I agree mostly with what Graham has said. I have been scouring the industry for 3 years to find a suitable Technician. The last guy I took on was just out of his level 3 C&G. I asked all the prospectives who all had amazing CVs "can you explain how an O2 sensor works" he was the only one so got the job. In his first month I sent him down to James to a boot camp. He came back full of joy and knowledge. Problem was he never put any more effort in, he could test to my test plans but couldn't produce his own. Anyway he has now had the heave ho. Another Story.

My wife is an NVQ internal verifier in a different trade but the principal is the same. "Get them through or the Training Company / College doesn't get paid. My local college offering C&G NVQ in motor vehicle has a 50% drop out rate. Mostly due to apathetic young men who have been pushed into vehicles because they aren't academic and dont know what else to do.

Here and certainly in the US the industry is rife with dyslexia. So many problems arise from communication issues between techs and reception.

The level of knowledge and mental agility needed to master the systems on modern cars is at degree level. So how can we expect poorly educated, disaffected young men to meet the challenge.

The industry has severely let itself down by not promoting the variety of jobs available. Top Technician should be televised with the production values of Master Chef. The industry needs to totally revamp its image. No more greasy Herberts with spanners in there hands please.

I now have a young female apprentice in 2nd year who is brilliant! We are training her on electrics/tronics now before she even gets to level 3. I doubt she will ever hold a camshaft in her hand.

To sum up the answer is no. The training for modern technicians is seriously lacking.