Fast track electrician courses: a few weeks in a classroom isn't enough, SELECT and SJIB warn

SELECT and the Scottish Joint Industry Board (SJIB) have renewed their warning about fast track electrician courses, Professional Electrician reports. The courses they have in mind promise to make someone an electrician after a few weeks in a classroom. If you run an electrical business in Scotland and a CV lands on your desk with one of those certificates on it, this is about you.

The warning sets no new registration rule and doesn’t stop you hiring someone who did a short course. What it changes is what you check when hiring and apprentices: the supervised site experience behind the certificate. The report is about training in Scotland and says nothing about routes in England or Wales.

According to Professional Electrician, the two bodies say there is growing concern that some people are being led to believe they can become qualified electricians after only a few weeks of classroom-based training, without the practical experience the job needs. SELECT managing director Sharon Miller put it bluntly: “A short course simply doesn’t cut it and endangers consumer safety.”

Fast track courses don’t show what a recruit can do alone

Both bodies describe the electrical installation apprenticeship as the recognised route into the trade, combining structured learning with extensive supervised work on site. If you’re weighing construction apprenticeships for new recruits against a candidate with a short course, that supervised time is the part to compare.

SJIB secretary Catherine Gillon is quoted in the report saying: “Qualifications are an important part of becoming an electrician, but qualifications alone do not demonstrate occupational competence.” Working alongside experienced electrical professionals on site, she says, is “an essential part of the learning process”.

The certificate tells you what someone has been taught. The time on site is what decides which jobs you can send them on alone, and how long you’ll need someone standing next to them on a rewire.

Adults changing career are in the warning too

The warning also covers adults looking to retrain. SELECT and SJIB point to approved routes for career changers that combine classroom learning with experience on site, and they encourage anyone thinking of becoming an electrician to research training providers carefully and stick to industry-approved routes.

The report sends readers to SECTT and SJIB for the details. It doesn’t name the adult routes, so the warning on its own won’t tell you which course is which.

If you’re paying to train someone you already employ, get the provider to write down the final qualification and how much of the course is supervised work on site. It’s worth checking what government funding for construction training covers as well, but the funding won’t tell you whether the course includes any time on site.

At interview, the question worth asking after a fast track certificate is whose van they were in, and for how long: what they worked on alongside an experienced electrician, which parts they did themselves, and where they needed help.