Hands-on, Face to Face, Practical Learning: The S&B Training Philosophy

Water operators have a lot of options when it comes to training courses. There are no shortage of companies out there offering to help you obtain your Cert II, III or IV. At Simmonds & Bristow, we know that we’re not the only choice – but we believe we’re the best choice, for operators and companies who want effective, practical and hands-on learning that will stick. We also know that we’re one of the few companies out there offering the Diploma option.

Simmonds & Bristow and our training team are well aware of the trend towards online learning. We understand that the temptation to study at home, at your desk, whenever you want can be very appealing. But we feel, very strongly, that there are much better ways to learn, which is why we’ve very consciously said “no thanks” to the online learning trend.

Water, wastewater treatment plants and pipe networks require hands-on, get-in-there and get-it-done-correctly attitudes to keep things running smoothly. Why should your training be any different? That’s why we offer face to face training, full of practical, hands-on exercises, assessments that require you to be able to work on your own plant or sites and learning materials that are given to each student in hard copy, so you can hang on to them and make any notes that you find helpful. Some higher level studies (Cert IV & Diploma) may be done as a blend of correspondence with a few phone or face to face sessions to support learning and evidence collection.

We know flexibility is important – that’s why we work with organisations to offer training courses on-site. We are more than happy to come to you and we’re experts at conducting training in regional and remote locations. We also offer open-industry training courses at a range of convenient locations so that those individuals on their own or organisations who don’t have enough employees to host their own training, can still take advantage.

Remember also, for you skilled old hands (with a wealth of experience but no formal qualifications), S&B are proud to offer a Recognition of Prior Learning process that captures what you can do. We also provide targeted “gap training” so you only get what you need.

We also back our students 100% of the way. We don’t leave you alone to muddle through online exercises and material. Our administrative support staff and our trainers are there to help you through. Need help signing up for a course? Talk to Xin, she’ll sort you out in a hurry. Have a problem at your plant down the road? Liz and the other S&B trainers frequently field calls from former students seeking advice on peculiar problems they encounter.

There have been quite a few articles recently that have talked about things students don’t like about online learning. This echoes comments we’ve heard from students who had tried online learning through other RTO’s and didn’t like it – even those who completed their course and had to come back to us to start all over again! They constantly tell us things like ‘I felt like just a number to them’ or ‘I couldn’t find anybody to help me’ or ‘I don’t want to just stare at a screen all day’.

None of that sounds good to us which is why we’ll stick with our way of doing things – with you, on the ground, face to face, the whole way through.