Free training courses in England applications are open again.

[ddlh]

Applications are now being accepted again.

https://freecoursesinengland.co.uk/apply/

[Alexis]

Thank you for this ddlh.

Happy New Year to you and yours.

[stephen1974]

Are there restructions on who can do these? I've tried to do similar ones in the past but they always say the qualifications I already have are at too high a level so I dont qualify for funding.

[bernicarey]

I'd just like to say that I signed up for the 'Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Autism'
It was one of the hardest L2 things I've done, possibly because they had so many additional resources to read for 'further info' that you could spend hours down rabbit holes. A lot of detail and a lot of questions to answer.
Today I got the e-Certificate in my email, all 4 units passed without them being sent back for any additional work.


Unit 1
Signs, indicators and diagnosis of autism
Unit 2
Sources of information, support, legislation and guidance relevant to autism
Unit 3
Living with autism
Unit 4
Best practice relating to autism

Very comprehensive.

[Alexis]

I'd just like to say that I signed up for the 'Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Autism'
It was one of the hardest L2 things I've done, possibly because they had so many additional resources to read for 'further info' that you could spend hours down rabbit holes. A lot of detail and a lot of questions to answer.
Today I got the e-Certificate in my email, all 4 units passed without them being sent back for any additional work.


Unit 1
Signs, indicators and diagnosis of autism
Unit 2
Sources of information, support, legislation and guidance relevant to autism
Unit 3
Living with autism
Unit 4
Best practice relating to autism

Very comprehensive.

Many congratulations on achieving your certificate Berni.

It doesn't surprise me at all that you passed all 4 units first time!

A question on the course please Berni, which I am not aiming at you personally, just as a guide for any general Student who may be thinking of enrolling on such a course.

Do you feel the course provided enough learning to be able to take it into workplace situations right away, or do you think it would require a lot of further reading and "experience" to feel confident in its application?

Thank you Berni.

[bernicarey]

It was a good course and I learnt quite a lot.
This particular course, in relation to a workplace, is a good insight into Autism Spectrum Disorder, how broad it is and how different each individual is.
A good section about what legal requirements are there.
Until I did this course, I'd never heard of Neurotypical or Neurodiverse.
ASD covers what was previously 5 different diagnoses; Asperger's syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, Kanner's syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder – not otherwise specified.

Good information about how those on the Higher Functioning end, i.e. towards what was formerly Asperger's, can actually have positive traits to bring to the workplace, including being dedicated to their work.
Think Temperance Brennan in the TV show 'Bones'; a brilliant forensic anthropologist and successful author, noted to have a high IQ and impressive reasoning skills, but antagonistic, with a dearth of social skills and comes over as detached.
Or perhaps Lab Technician Abby Sciuto in “NCIS”, brilliant at her job, a bit odd in the way she dressed, and named all the machines in her laboratory.
Even Forest Gump had a role in society.


What I found poor about the course was being presented with too much information.
There's plenty of 'Learn More' links and if you start trying to look at all of them you'll easily quadruple the amount of time you devote to the course.
I questioned the requirement to provide referencing to other resources, because it's all answered in individual questions on the website, you don't write a great tome like submitting a NEBOSH workpiece.
I was told I shouldn't really need to reference, because they preferred it if the answers all came from the materials they provided.
So by the end of the 1st Unit, I decided I was going to skip around 80% of the 'additional info' because it was just taking me too long to read it all. It's only a L2 course, not a L5 or L6 (English Levels not Scottish ones ).

I found the Admin of Scarborough Tech a little haphazard.
Some of the Unit slide numbers were whacky, for example one section started at 0/14 through to 14/14, followed by 28/28
I found that a little ironic, a course about autism and they have numbering mistakes on the slides.
I even mentioned it in one of my answers, suggesting it likely someone 'on the Spectrum' would spot it immediately and would make a good proof reader....
Every unit completed I received an email telling me my Tutor Feedback was in my account on the website. Not that I ever found any, just the line 'Passed subject to Moderation'...
Then at the end of it all, after they had marked the final Unit, I received a 'Congratulations' email , saying I had passed but "Before we can claim for your certificate, we complete a final audit check of your learner file. This process usually takes up to eight weeks."
However I received the certificate 2 days later from the Awarding Organisation, yet even today a week later, my learner account at the Tech shows all Units 'Awaiting Moderation'.

[Alexis]

It was a good course and I learnt quite a lot.
This particular course, in relation to a workplace, is a good insight into Autism Spectrum Disorder, how broad it is and how different each individual is.
A good section about what legal requirements are there.
Until I did this course, I'd never heard of Neurotypical or Neurodiverse.
ASD covers what was previously 5 different diagnoses; Asperger's syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, Kanner's syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder – not otherwise specified.

Good information about how those on the Higher Functioning end, i.e. towards what was formerly Asperger's, can actually have positive traits to bring to the workplace, including being dedicated to their work.
Think Temperance Brennan in the TV show 'Bones'; a brilliant forensic anthropologist and successful author, noted to have a high IQ and impressive reasoning skills, but antagonistic, with a dearth of social skills and comes over as detached.
Or perhaps Lab Technician Abby Sciuto in “NCIS”, brilliant at her job, a bit odd in the way she dressed, and named all the machines in her laboratory.
Even Forest Gump had a role in society.


What I found poor about the course was being presented with too much information.
There's plenty of 'Learn More' links and if you start trying to look at all of them you'll easily quadruple the amount of time you devote to the course.
I questioned the requirement to provide referencing to other resources, because it's all answered in individual questions on the website, you don't write a great tome like submitting a NEBOSH workpiece.
I was told I shouldn't really need to reference, because they preferred it if the answers all came from the materials they provided.
So by the end of the 1st Unit, I decided I was going to skip around 80% of the 'additional info' because it was just taking me too long to read it all. It's only a L2 course, not a L5 or L6 (English Levels not Scottish ones ).

I found the Admin of Scarborough Tech a little haphazard.
Some of the Unit slide numbers were whacky, for example one section started at 0/14 through to 14/14, followed by 28/28
I found that a little ironic, a course about autism and they have numbering mistakes on the slides.
I even mentioned it in one of my answers, suggesting it likely someone 'on the Spectrum' would spot it immediately and would make a good proof reader....
Every unit completed I received an email telling me my Tutor Feedback was in my account on the website. Not that I ever found any, just the line 'Passed subject to Moderation'...
Then at the end of it all, after they had marked the final Unit, I received a 'Congratulations' email , saying I had passed but "Before we can claim for your certificate, we complete a final audit check of your learner file. This process usually takes up to eight weeks."
However I received the certificate 2 days later from the Awarding Organisation, yet even today a week later, my learner account at the Tech shows all Units 'Awaiting Moderation'.

Thank you very much for this very interesting subjective/objective (a bit of both) insight into the course Berni. Very helpful indeed!