Tile Industry Training

The Tile Association Training Plan was created in collaboration with Construction Skills. It was launched to implement training in the wall and floor tiling industry in Britain in order to provide a qualified wall and floor tiling workforce.

The qualifications are based on the nationally recognised NVQs/SVQs and training is based on on-site training utilising existing informal training provision alongside more formal training from colleges and training centres to fill training gaps. Training grants will be available to participating companies.

The Construction Skills National Specialists Centre at East Leake, Leicestershire, has been accredited by City & Guilds as an Assessment Centre to deliver wall and floor tiling NVQ's at levels 2 and 3. This centre forms the hub of the training programme and although the majority of training and assessing takes place on site there are 25 other Associated Training Centres across the UK.

List of training and support centres.

The Numbers are Growing

Currently there are over 700 tiling trainees on various TTA/CITB training schemes. They are mostly training on-site but are linked to the 25 colleges across the UK. There is also an Intermediate Construction Award for the unemployed or those on Government initiatives. Unlike the NVQ's these people are training in college rather than on site.

The Tile Association Training Plan delivers value to customers in quality of workmanship and it delivers value to employers by reducing waste, limiting the effect of unqualified competition and avoiding complaints and litigation. A clear training and skills standard gives building professionals and householders another reason to prefer a TTA fixer and forms an effective barrier to the "cowboys".