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Glass, Glazing and Fenestration NVQs
Eleven qualifications across glazing, window fitting, surveying, curtain walling, processing and fabrication, all assessed on your own work.
The short version
Which glass qualification you need
This is the widest trade group we cover, because glass splits into jobs that have almost nothing in common with each other. A glazier on site, a window fitter, a surveyor with a laser, a fabricator welding supports and a processor on a toughening line are all in it, and they all need different qualifications.
What they share is the method. Nobody goes to college. An assessor comes to your workplace, watches you do the job you already do, and records it against the units. GQA are the awarding body for the whole family.
If you are not sure which one applies to you, start with the work rather than the title. What do you physically do in a week? The two minute check on any of these pages will point you at the right one.
- Eleven qualifications, Level 2 and Level 3
- Assessed at your own workplace, on your own jobs
- Glazing, window fitting, surveying, curtain walling, processing, fabrication
- Most lead to the Blue or Gold CSCS card
- Awarded by GQA, Ofqual regulated
Start here
Which level do you need?
Neither level is a prerequisite for the other. If the work you do already is Level 3 work, you go in at Level 3. The two minute check on any of these pages will tell you which one your day job evidences.
On site, fitting glass
Blue CSCS Skilled Worker card
You glaze: windows, doors, screens, shopfronts. The Level 2 NVQ in Glazing is the glazier's qualification and leads to the Blue Skilled Worker card.
On site, fitting windows and doors
Blue CSCS Skilled Worker card
You install windows and doors rather than glazing units into frames. Fenestration Installation is the window fitter's qualification.
Measuring and specifying
Gold CSCS Advanced Craft card
You survey: measure, specify, and take responsibility for the schedule being right. Fenestration Surveying is the surveyor's qualification and leads to the Gold card.
The list
The qualifications in this trade
Roofing and cladding and the solar panel qualification appear here too, because glass and cladding work overlap on the same buildings.
Method of assessment
How the on-site assessment works
Five steps, and four of them happen on your own jobs.
The online check
Two minutes on this site. It asks what you do, how long you have done it and what evidence you can lay hands on, and tells you which level fits. That check is the initial assessment: there is no separate interview to sit through afterwards.
Register and meet your assessor
You are registered with the awarding body and given one named assessor who stays with you from start to finish. They ring you first, before anything else, to agree the units and work out what you already have that counts.
They come to you
Your assessor visits you on your own jobs, in your own working week. They watch you work, take photographs, ask you why you did it that way and record it against the units. Nothing is staged and nothing is done in a workshop.
Evidence in between
Job records, photographs, drawings, a witness statement from your supervisor. You upload it as you go and your assessor tells you exactly what is still missing, so you are never guessing.
Certificate, then the card
Once the evidence is complete it goes for verification and the certificate is issued. The CSCS card is a separate application to CSCS, with their own fee, and you need a current CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass to go with it.
For employers
Putting a squad through
Most of this work is done for employers rather than individuals, because it is cheaper and far less disruptive that way round.
- One assessor covers the whole squad, so there is one person to deal with
- Everyone stays on the job. No day-release, no travelling, no lost production
- Different trades and different levels can run alongside each other
- One invoice, and we will tell you where every candidate has got to
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment tests booked in the same block
- CITB grant support where your company is registered and in scope
Glass and fenestration NVQs: common questions
£850 + VAT at Level 2 and £950 + VAT at Level 3, across the whole family. That covers registration with GQA, your own assessor, the visits, the portfolio and the certificate. There is no course fee and no exam fee, because there is neither a course nor an exam. The CSCS card is a separate application to CSCS with their own fee.
Go by what you physically do. If you put glass into frames and openings, you are a glazier and the Level 2 NVQ in Glazing is yours. If you install complete windows and doors, that is Fenestration Installation. If you turn up with a laser and a clipboard and the schedule is your responsibility, that is Fenestration Surveying. If you are fixing curtain walling, that is its own qualification again. Plenty of people do two of these; your assessor will use whichever your week actually evidences.
Glass Processing covers cutting, toughening, laminating and sealed unit manufacture, assessed on your own line. Fabrication of Glass Supporting Structures covers making the frames and supports that carry glass. Both are assessed at your workplace in exactly the same way as the site qualifications.
No. They are separate qualifications, not stages. If the work you already do is Level 3 work, go straight in at Level 3. Doing Level 2 first when you do not need it costs you money and months for nothing.
No, and there is no written exam. Your assessor comes to your workplace during your own working week. That is the whole point: the NVQ measures what you already do.
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