In January 2018, the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) and the Automotive Youth Educational Systems (AYES) merged to form the ASE Education Foundation.
To help you better understand what has changed and what will remain the same for your school’s auto program, we sat down with ASE to figure out what you need to know going into the 2018-19 school year.
1. The NATEF and AYES programs still exist, but under a new name.
Under the ASE Education Foundation name, programs that were once under the NATEF and AYES organizations are now one. That means the programs will still accredit and student workforce placements are still in place and structurally have not changed.
2. The NATEF and AYES programs do have new names under the ASE Education Foundation.
The names of NATEF and AYES will no longer be used. For example, a school that once would say it has a NATEF Certified program would now say it has an ASE Accredited program. The program under AYES is now known as the ASE Student Career Development program with ASE Students. All of the former programs’ elements and tasks are still in place; the names are now just more unified with the ASE name.
3. The ASE Student Certification program has changed its name and focus.
During an end of program assessment for accredited programs, ASE identified a need for certification that focused on entry-level skills to prepare students for a career. The program is now more focused on measuring a student’s skills for a career, not just education. To reflect this change the ASE Student Certification program is now called the ASE Entry Level Certification program.
4. ASE has made the process of getting students certified easier.
The ASE Education Foundation will now offer accredited programs an easier way to enroll their students for ASE Entry Level Certification (formerly known as ASE Student Certification). Instructors will no longer have to buy testing materials per student and can obtain a site license block of tests for their program. So, if an instructor thinks they need 30 tests, but later realizes they need 45, they don’t have to buy more.
5. Students can still take professional level ASE tests, given they have the required experience needed for certain tests.
According to ASE, the goal with getting students ASE Entry Level Certification is to have students experience and understand the process of certification and to move out into the workforce with a certificate they can print and show a potential employer. While students are not barred from taking professional-level ASE tests, the challenge is understanding the test without on-the-job and work experience. ASE encourages students take the ASE Entry Level Certifications, which are designed to test students’ knowledge of scenarios they would encounter in lab/classroom to allow them to become comfortable with questions and content areas.
For students still looking to take the professional level ASE tests, the ASE G1 test is a great start and only has a one-year work experience requirement.
For more information about the ASE Education Foundation, visit aseeducationfoundation.org. For more information about ASE Certification, visit ase.com.
