NVQ Level 3 apprenticeship - how does it work?

[x_kayla_x]

Hi All

I have just been offered an amazing opportunity to gain my NVQ level 3. I'm 26 so thought an apprenticeship was no longer an option for me, so I am stunned to have been given this opportunity.

Now, I have googled away but can't seem to get my head around how this actually works. They said it would be one day a week in college and the rest in a salon. Can anyone who's done this please tell me what your day to day role was within the salon? Would I be going back to just shampooing and cleaning all day?

Also, I'm not a teenager anymore and have responsibilities so I am eager to get back to a 'real' wage ASAP. They said if I push myself I could be done in 6 months but it is usually a year. How long did it take you? Do you see six months as realistic, if I went to college an extra day each week, on one of my days off or something?

I don't know anyone who has done their level 3 this way before, so very confused as to how it works. Would love to hear how you found it

Ta xx

 

[AcidPerm]

That sounds very exciting.
Will you be assessed solely at college or can staff in your salon assess you?
That will make a huge difference.
Getting all your assessments signed off is what takes up the majority of time.

I did my level 3 at college in just under 6 months, which was much sooner than any of the other students in my group. I went in officially one day a week for theory and salon training with my level 3 group but attended extra salon sessions that my lovely tutor was supervising other level 3 students for, so I could complete my assessments more quickly.

I sat the theory exams in blocks of 3 or 4 each time so they were completed very early on. I studied the units myself just reading the main textbooks and additional materials from the college library.

I can't remember how many assessments I had to do overall but it would have easily taken a year just going in one day a week in my college.
This is because;
1) The day is divided into say, theory AM and practical PM and,
2) you are dependent on getting the right clients being booked in to match the assessment you need to pass.

Clients in the college salon are shared out amongst all the students. So if you've completed a number of assessments but another student has only completed a couple, they might get the client you wanted to do whilst you do a cut/finish on another client but you won't gain any assessment credit as you've already been assessed for that particular style of cut.
I found that hugely frustrating at times. :sad:

I also got clients wanting to become regulars (!) and the policy was that if they asked for a particular student when they booked in, then you had to do them. Luckily, I managed to easily persuade my two persistent offenders (lol) to let me do them at home and that freed up my salon time.

So my advice is to check what the policy is regarding assessments because even if you want to romp through them quickly, the college might not enable you to do so.

 

[x_kayla_x]

Thank you

Well they are a big group so they have their own trainin academy, so i am assuming that all assessments will be done in their academy once a week. I spoke to someone today who said that apprenticeship funding requirements may hold up how fast someone can pass. Like if someone was amazing and could actually do it in three months, they still would have to make them wait at least 6 months or something...

What did you do the rest of the time whilst you were in the salon? Where you shampooing and cleaning, as with level 2? Or where you running a column? I've already had a column for a year in another salon so it could be disheartening if I had to go back to just assisting again.