Complete Joke of a Trainer, No longer Accredited by EDI

“Complete Joke of a Trainer, No longer Accredited by EDI”

Written on: 29/05/2012 by jdaniellep (1 review written)

And apparently EDI don't provide any support for pupils. What does their accreditation really mean??? I have submitted an FOI request to them demanding to get copies of their reviews of SPTI as well as what their criteria for accreditation is

Here's their correspondence with me so far - basically telling me to contact Better Business/Citizen's Advice:
..........
My first email to EDI 22 May:

What do you do if one of the organisations teaching your accredited course don't respond or reply or even look like they have gone out of business?

I took a week's course in PTTLLS from Owen at SPTI in Manchester in Feb. 2011. I completed the in course time (which was really disorganised and disjointed on Owen's part, both from a commercial and pedagogical standpoint, but the materials provided were good and the time spent practice teaching was invaluable - my classmates and I joked that such a poor teacher was teaching us, and all complained about the organisation), but due to personal circumstances was not able start work on the assignments until this new year. I contacted Owen by email to get the resources and assignments again then, with no response. My husband finally called him, and he registered me on his VLE, Moodle, but still I could not find on there what I needed to know in order to complete the assignments (I.e. which ones we had to hand in, reference list). So I emailed Owen again, with no response. I put the course work aside.

I now have time, until the end of May, to complete my assignments, but I cannot even get in to the VLE now, which says SPTI's account has been terminated. There are no new course dates on SPTI's web site. I emailed them again today, but no response yet. I am worried they have gone out of business due to poor business-keeping and poor product delivery. Do you know if this is the case? What do you do to guarantee them as the accrediting body? Can you at least request from Owen verification that I passed the in class section, tell me what assignments to complete, and then mark them directly (or transfer them to another provider for me?)

I'm really at my wit's end with this. I need to get this qualification over and done with and soon!

Their response:

EDI carried out a Quality Assurance visit to SPTI on 23 February 2012 to review learner portfolios. We have now finished the review of all the portfolios sampled on that day.

Unfortunately we are unable to approve certification against any of the portfolios as they have not been fully completed. We have requested that SPTI contacts each learner to update them on the situation and provide support on the next possible steps.

We are aware of the distress that this matter is causing learners but as I am sure you can appreciate EDI cannot provide certificates for qualifications that have not been completed.

Furthermore after a comprehensive review of SPTI’s approval status with EDI the decision has been made to withdraw approval. Learners affected by this will need to contact SPTI regarding refunds or re-training.

If this proves unsuccessful then local Trading Standards offices or Citizens Advice Bureaus will be able to assist regarding claiming back any money paid for the courses taken with this provider.

My response:

Ok, I understand, but given that SPTI have apparently known about this since February, and 3 months later SPTI have not contacted students and are not answering phone/email, is there not anything you can do to help progress this generally? I'm not interested in a refund, I just want to know what assignments to submit and to whom as I just need to complete the credential. What did EDI discuss with SPTI on the level of potential arrangements for students in this situation as part of your collaborative provision agreements? Did you suggest, for example, we be transferred to another provider? Can't you enforce this? You must have a protocol of some sort for this type of situation? Or at a minimum, can I not get a copy of "my" portfolio from you? You didn't actually state whether mine was one of those you reviewed. Can you let me know please?

EDI Most recent response - comments in parentheses are mine

We have not been able to find a registration for yourself. This means that SPTI did not register you with EDI so your portfolio would not be one we reviewed (Presumably there was a cost to Owen to do this).

If you could please confirm your geographical area and we will be able to provide information of training providers in your area (they don't have any in Manchester, apparently). You will need to contact them directly for information on the cost and dates of the course.

The qualification has changed recently and is now a 12 credit award so additional units would need to be completed. The training provider would be able to go through this with you in detail and discuss how to proceed further. (!!!!!!!!!!!! So now I am going to have to pay even more)
Contact at EDI:

Email: enquiries@ediplc.com
Website: www.ediplc.com
International House
Siskin Parkway East
Middlemarch Business Park
Coventry CV3 4PE

FYI the SPTI Web site is now down

I haven't emailed this guy yet, but s/he seems to be organising a collective action/complaint: george.sabrina @ gmail.com Will let you know what I found out, and if nothing I am happy to organise something including a complaint/web site...will see if there's a way I can get ahold of people's details from EDI

I'm going through everyone else's comments here in a sec to see what other info I can collect