Clearview National November 2017 - Issue 192 | Page 20

SEVENTHINGS... Seven things you didn’t know about… You may already know that GQA Qualifications is the Glass and Glazing industry’s specialist Awarding Body, but you may also be interested to find out 7 other facts about the company’s activities…. 1. WRITING QUALIFICATIONS FOR 20 YEARS GQA has been developing and implementing qualifications for various industries over the last 20 years and albeit, the glass and glazing industry plays a dominant part of GQA’s portfolio of qualifications, it also produces qualifications for the construction and printing industries. A strong reason for the business having the ability to enhance its portfolio comes about because of its Approved Centre network. With over 70 centres throughout the UK, GQA has access to a significant network of skills and knowledge providing valuable feedback to allow new industry qualifications to be developed. 3. 2. APPROVED GQA TRAINING CENTRES GQA work with over 70 training centres throughout the UK. The centres offer employers and individuals the opportunity to work towards a choice of over 50 variations of glass and glazing qualifications, written by GQA. GQA promote a close working relationship within their Approved Centre network, encouraged further through their Conference held in November, and other strategic events/meetings important to the development of glass and glazing qualifications and training. GQA approved centres, which range from local colleges to employers/fabricators, all work towards improving the development of employees and individuals in the workplace. 4. TRAINING PODS FOR THE INDUSTRY GQA has often spoken about the lack of practical training facilities in the industry and has been able to facilitate the distribution of a number of practical ‘pods’ into the GQA network. The training pods were fitted because of negotiations with the FIT Show. GQA manage the Master Fitter Challenge for the event - the industry’s window and door installer competition which seeks out the best-of-the- best in their field. GQA were able to gain use of the pods used at the last two finals and install them at some of their Approved Centres. The pods offer individuals the opportunity to gain valuable practical training installation skills whilst undertaking a GQA qualification. 20 » N OV 2017 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M CSCS / Q CARDS With the growing number of specialised glass and glazing occupations in the construction industry and the withdrawal of the CRO card by the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS), GQA now has responsibility for issuing the CSCS Q-card through its approved centres and direct from GQA head office. GQA has been instrumental in developing additional pathways to glass related occupational qualifications, which offers a solution to the removal of the CRO card by CSCS. For many years, GQA has offered a wide range of mainstream glass and glass related qualifications and construction qualifications that gave access to competence cards from CSCS and now individuals will be able to apply directly to GQA to obtain a GQA CSCS Q-Card.