean just as soon as you finish your course im gonna drop this subject now about time served v new tiler.

are we still friends?

Originally Posted by LM Ceramics

you know what i mean grumps im dont want to cause any disrespect obviously after a year or so after your course i mean just as soon as you finish your course im gonna drop this subject now about time served v new tiler.

are we still friends?

Of course we are.

It is just that as has previsouly said in other posts on the subject, people learn at different speeds and have different attitudes, whether they are short course or "time served". There can be good and bad from both outlets and it is really up to the customer to sort the wheat from the chaff, so they can get a job done that they are happy with.

I have to agree with the chase tiling post I was only on there 2 week intensive but I could answer most of those questions and there training manual has the answers as well .

Originally Posted by LM Ceramics

i dont agree with that comment give me a tiler who has paid for an intensive course i did my nvq at college and i can answer those questions no offence but i would rather have a good time served tiler over a chancer (course tiler) anyday experience is the key

an nvq course with proper training with a time served good tiler is better than a 4 week course you cant call yourself a tiler after a 4 week course same goes for plastering and other trades

Ifind comments like these very offensive on thewhole, i hate being tarred with the same brush as the 'chancers' you're talking about, and i'm not getting at you here either because obviously you've got your reasons for saying this, i'm more having a go at people who do the courses and think they're time served tilers. I think it's down to the individual more than where you learn your trade, for example, the tiler that tiled my bathroom was nvq and served his time with a very well respected tiler in my area yet done a job in my house that was so bad i could have done i could better after two weeks of coming off my course, i've said in posts before that i'm more than well aware that you don't do an intensive course and become a tiler, just the same as you dont become a good driver the day you pass your test. i think everyone on here who helps us newbys out and gives us advice gets my utmost respect and gratitude for teh help and hopefully one day i can call myself a pro tiler and mean it.

Sorry for the rambling it's just that i think you've exposed my pet hate in this thread, which is chancers and clever dicks making us 'course goers' look like gimps!!

Hope this hasn't offended anyone!!

Hi guys, i done a 6mnth,s intensive course at collage, 5 days a week 8am till 5pm, it was split between tiling in bays and in the classroom, when in the classroom it was math,s i.e measuring up, linear meter,s, and room volume,s, and technical drawing, lost half the class( mostly school leaver,s) because of the classroom work, but that for me was invaluable as i think the most important part is in the measuring and setting up process,
also done a month on a rendering course, rendering wall from scratch( quite funny some of then younger one,s were going round thinking the could plaster their aunt,s wall) then tiling on them with cement like they do in Spain( i think) etc,
at the end i ended up with qualifications in maths, tech drawing, cement rendering, building scaffold, wall and floor tiling.
but the day i left their no way i could have tiled a wall or floor, lucky enough my lecturer at the collage took me on and i worked under him for two years then money came an issue and we went separate ways,
then i worked with an Italian bloke for a year, their again, just wouldn't pay,
anyhow i think the collage course was good for certain things,
but working under two experienced guys was invaluable,
tell you what tho no offence to anyone but cant for the life of me wonder what you learn on a four day or week course,

ive read this thread with interest

im appalled that at 7 months in you still havent learnt the basics of tiling

i was already tiling when i signed up for a nvq to get a cscs card in tiling

i started first morning expecting to have to start at the beginning witheveryone else

but i was quickly moved on through the course and completed the whole course in less than a year

i demonstrated that my tiling and knowledge was already beyond nvq 3

the exercise we did to show our ability were

cutting trim to fit around a breeze block then tiling grouting block

setting out and tiling wall followed by variations on that theme

same with floor

squaring up reveals with tiles

surface prep and backgrounds

types of tile etc

tools etc

and so on


i already had two nvqs so was credited with a lot of the theory, h&s etc

we were taught by an ex pro tiler and were constantly pulled on grout lines and lipping etc


i learnt a lot and filled in the gaps in my knowledge

i would expect anyone who has achieved an nvq to be able to go out and tile with minimum supervision and within a reasonable time

other wise whats the point of having an nvq system at all

ps did i get my nvq...................no

very sore point

after paying for the course and giving up what amounted to several months of work to attend college

they demanded in excess of £2000 + vat to process the paperwork as i had not signed up for a second year they couldnt get funding to pass me despite me having achieved an nvq 3 standard

i am still very angry about it

nvq waste of time we have put jobs right for tilers with papers coming out of there ears ,,most havent a clue about setting out give me a site time served tilier anyday