Success Story
Coleg Cambria used our Entry Level 3 and Level 1 Awards in Building and Construction to give learners with no formal attainment a supported route into the trades and on to Level 2. The college’s Entry Level programme has doubled in four years and now supports 60 to 70 learners a year.
If you teach learners who want a trade but cannot meet the entry requirement for a Level 2 course, or you are trying to move adults and NEET learners into work quickly, get in touch.
Coleg Cambria, an FE college in Wales
Learners who want a trade but have no formal attainment, and apprenticeship routes that now ask for four GCSEs at grade D
A full entry programme across six trades at Coleg Cambria
Most Coleg Cambria learners progress to the next stage
Without this qualification, we wouldn't have got some of the learners and success stories through to Level 2. It's that simple.David Garratt, Curriculum Director of Foundation Learning and Jobs Growth, Coleg Cambria
Colleges and training providers are being asked to build routes into construction for adults and NEET learners at exactly the point when the entry requirements have moved. As the UK ramps up its investment in construction skills and training, providers are playing a critical role in delivering meaningful pathways to employment.
At Coleg Cambria, the problem was visible in the enrolment queue. Recent changes to apprenticeship frameworks in Wales have made it harder for learners without GCSEs to progress into construction roles. David Garratt, Curriculum Director of Foundation Learning and Jobs Growth, notes that learners now need four GCSEs at grade D, including maths and English, to access Level 2 courses.
David Garratt, Curriculum Director of Foundation Learning and Jobs Growth, Coleg CambriaHistorically, you'd have needed a qualification to get onto a course here. But we were seeing learners interested in trades who simply didn't have any formal attainment.
Coleg Cambria built a full entry programme rather than a taster. The college uses our Entry Level 3 and Level 1 Awards in Building and Construction to combine six practical trades with embedded maths, English and employability, and the provision now supports 60 to 70 learners a year at Entry Level with parallel provision at Level 1.
“It’s not just a taster,” Garratt says. “It’s a supported introduction to the trades and to the skills needed to thrive in them.”
The shift that prompted the college to adopt our qualifications was the theory gap. Garratt explains: “The Level 1 diploma previously offered by another awarding organisation was 90 percent practical. It just wasn’t fit for purpose. Gateway Qualifications gave us the flexibility to introduce theory, assessment, and the kind of learning structure that helps students move smoothly into Level 2.”
Assessment is where the ownership comes from. Learners evidence their own practical work rather than being handed a workbook to fill in.
David Garratt, Curriculum Director of Foundation Learning and Jobs Growth, Coleg CambriaLearners complete real workshop activities and then produce theory work in line with Gateway Qualifications unit criteria. Often, they take their own photos and annotate their work. There's a real sense of ownership and pride.
Most learners completing the Entry 3 or Level 1 provision go on to the next stage, supported by a progression process that starts months before the course ends. The programme itself has doubled in size over four years and now runs four full groups at one campus and three at another.
Nicola Gaughran, Assistant Principal of Foundation Learning, Coleg CambriaThese students might not be natural learners. We have to prepare them for learning itself, and Gateway Qualification's model lets us do that.
Coleg Cambria needed enough structure to carry a learner with no formal attainment all the way to a Level 2 course.
That flexibility is the part we can offer anyone. If you’d like to find out how we can best support you and your learners, get in touch.
We’ll help you find the right qualification and shape it around your learners and the way you deliver.
