Level 3 NVQ Glass Processing

Yes. Level 3 on the Regulated Qualifications Framework is the same level as A levels. It is a competence qualification rather than an academic one, so it proves you can run a glass process rather than that you have studied it, which is what employers and their customers want from a setter or line leader.

No. If you already set up the machines, sort the problems and monitor the line, you go straight to the Level 3. The machinery unit from the Level 2 is part of this qualification, and if you already hold the Level 2 it is not assessed again while you are still competent. If you are not running the process yet, the Level 2 is the one you can evidence now.

No. There is no classroom and no exam. Everything is assessed on the line you already run, through records and photographs from your own shifts, an observation of you working and a professional discussion with your assessor.

No. Glass processing is factory work and GQA, who issue the CSCS cards for the glass industry, list no Level 3 glass processing occupation in their card scheme rules. If you need a card for site work, the Level 2 Glass Processing with the in situ glass surface restoration unit leads to the Blue card and the Level 3 Glazing leads to the Gold card. We tell you which fits before you register.

The ones your line already evidences. You need at least 10 credits from running the line, so setting up equipment plus either monitoring operations or developing procedures covers it, and at least 7 from the processes, so toughening, cutting or in situ restoration on its own is enough, as is a pair of the smaller units. Most line leaders evidence more than the minimum without trying, and the extra units are listed on the certificate. The initial assessment on this page works it out from what you click.

Machine set up sheets and settings records, technical problem reports and what you changed, production and quality records, procedures you wrote or revised, photographs of the work at each stage, delivery notes and material certificates, witness testimony from your manager, toolbox talk records, and the RAMS and CoSHH sheets for the line. Your assessor maps each one to a unit and tells you what is missing.

You carry on from the next shift. Evidence can come from more than one order, one process and one problem, and your assessor plans the units around what your line will produce next. Anything you cannot evidence yet is something we plan with you and your employer, and the initial assessment shows it before you pay.

Yes. Employers can be invoiced and can put several line leaders through as one booking, alongside the operators on the Level 2. A CITB grant may be available to CITB registered employers, which most glass processing plants are not, and we check what applies before you commit. Individuals pay direct, with interest free instalments if you want them.

£950 + VAT. That is the whole qualification: registration with the awarding body, your assessor, the visits, the portfolio and the certificate. There is no separate exam fee and no course fee on top, because there is no course to attend. The CSCS card is applied for separately and CSCS charge their own fee for it.

Yes, and for an experienced glass processor setting up and problem-solving on the line that is the normal route. There is no set length. You are assessed on the work you are already doing, so the pace is set by how quickly the evidence comes together rather than by a timetable. People who already have photographs, job records and a supervisor who will sign a witness statement often finish inside a few weeks. Nobody is held back waiting for a term to start.

Your assessor comes to you, on your own jobs, in your own working week. They watch you set up and run the work, take photographs, ask you why you did it that way, and record it against the units. Between visits you upload evidence and your assessor tells you what is still missing. There is no college, no classroom and no written exam.