Becoming an ITC Provider or Centre
It is best to contact the ITC Office, where we will be able to help you make informed decisions regarding your best options, the first aid sector can appear fragmented and confusing for those new to the sector. There are established pathways to becoming an ITC approved Provider or Centre, our guidance to the appropriate path begins with us determining your previous experience and business needs:
- I am an individual who wishes to become a first aid trainer
- I am an experienced First Aid Trainer with an organisation other than ITC
- I wish to deliver (work for) training through an existing ITC Provider
- We wish to become an ITC Centre
- I have no formal adult education qualifications
1. I am an individual who wishes to become a first aid trainer
As an individual you can join a 2-day ITC Provider Induction Event and become familiar with the first aid sector, ITC ethos, training, assessment methods and documentation. Regular courses are advertised throughout the year and the course fee is £490 + vat. The initial aim after these 2-days is for new Providers to deliver the HSE Emergency First Aid at Work (1-day) course to their own clients.
We believe that the Induction Event is not the end but rather the beginning of the process of becoming a successful ITC first aid trainer. Once you have completed the Induction Event there are no artificial 'hoops' to jump through; when you can demonstrate that you can train, assess and administer the EFAW course then you are approved to deliver it. In practice there is commitment in terms of time and effort to achieve approved status.
We aim for new Providers to be delivering to their own client groups withn 3 months of attending the Induction event. The Induction Provider and ITC will require you to confirm that you understand the commitment in time and effort before you begin this programe, with a realistic hope of completing the work and meeting the standards, required before you embark.
The EFAW unit is the first unit of various ITC qualifications. The ITC Induction event uses it as a vehicle to illustrate and demonstrate all ITC processes common to all ITC first aid qualifications. If you are setting up a serious first aid business we would recommend that you begin your association with ITC by beginning to deliver EFAW. You will then be well placed to quickly move on the become accredited to deliver other ITC first aid qualifications.
If you know that you will only deliver one ITC qualification e.g. Outdoor First Aid and you have experience in that sector, meet ITC criteria then it is best to contact ITC directly and we may assign an individual mentor to assist you meeting the standards to deliver that one qualification.
2. I am an experienced First Aid Trainer with an organisation other than ITC
In this case we ask you to take part in a 2-day Programme so that you can experience the training and assessment methodology of ITC as delivered by one of the experienced ITC Provider Training Team. The course fee is £490 + vat.
You then have to arrange (clients and venue) an EFAW course and demonstrate delivering (teaching, assessing and using ITC administration). Provided you meet the criteria you may then seek approval to deliver any ITC First Aid qualification by following the pathways common to all ITC Providers.
3. I wish to deliver (work for) training through an existing ITC Provider
Make contact with the established ITC Provider and provided they can fulfil certain ITC criteria they will become responsible for your training and assessment activity. This existing previous Provider is now a 'Corporate Provider' and will ask you to demonstrate competencies in training and delivering. The Corporate Provider status will exist so long as all members who belong to it are verified to ITC current requirements. There is no fee charged by ITC as the costs of all elements of your development are borne by the Corporate Provider. You will only be able to register courses via the Corporate Provider and if you leave the Corporate Provider to become an independent Provider you will have to attend a 2-day ITC Induction event. Even though there is no course fee payable to ITC you will have access to everything that all other individuals delivering ITC courses have access to.
4. We wish to become an ITC Centre
This is the pathway to becoming an approved ITC Centre if you are already an established businesses or educational establishment with the resources to fulfill the internal verification requirements of ITC. Rather than approval status be given to individual members of staff who can take the status with them as they move on, the status can be attached to the establishment, provided there are suitably qualified staff available in the Centre.
The Centre may nominate an individual and send them on a 2-Day ITC Providers Induction Programme and they will follow the same path as all other individuals who wish to become ITC Providers. Once this individual has completed the induction programme and has become accredited to deliver the qualification the new ITC Centre wishes to deliver, they then take responsibility to train other staff as the Centre representative.
Alternatively the Centre may employ a curent ITC Provider to set up the Centre systems and support staff in meeting ITC accreditation criteria.
An internal training and verification programme is agreed and evidence of this is kept for External Verification visits. Once the system and standards are verified as operating correctly then the Centre status can remain with the Centre even if the original key individual moves on.
The Centre will receive Externally Verification visits according to risk. Therefore there will be a visit on an early course (normally one of the first 3 courses) and then if all activity can be verified there will be another External Verification visit within a year and after that at less regular intervals. If everything is satisfactory a Centre might be visited 2 times within the first 14 months and twice in the following 3 years. Individual Action Plans for each Centre will be developed to help manage risk.
All staff member have access to the same training and resources as all other ITC Providers.
Ongoing cost will be £15.00 per candidate that includes, certification, course manual and all course administration. The external verification fee is currently £300 + vat. The number of verification visits depends on risk, if good practice is verified then each visit will be about 18 months after the previous visit. If there is cause for concern then the visits will be more regular until the issue is resolved.
5. I have no formal adult education qualifications
It will be a requirement from 2010 for all involved in the adult education sector delivering courses on the National Qualifications Framework that they be 'professionalised' and 'credentialised'. The minimum threshold requirement will be a Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector award (PTLLS). This award is delivered over an intensive 5-day week of over 30 hours supported by pre and post course work that takes about another 30 hours. The awarding body for this course is Open College Network (OCNW).
The PTTLS is a generic award for all sectors however we will ensure that its content is tailored to the delivery of first aid training. The course fee is £590 + vat.
Course participants can then go on and work in their own sector or continue with ITC. If individuals wish to continue with ITC they will be required to develop an Action Plan that typically includes attendance at a 2-day Induction event. This 2-day Induction Event will have a cost of £490 + vat.