Training as an adult.

MrA

MrA

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Feb 8, 2012
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I now live close to an animal care (amongst other things) college. I took a look at their courses last night and they have a Tuesday evening one on from Sept to May in animal care. At the end of it you get a level 2 nvq.

It's reasonably priced and I can fit it in around work, is there any reason not to go for it? I don't currently work with animals but I would like to in the future and I feel this would be a good start to help towards that.

Especially if somewhere along the line I can also fit in some voluntary work alongside the course. Or even a part time job with animals of some sort.
 
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Any qualification is good. And this one fits in with the things you have said you wanted to do for years.
But it is worth finding out more and making enquiries at the college. Go and talk to them to see if it fits what you want. Ideally you could meet people just completing the course to find out what they learned and what they are doing next. But you dont say what type of college it is? You have so much experience with animals already that they may have a different suggestion for you.
One of the yards at which I ride has their staff take nvqs rather than the BHS stages. That is because the BHS depends on a single test day (you can retake) but the nvq is more continual assessment. That is less of a strain for some candidates but more for others. One other difference which was impressed on me is that anyone at any age can take the BHS stages. But nvq s are a bit more complicated (I dont know about the course you are thinking of you need to check) but the one for people at the yard turned out to have entry requirements.
The girl who I was riding with at the time (She rode out with me for about three years and taught me a lot of my riding) had just left school after doing A levels. Yet the lapse of time since she did GCSE maths meant that she was required to re take a maths paper. I thought this was completely ridiculous. I dont know what school exams you took, nor how long ago, but I think you should find out more from the college before asking about it here.
If you google NVQ level 2 animal care you will get some phone numbers for further info but also the suggestion on one site that the qualification no longer exists? eml may know more than me.
I seem to remember there was some pressure on local yards to have nvq candidates as they got government funding. But that too may have changed as recently it has been just BHS Stages at our RS.
 
I've just signed up to do an NVQ, there are entry aptitude tests for the one I'm doing in English, maths and computer skills but that was just to see if you should start at level 1, 2 or 3 and it took me about 20 mins to do each of them, you only have to do additional training if you don't meet the requirement for the level of course you are applying for.

I would definitely look into it, but do check that it covers areas that are of interest to you and as a vocational qualification that you are going to be able to get the hands on time that you need to get elsewhere to meet your assessments (NVQs are generally done alongside the job you are training for and they assess you based on what you do at work and the class portion is more just to get the theory and paperwork done and attending the class alone won't be sufficient to pass)
 
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Skib said:
Any qualification is good. And this one fits in with the things you have said you wanted to do for years.
But it is worth finding out more and making enquiries at the college. Go and talk to them to see if it fits what you want. Ideally you could meet people just completing the course to find out what they learned and what they are doing next. But you dont say what type of college it is? You have so much experience with animals already that they may have a different suggestion for you.
One of the yards at which I ride has their staff take nvqs rather than the BHS stages. That is because the BHS depends on a single test day (you can retake) but the nvq is more continual assessment. That is less of a strain for some candidates but more for others. One other difference which was impressed on me is that anyone at any age can take the BHS stages. But nvq s are a bit more complicated (I dont know about the course you are thinking of you need to check) but the one for people at the yard turned out to have entry requirements.
The girl who I was riding with at the time (She rode out with me for about three years and taught me a lot of my riding) had just left school after doing A levels. Yet the lapse of time since she did GCSE maths meant that she was required to re take a maths paper. I thought this was completely ridiculous. I dont know what school exams you took, nor how long ago, but I think you should find out more from the college before asking about it here.
If you google NVQ level 2 animal care you will get some phone numbers for further info but also the suggestion on one site that the qualification no longer exists? eml may know more than me.
I seem to remember there was some pressure on local yards to have nvq candidates as they got government funding. But that too may have changed as recently it has been just BHS Stages at our RS.
Click to expand...

Thank-you I certainly will contact the college to find out more. I am hoping they have an open day I can go along to also.

I have already completed a level 3 nvq in customer service in an old job. I enjoyed the learning style alot more than just one exam.

I will look more into it but thank-you for the helpful advice.
 
Jessey said:
I've just signed up to do an NVQ, there are entry aptitude tests for the one I'm doing in English, maths and computer skills but that was just to see if you should start at level 1, 2 or 3 and it took me about 20 mins to do each of them, you only have to do additional training if you don't meet the requirement for the level of course you are applying for.

I would definitely look into it, but do check that it covers areas that are of interest to you and as a vocational qualification that you are going to be able to get the hands on time that you need to get elsewhere to meet your assessments (NVQs are generally done alongside the job you are training for and they assess you based on what you do at work and the class portion is more just to get the theory and paperwork done and attending the class alone won't be sufficient to pass)
Click to expand...

Thank-you, I have done the maths and English bit before so no problem there.

The impression I got from the course synopsis I was reading last night is that you have practical days at the college (it read occasional Saturday's) and this covers the practical side of things. I will have to look into that more though because I'm obviously not working with animals at the moment. Thank-you something to look into more before I jump right in.
 
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I seriously need to get back into this. Going to do vet nursing. I really really want to however I want to go into equine, however there are no equine only vets near me apart from the vets I use for sox ! Go for it ale!
 
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