Welding Apprenticeship and Career information
Background
The welding apprenticeship trailblazer has been developed since 2014 with a group of employers helping to develop a welding apprenticeship that will show that a welder has the skills that industry needs. The new apprenticeship is based on what most employers need, this is a welder that can weld parts to a good standard. The only way to do this is to use internationally agreed welding “codes”. This is why welders are sometimes called “coded welders”. The codes are European Norms (EN 9606 series) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME (LINK)) section 9 (IX) standard.
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Searching for an Apprenticeship (Company or a person)
The Institute of Apprentices (LINK) has a good website for searching for an apprenticeship. Simply click on the “Apprenticeship standard” button at the top and it will take you to the search box. Use the tern “welding” and you will get these options, plus some others.
The simple difference with these two levels is that Level 3 (plate or Pipe) uses more processes, materials and welding position. They are laid out in different modules to help select the correct one for your company (or college). The person selecting the options needs to discuss this with the company the apprentice is going into to see what processes, material and position they use in their workshop, otherwise this will be selected by the college to fit with their facility's.
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Below is the table for level 2 and 3, the difference will be in the welding position. The welding position is the orientation the welder welds the parts, some are more difficult than others.
Once they have completed the modules and any other tests or assessments required, the apprentice will have to take the final assessment called an "End Point Assessment". The details of which are below.
End Point Assessment
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A theoretical knowledge test using multiple choice question papers containing generic questions relevant to all welders and specific questions relevant to the theoretical part of the skill/knowledge modules selected by the employer.
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A practical/oral examination comprising three practical tests and an oral examination. The practical tests will be carried out in accordance with a recognised industry specification and will be in the most difficult welding positions for the skill/knowledge modules selected. The Authorised Examiner (Appendix 1), responsible for supervising the tests, will also conduct an oral examination to assess the apprentice’s understanding of the tests he/she is undertaking and of the wider responsibilities of a welder.
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A professional interview which is designed to do two things: firstly, to further explore the apprentice’s knowledge relevant to his/her role and, secondly, to assess if the apprentice’s occupational behaviours meet the requirements specified in the Apprenticeship Standard.
Part 3 must be carried out last.
In order to be successful, apprentices must pass all three parts.
This presentation is from the TWI website simply giving an overview of the apprenticeship. This is a publicly available document from this (LINK). This is a list of the other documents that can be downloaded from the website that are used for the welding apprenticeship.
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Briefing Event Presentation
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Apprenticeship Standards, Level 2
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Apprenticeship Standards, Level 3
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EOB Level 2 and 3
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Assessment Plan Level 2
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Assessment Plan Level 3
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EWF/IIW Guideline to the minimum requirements for the Education, Examination and Qualification (IAB-089 r5-14)
Career in Welding
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Once you have qualified as a welder there are a number of different careers open to you depending on what you want to do.
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Inspection
The planner from CSWIP website (LINK) shows that you could move into inspection (NDT - Non-destructive testing) in a number of different areas from Visual inspector to Radiographer. There is also the career as a Welding Engineer.
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Welding Engineer
This is all about not just understanding the welding process its also the material, the design, all the codes and many other aspects of welding engineering. A good starting point after gaining experience is the TWI course of a European Welding Specialist (LINK).
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Professional Engineer
Eng Tech (LINK) this is the link to the Engineering Council's website for all the information about Eng
Tech registration and the start of the road to professional engineering career.