How Can You Become a Construction / Trainer and Assessor

How to Become a Construction Teacher

There is a skills shortage in the construction industry and it has long been an issue in the UK and now even exasperated since Brexit and Covid 19. City & Guilds found that 1 in 20 construction firms believe their workforce don’t have the requisite skills for the job. But with challenges come opportunities. You can utilise your experience to become a construction trainer. You can study entirely online and at your own pace with the Education and Training Academy or come to one of our local classrooms.  You can choose between different training qualifications and become qualified to train in the construction industry and pass on your expertise. 

To start with, you need expertise and experience on the tools in the first place, this is non-negotiable. You will need your own qualifications in a specific trade and have a few years-experience under your belt. It is a good idea if you’re are going down the training route to get qualified in either  the NEBOSH National General Certificate or the IOSH Managing Safely. This will allow you to also teach various health and safety courses at a higher level and CSCS courses. You have the background in Health and Safety through working on the tools so you may as get qualified to teach health and safety anyway. Its quite straight forward to add the CITB range of courses including SMSTS and SSSTS to your list of courses. 

The Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET)

The Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET) enables you to become a construction trainer for any CSCS courses where you have competence such as bricklaying, plastering etc. You will be able to teach up to level 3 NVQ construction courses like the Level 3 Construction and the Built Environment after completing the Level 3 Award in Education and Training. 

The Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training (CET) is suitable to become a qualified construction trainer if you need to teach higher level courses such as the Level 4 Diploma in Construction Site Management. The Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training can help boost your CSCS trainer job but it does require 30 hours of teaching whilst doing the course so you need to make sure you have the required teaching opportunities in place before applying. The biggest downfall to doing the Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training over the Level 3 Award in Education and Training is the extra amount of work involved writing assignments so you should consider this in advance however its far from impossible, you just need to be honest with the time you can commit.  

How do I become a Construction Assessor?

If you wish to assess NVQ construction courses, you should consider the Level 3 Award in Assessing Competence in the Work Environment (Units 1 & 2). This course focuses on work-based assessment only because in the construction industry assessment is done on-site e.g. painting and decorating, property maintenance, bricklaying, carpentry and joinery etc would all be assessed on-the-job. Academia is useful when it comes to construction but the end-product is more important. Level 3 Award in Assessing Competence in the Work Environment is the most popular choice to become a CSCS Assessor. 

If you're unable to meet the requirements for this course, but still wish to become a construction assessor, you can study the theory unit only Assessor qualification which is the Level 3 Award in Understanding the Principles and Practices of Assessment. This will help you gain the knowledge behind assessments and get a foot in the door as an assessor for construction courses. Once you have your own learners then you can add on unit 2 any time. We always welcome back our learners with open arms and you can simply continue where you left off. 

If at any point you decide to assess Level 3 or 4 Certificate or Diploma courses in Construction then you should opt for the full Assessor course (Units 1,2,3) which is the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA). 

If you have already done the any assessor quals such as the Level 3 Award in Understanding the Principles and Practices of Assessment or Level 3 Award in Assessing Competence in the Work Environment the Workplace Assessor course then you can add on the final unit to finish the full Assessor qualification and achieve the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement. We recommend that the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement is the best general certificate to qualify for in construction and is the best assessing qualification overall. 

The requirements for the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement will vary amongst the awarding body and actual subject you teach, but the Level 3 CAVA is the most common. If you decide to teach at a higher level than you may want to look the Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training and the Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training to accompany. Better yet, if you study with the Education and Training Academy, we will link the modules together so there is less to do overall. 

What is the Salary of a Construction Trainer Assessor?

Typical construction trainers each around £200 per day but once you become a recognised construction trainer you can start to live very comfortably. Construction Trainer Jobs can pay about £52,000 per year for a Senior Lecturer in Building Services, £180 - £300 for freelance Construction NVQ Assessors / Trainers, Operations Coordinators for Construction Training Companies get paid about £25,000 a year and Experienced Civils Operative/Civils Trainer earn up to £35,000 per year.

How can I assess Construction Apprenticeships?

The number of construction apprenticeships are going through the roof particularly with excessive University costs particularly building services, engineering technician & engineering site management, civil engineering site management, construction design management etc. All apprenticeships in the construction industry are assessed via End Point Assessments (EPAs). In order to become a Construction EPA Assessor, you need an assessor qualification and the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement does the job. This will help you for a career in the training industry as Apprenticeships become more and more popular in the UK due to increased government funding going into Construction Apprenticeships each year. 

How do I become an Internal Verifier in the Construction Industry?

Like any subject, if you are experienced in the industry like the Construction training industry and wish to move up the ladder, the next logical step is internal quality assurance and the best course is the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment.

IQA courses are different from assessing as you would be responsible for the assessors and it would be your duty to check that they are doing the right thing. The Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA) for example will qualify you to assess learners, whereas as Construction Internal Quality Assurer you will be managing at least 2 other assessors and the quality of their assessment decisions. You will not be directly involved in the teaching or assessing process. 

In case you don't meet the requirements for the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment, you can study the IQA theory only unit which is the Level 4 IQA Award in Understanding the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice. Once you have the knowledge you can convince your employer to entrust you with more responsibility and get access to assessors. This will increase your pay as a construction trainer assessor and also allow you to become a manager for other construction trainers and assessors!