Sounds suspicious to me, any 'course' which can remove 4/5 years hard study and on the job training HAS to be cutting a big chunk out.  Suppose it depends what you are looking for out of the course though.

You would not have time in a week to be able to name all the tools and the materials a plasterer would use in only five short days.
Perhaps its possible to learn a bit of d.i.y. spreading but how can anyone learn to scratch coat render, float, skim, dot and dab, use browning, bonding, thistle, carlite, multi finish, renovating, hardwall, dry dash, wet dash,plasterboard, napp, bead up, sponge......... think I will stop now........ anyone who wants to be a plasterer can not just take on a bit of skimming to make a living they need to be able to do it all and to do it all...and well, takes years and years, there are NO shortcuts

Or plaster above doorways

Darbys were widely used a few years back but most plasterers use a 6ft/8ft  feather edge today.
I have an eight foot Darby but it doesnt get used much, does not leave a render mm perfect like a feather edge can........if your as good as I am that is!!
Jerry D its the bloody brickies that are the site tramps, I refuse to go into a house after em unless it is spotless and when I walk out it is even cleaner, cills, door casings,angles, and floors you can eat the dinner from.
b style what do you mean by above doorways. ???

[quote author=Robbo  link=1100696556/0#3 date=1100806225]Perhaps its possible to learn a bit of d.i.y. spreading but how can anyone learn to scratch coat render, float, skim, dot and dab, use browning, bonding, thistle, carlite, multi finish, renovating, hardwall, dry dash, wet dash,plasterboard, napp, bead up, sponge......... [/quote]

They don't attempt to train to be able to do all those things. Only to do the basic run of the mill plastering and even then you do need to have some dexterity to do it. They do teach some of the theory about the other bits but they don't pretend to make you an expert. You still need to practise practise practise. Even then some people have the knack some don't.  Even then most plasterers stick to run of the mill stuff, not even doing any external rendering in their working life - that doesn't make them any less expert a plasterer does it?

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Even inside electrical backboxes?   Which is what most electricians seem to complain about.

I did a week long plastering course in Croydon http://www.buildertrainingcentre.co.uk and it gave me a basic idea on how to plaster a small wall.  In the real world of big walls, it proved to be an entirely different thing, and far more difficult.  

Still, with the help and advice of guys like Robbo here and some others on ScrewFux (cant remember who exactly - sorry), I can now produce a fairly reasonable finish in the house that I am renovating. I am still very selective on which jobs I take on for customers, but I am getting there.  Did a small one today and it came out lovely!

My advice is go on the course and see if you like it.  If you do, then get LOADS of practice before you start charging people for it!

Windy

I reckon it would take you a week of practising just to get the `mix` right 100% for a decent plasterer