August brought another milestone for ProTech, we finally had learners through the door.
We delivered our Groundworker, Service Pipe and Meter Housing programme to a group from DG Utilities, with Roy Fugler stepping up to deliver the course. Roy certainly didn’t disappoint, and after spending so long building classrooms, gaining approvals and talking about what we planned to do, seeing an actual group being trained at the centre was a great feeling.
August also brought another significant development, with ProTech gaining approval from Highfield to deliver a much broader range of qualifications.
These include Level 3 and Level 5 Management qualifications, the Level 3 Award in Education and Training, Level 3 Assessor qualifications and the Level 4 Internal Quality Assurance Award.
That opens up another side of ProTech that I've wanted to develop for some time. We will always have strong roots in plumbing, heating and technical training, but there is also an opportunity to support the people who manage, teach and assess within our industry — and beyond it.
Building ProTech Assess
A lot of work over the last couple of months has also gone into something that isn't quite as visible as the training centre.
We've been developing ProTech Assess, our own online platform for mock examinations, knowledge assessment and diagnostic testing.
There has been a huge amount of work involved in developing and quality checking the question banks behind it, but it's starting to become something I'm really excited about.
We're also in the final stages of developing a new pre-apprenticeship Plumbing Aptitude Test. The idea is to help prospective plumbers — and the employers or training providers taking them on — better understand their starting point across areas such as maths, reasoning, spatial awareness and interpreting information.
We've also started looking at how ProTech Assess could support our new management provision, including helping new and aspiring managers identify development needs before deciding which programme is right for them.
An expensive trip to the petrol station
Not every development in August was quite as positive.
I also managed to put petrol in the diesel “Postman Pat” car.
As I stood at the Tesco pump, wondering why it was so much cheaper than Morrisons, it dawned on me, just as the dial hit 40 quid, which was fortunate for the engine but considerably less fortunate for my bank account. One on-site fuel-system drain and refuel with diesel later (4 hours later), I'd managed to turn a routine trip to the petrol station into a rather expensive one.
September – A reality check
September has been a little more frustrating.
Bookings haven't come through at the level I'd hoped for, and there's no point pretending otherwise.
That inevitably brings back some of those questions that have featured throughout this blog. Is the offer right? Is the timing right? Are enough people seeing it?
I still believe strongly in what we've built. I'm confident in the quality of the programmes and the people delivering them, and I think our pricing represents good value for money. Wherever we can, we're also trying to add something extra rather than simply delivering a qualification and sending people on their way.
So the response isn't to panic or start cutting corners. It's to keep improving the offer, keep getting it in front of people and keep building.
That includes pulling together our new Trade to Trainer and Trade to Assessor provision, alongside management programmes and our plumbing, heating and renewables upskilling offer. We're gradually releasing these as each programme is properly ready rather than trying to launch everything at once.
The consultancy side has continued to keep me busy too. I've been out and about assessing, working on development projects and have had a couple of interesting meetings with potential new consultancy clients.
I also finished the month with another batch of End-point Assessments. They might not be the most exciting thing to write about, but they pay the bills — and I still enjoy doing them.
It also links nicely to something we're now offering at ProTech. A lot of experienced tradespeople are already assessing without necessarily thinking of it that way — checking apprentices' work, deciding whether something meets the required standard, giving feedback and making judgements about competence.
Our Trade to Assessor programme is aimed at helping people turn that experience into a recognised assessor qualification, with routes for centre-based assessment or the full CAVA covering assessment in the workplace as well.
Find out more about Trade to Assessor
That side of ProTech feels particularly relevant to me because it isn't something we're offering just because we have an approval for it. Assessment is still part of what I do for a living.
So, as September comes to an end, it's another mixed update.
We've delivered our first group at the centre. We've added a substantial new suite of qualifications. ProTech Assess is taking shape. New programmes are being released and the consultancy and assessment work continues.
Would I like the booking diary to be fuller?
Absolutely.
But I've had enough twists and turns over the last year to know that one quiet month doesn't define the business.
The job now is to keep building — and get more people through that door.