Eric Edwards can claim the credit for helping to shape training to meet the needs of the UK motorcycle industry. Edwards, who works at Wirral Metropolitan College, Merseyside, has spent 30 years working closely with dealers and manufacturers and has been instrumental in creating a range of courses, qualifications and assessment programmes that provide accreditation for service and maintenance technicians.
When he started teaching budding mechanics, Edwards realised all the qualifications related purely to theory, and most were focused on cars, rather than bikes. So he started to develop training programmes to demonstrate not only theoretical knowledge of motorbikes but, more importantly, the practical, technical skills required.
Working closely with a range of manufacturers, including Yamaha and Suzuki, enabled Edwards to continue to develop flexible vocational courses and assessment programmes. Wirral Met now hosts Yamaha’s regional development workshops for dealerships in the North-West of England. This benefits Edwards and the college team, as well as the technicians from the dealerships. These partnerships have helped Edwards further to develop training courses which evolve at the same rate as the technology used in the manufacture of modern motorcycles.
After becoming a national verifier for the National Vocational Qualifications, Eric visited colleges and training centres across the country, designing training manuals, teaching resources and assessment methods, and assisting them to become approved centres to deliver these qualifications.
Wirral Met is now an ATA (Automotive Technician Accreditation) approved centre and the only college in the North-West which provides the full range of professional qualifications across technician to professional master technician levels.
Edwards has been riding motorbikes since he was 16 and started his career by working in a Honda motorcycle dealership. Soon after, he became the first fully qualified motorcycle mechanic in the country to be awarded the new City and Guilds qualifications.
Said Edwards: “I’ve always been committed to helping others become first-rate technicians so when they leave college, they are competent and confident to be of value to their new employers from day one. I’m proud to have helped develop a range of professional qualifications which meet today’s high standards of quality craftsmanship across the sector.”