The IMI is committed to ensuring that automotive trainers in the UK regularly update their skills so that they in turn can provide world-class levels of tuition. We share that commitment. At ADS we share that commitment.
New rules mean that all registered teachers - including those in further education – need to be members of the Institute for Learning. The rules also mean that trainers need to spend a minimum of 30 hours a year on their personal Continuing Professional Development in order to retain a licence to teach.
But this is more than about following the regulations. Maintaining skills, keeping at the cutting edge of fast-moving automotive technology, is vital if teachers are to stay ahead of their students and do their best for them.
At the same time, we at ADS know that it is all too easy as a teacher who has to spend time away from the workshop, to miss out on the latest technological developments, and for skills to lose their edge.
Which is where Frank Massey at ADS, with more than 40 years experience, can help. Frank was the UK's first independent technician to gain the ATA at Mastertech level. He is acknowledged as one of the industry's leading experts in vehicle electronic diagnostics, test equipment, software repairs and servicing, and regularly gives lectures for the IMI and to the world wide electronics industry.
Frank's ADS training is based on real world experiences and techniques learned dealing day-in, day-out, with customers' cars.
In recent years vehicles have evolved into a complex combination of electro-mechanical systems controlled by networked software. But ADS keeps up by operating its diagnostics and repair and servicing business at manufacturer's level.
We have first-hand working knowledge of all aspects of repairing technology, including direct access to software updates and repair solutions.
A wide range of skills - including serial evaluation circuit and component testing using oscilloscopes, as well as a wide range of mechanical evaluation procedures - form part of our daily activities.
Our training remains at the cutting edge and is constantly updated through our commercial experiences. It is available in all sorts of formats: face to face and through colleges, or at our state-of-the-art Preston workshop. Plus, our jargon-free DVD and e-module formats allow you to study at your own pace and convenience.
ADS enjoys support from key partnerships with Blue Chip companies throughout the world thus guaranteeing access to techniques, data, and technical procedures that are simply not available elsewhere.
Built upon four decades of hands-on workshop experience, at ADS our courses are not only tailored to meet the specific needs of automotive trainers.
Crucially, they also count t owards the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) requirement so that teachers can keep their teaching skills fresh.
ADS is one of only a handful of specialists approved and selected by the IMI to teach the trainers.
We recognise that for any trainer the toughest challenge is, while working with students, to also keep up to speed with the dazzlingly fast progress of technology on modern vehicles, and keep pace with the latest workshop diagnostics techniques.
Which is where ADS and Frank Massey – with 40-plus years experience and who is acknowledged nationally and internationally as a diagnostics expert – can help build total confidence in the diagnostic abilities and workshop skills required of a teacher. And of course help fulfill the CPD requirement.
The ADS programme of “training for the trainers” is built on practical skills, expressed in jargon-free language to help teachers stay abreast of the increasingly complex and interconnected world of v ehicle computer, software and diagnostics systems.
The ADS range of unique, unrivalled and comprehensive training is available not just face-to-face in colleges or workshops, but also via DVD and within an e-learning format.
Training covers:
- investment, finance, and workshop control administration
- the workshop's relationship with the customer
- gaining the control and information needed to begin a successful repair
- preparation and basic evaluation
- what equipment to use
Key areas covered in depth include:
- The ignition system - the subject of several training modules from basic preparation to the use of oscilloscope for pin-point evaluation
- The entire management system featuring effective, clearly explained workshop procedures
- Accurate sensor testing
- Evaluation of key inputs using both the serial and parallel testing methods.
Frank Massey says: “When we have been training trainers, they will admit that they are not exposed on a regular basis to the changes in vehicle and diagnostics technology. This moves on so quickly, TOO quickly in some cases, for them to be able to pass on those advances to their students.
“And if their students are more up to date than the trainers, then that can be a frightening situation. Trainers need to be up-to-date technically and commercially.
“The job nowadays needs many skills. It requires mechanical dexterity obviously. But also the ability to think logically about diagnostics.
“It demands a high degree of IT skills, and you have to add to that the ability to manage the customer and the business. There are many technicians who are highly proficient when working on the vehicle, but who cannot make a profit or who have difficulty charging their time. Trainers have to help them with that, and in turn, through our day-to-day workshop experience, we can help the trainers.
“Our role is to help trainers to recapture, refresh or perhaps relearn those skills, to continue with their CPD, and to pass on that knowledge most effectively to their students.”
For more information, please contact us.
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