Education and Training Opportunities
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So you love woodlands and want to be more involved with them? You want to start or develop a career, earn a living, use equipment safely, enhance a hobby, comply with a regulation, try out something new, meet others? If so, there will be a course that could enable you to achieve this.
When considering investing your time and money in education and training look very carefully at all the elements that will make it successful.
*Main woodland related subjects include: trees (in the context of forestry or arboriculture), wildlife (flora and fauna), nature conservation, the environment, recreation, access and tourism.
Start by asking yourself
What exactly do I want from the training? Add your own aims and ambitions to the ideas above.
Is it realistic for me to do it? What about amount of time, cost, travel, mental and physical demands, prior experience or qualifications?
As a job, does it have a future? The prospects for work in different sectors varies greatly. Employment in evironmental conservation, recreation, access and tourism is expected to increase more than in commercial forestry but require a different mix of skills and qualifications. Management, information and communication technology and people skills are demanded as widely as manual craft ability in either sector. Find out from those who have gone before you just how well they are fairing. Has it fulfilled their expectations.
Think and research as broadly as possible before narrowing your options.
Make use of Directories
They are a good starting points for finding courses and providers. Examples with national coverage are:
· The Countryside Training Directory (
· Colleges, Universities and other Further Education establishments offering Land-based courses from LANTRA* from their web site www.lantra.co.uk and via their Helpline 0345 078007
· Useful Publications on Careers in Land-based industries from LANTRA
· Woodlands Initiative Register from SWA and available on our web site www.smallwoods.org.uk detailing nearly 100 initiatives across the
· Local Woods Courses annual programme from SWA.
*LANTRA is the Government recognised National Training Organisation (NTO) for the land-based industries throughout the
Local Sources:
· Local Directories from libraries, local authorities including countryside units and volunteer units, wildlife and conservation organisations, education and arts centres, Community Councils, Yellow Pages, etc
And other sources
National agencies that advise on, fund, regulate or have input into education and training.
· The Royal Forestry Society of
· The Royal Scottish Forestry Society Tel: 01387 371518
· Forestry & Timber Association Tel: 0131 538 7111 web site www.forestryandtimber.org
· Arboricultural Association Tel: 01794 368717 web site www.trees.org.uk
· Institute of Chartered Foresters Tel: 0131 225 2705
· Small Woods Association Information Line: 01743 792644
· Business & Technology Education Council (BTEC) Tel: 0171 413 8400
· SCOTVEC Tel: 0141 248 7900
· City & Guilds Tel: 0171 294 2468
· National Proficiency Tests Council (NPTC) Assessing and certifying body for Category Based training in practical operations. Tel: 01203 696553
National Training Providers with their own course programmes include:
· Forestry Commission Forestry Training Services Huge range of courses – see current prospectus. Tel:01387 860637 web site www.forestry.gov.uk
· The Field Studies Council Tel:01743 850674 web site www.field-studies-council.org
· British Trust for Conservation Volunteers Tel:01491 839766
· The Green Wood Centre runs accredited courses in small woodland management, coppicing and hedgelaying, and currently can offer a substantial grant to those attending courses who come from the West Midlands and spend part of their time working in woodlands or on a farm. Tel: 01952 432769 web site www.greenwoodcentre.org.uk
· Directory of Social Change (Voluntary Sector training in fundraising, organisational development, management, finance and law, skills development) Tel: 020 7209 4949 web site www.dsc.org.uk
Overseas training opportunities:
· Clark Mactavish Ltd administer the EU ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ funded forestry placements to other EU countries. Tel: 016973 21516
Distance learning:
· The Open University offers environmental and ecology degree courses. Brochure request tel: 01908 653231 web site www.open.ac.uk
· The Horticultural Correspondence College offers home study courses in arboriculture and conservation. Tel: Freephone 0800 378918
Events, shows and exhibitions will have stands from various training providers. National examples are The Royal Show, the Royal Welsh, the APF Forest Machinery Exhibition. Locally the county shows and fairs, and woodfairs will feature the local colleges and course providers. Colleges may also have their own open days and course ‘taster’ sessions.
Making your choice
When you have gathered all the information from the training providers you will have to narrow down the options.
A course leading to a qualification will be accredited by the relevant qualification standards body (the main examples are listed below with {Scottish equivalent} shown thus where appropriate). It will have a detailed programme or syllabus which you should study and discuss with the provider before you join the course.
· National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ/{SVQ}) Practical work-based qualifications confirming competence in a range of tasks together with underpinning knowledge, in 4 levels from foundation (1) to managerial (4). Now taken over from solely Category Based Training as the industry standard requirement. Also available in environmental conservation. Arboriculture is linked to horticulture NVQs. NVQs for green wood trades and allied crafts are being developed for launch in 2001.
· Machine Operator Certification is just coming into use for forest workers and will quickly become essential in the industry.
· General NVQ offers broader based land and environmental qualification, at foundation, intermediate and advanced levels.
· NPTC Foundation Award A full time practical programme for students with special needs.
· City & Guilds Certificate. A craft based qualification for students with proven previous practical experience working towards employment.
· BTEC National Diploma Practical and theory, equivalent to A-level standard.
· SCOTVEC National Certificate
· BTEC {SCOTVEC} Higher National Diploma Technical/managerial, pre-degree course.
· Degree Courses
· Post-graduate courses
· Royal Forestry Society Certificate in Arboriculture Craft level
· Royal Forestry Society Diploma in Arboriculture Managerial level
· Institute of Chartered Foresters
For those not in need of formal qualifications there are a great number of practical courses including every craft and special interest. Most courses are short, typically one day, though a few are two days or more. Providers acquire a reputation for their quality of training in general or their particular and sometimes unique specialisation and character. A provider may be a well staffed organisation, a group of self employed trainers sharing a site, or an individual working, and sometimes living, in his or her own woodland. Local sources of information, personal recommendation by word of mouth will be the likely way to find and assess a potential provider. This may sound hit-and-miss but it is a small world in woodlands in a region or county and good small scale trainers will soon have enough business not to need extensive and expensive advertising.
Advice from the Health and Safety Executive
Occasional ‘hobby’ users of woodland machinery do not cause the HSE anxiety provided proper training (e.g. LANTRA) and successful assessment (e.g. NPTC) have been obtained. Category based is still appropriate here. Statutory health and safety obligations will almost certainly still apply even if you are not ‘in business’ with the machines that you use.
Chainsaw alternatives for occasional users
A ‘proper’ basic operators course is typically more than four days and is therefore expensive, as is the cost of the saw and the essential Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that you must wear. The saw tends to be noisy, smelly and dirty, the PPE restrictive and hot to work in.
A huge amount of work can be done with hand tools which, if properly maintained and used (there are courses commonly available to show you how), will keep the enthusiast rewarded for hours without blotting out the delights of the environment around and at a fraction of the cost of the machine alternative.
Funding
There are various government funding provisions, mostly for young people coming into employment. Tax relief may apply to NVQ fees. You may find EU subsidised training in some areas of the country. Check whether you have any Individual Learning Account entitlement left to use. It was worth £150 (gross) to everyone. Local and national sources such as trusts, bursaries, grants may be available. The Association of Professional Foresters produces a leaflet 'Funding for Training' containing more information.
So now enjoy…..!
Alex Argyropulo
Article for Small Woods Association Journal Smallwoods Winter 2001