National certificate, intensive?

[Tigger18]

Hi! I'm looking at doing the national certificate next year, either that or the national diploma. Is the national certificate intensive, and do you get enough qualifications to get a job for a company like united utilities? this is my overall aim.

A mate of mine does the national diploma and reckons theres a lot of time wasted over the two years, so im stuck between the choices! Do you get more practical expericne in the national certificate? n although iv read the best way to train is through an apprenticeship, id rather do the whole college thing! Any recomendations on any of the courses? Probs apply to askham bryan college in york!

Thanks

[rorymoon]

It depends on what you want to do, I'm doing the 1 year n c at bicton in devon at the moment as a sort of qulifiy to do the job i do type of thing and as far as i can see from talking to ppl one the higher courses theres no more practical experince just more of the tree survaying and forestery side of things, so it's really a case of extra qulifacations against getting into work faster.

I don't know hove things work in york regarding nptc's but for us you only get cs.30, cs.38 and woodchipper ticiket's we do the training for 31 and 39 but have to pay for the assesments at £80 to £100 a time, doing a higher course dosen't get you any more nptc's down here but that might be different up your way.

[penfold]

tigger get in touch with the college and they will tell you whats included and what isn't. when i did my nc at houghall in durham we just did the basic nptc's to get a job, 30 31 etc. hope this helps and may see you at ABC in september as i'm planning on doing the foundation degree there. And welcome to arbtalk.

[john dawson]

the n.c and the first year n.d is basically the same. its a very practical course, and if done proper you should easily be able to sail the nptc 30,31,38,39.

 

admitidly ive neva landed a job based on my n.c or n.d, as cheap employers only care about the basics to cover themselves.

personnaly i think the n.c and the n.d are good, as youl learnt what you need to know the first time the easy way. and yes id quite happily reccommend them to anyone interested in making the effort.

[Dionysus]

ive done an apprentice and cant rate enough, ive been in arb a year and a half and im a pretty up to speed climber, getting regular climbs at work, the apprenticeship was 1 year and during that i gained 3 NPTCs 30 31 38 and an NVQ level 2 in trees and timber, im also doing my cs39 next week, all payed for by my boss, havent had to spend a penny on courses.

 

i think if you want a more theory based course with that deeper knowledge, then go for the NC or ND, but the apprenticeship will give you hands on experience with both the college and work side of things.