Chefs lament the end of City & Guilds exams

"A very, very sad day," was how Robert Mey, chef-pâtissier at London's Hyatt Carlton Tower, described his day judging student chefs at Thames Valley University last week.

Mr Mey was marking students taking their City & Guilds advanced pastry exam. They will be among the last to take the exam as from next year all City & Guilds chef qualifications are being replaced by NVQs.

Mr Mey told Caterer he and many other chefs were concerned that NVQs would not include a practical examination and would prove inferior to the City & Guilds exams.

"I have been a chief examiner for City & Guilds for 22 years - they are terrific courses," he said. "The NVQs are not tough enough as there is no practical exam."

Principal lecturer at the university, John Huber, also a City & Guilds examiner for over 20 years, agreed. "Employers and students are concerned about the quality and value of NVQs for chefs," he said.

"Particularly with the advanced levels there should be a practical exam and different pass grades. With the City & Guilds there was pass, credit or distinction at advanced level, but NVQs are just pass or fail," he added.

Amanda Stratford, a demi chef at the London Metropole Hotel and one of those who took the advanced pastry exam last week, said she was glad to have taken the City & Guilds qualification. "It's a good thing to take a practical exam because it's true to life and reflects the pressurised nature of the job," she said.

Mr Huber said that owing to the concerns expressed by chefs about NVQs, Thames Valley was introducing its own diploma course from next year. "It is basically a blueprint of the City & Guilds advanced course as that is what chefs have asked for," he said.