| By :
Martin Hofschroer
Tradesmen may need to take plumbing courses with training centres after it was announced that some colleges will be axing vocational subjects. Research by the Association of Colleges (AoC) revealed that colleges across England face a £200 million cut to funding as adult learner budgets are expected to shrink by around ten to 25 per cent in size. Out of 162 colleges surveyed, 43 said that funding we set to be slashed by a quarter in a move that will affect vocational courses aimed at the over-19s. Subjects that are expected to be affected include plumbing courses, bricklaying courses, plastering courses, tiling courses and electrical courses. Chief executive of the AoC Julian Gravatt said: "We know that the Treasury is under significant pressure to further curtail public spending." Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, argued that the spending cuts would hurt those people who are looking to take electrical courses at their local college. She said: "We are talking about adults throughout their working lives who are needing to retrain and reskill." "These are the people who are not going to be able to get a place. I'm talking about things like bricklaying, joinery, electrical installation, catering, care work, security." Martin Doel, AoC chief executive, said that the spending cuts were happening now and would affect people who were looking to enroll on college plumbing courses this September. People who are interested in taking plumbing courses in order to either improve their skills or become a fully qualified tradesman should investigate the services provided by accredited training centres. Adult learners who want to become plumbers or electricians will benefit from training centres which provide the Electrical 2330 NVQ and 2356 NVQ qualifications and the Plumbing 6129 NVQ. Potential students who might not have the time to retrain should research if a training centre offers courses of different durations, whether it is from weekend, part-time or fulltime. It is advisable that budding tradesmen look at green energy courses as training in emerging renewables such as Solar PV systems and Ground Source Heat Pumps is becoming increasingly desirable. The government's UK green initiative for supplying clean energy and cutting emissions in domestic households is encouraging more households to install energy efficient appliances. Tradesmen with the skills to install Solar PV systems and Ground Source Heat Pumps will have a considerable advantage as they will have the ability to meet the demand of a growing number of customers.
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