Choosing Your Course.

[DriveLink]

I hope the following is of use to someone who is wondering what training they may want...

 

There's quite a lot of interest in the RFS offerings, and along with National Certificates, Diploma, Foundation Degrees and short courses it can be a bit overwhelming.

 

Looking at short courses first:

 

In general these are divided in to LANTRA or NPTC courses, and at the time of writing LANTRA accreditations are valid only for a set period of time, but NPTC have no such restrictions. These courses are good for gaining the relevant tickets required by industry / insurance and are commonly run over a few days. The advantage of speed in getting the ticket is potentially lost in the lack of experience and the amount of information that can be put across in such a short space of time.

 

There are no pre-requisites (other than those laid down by the awarding bodies, e.g. you must hold CS30 before taking CS31).

 

National Certificate (NC) courses:

 

These are one year, full-time courses and have a very high practical element to them, with some written assignments and theory to attend to. These are often also accompanied by Secondary Learning Goals, allowing students to attempt NPTC / LANTRA accreditation as well. This is a good course for giving you some background information, as well as the practical sessions - so you can expect to cover something of silviculture, pests & diseases and so on.

 

This level 2 course is ideal for those who will be actually doing the front line work and have no requirement for management.

 

National Diploma (ND) courses:

 

These build on the NC courses, and are two year, full-time courses. On this course you will be expected to cover more theory and slightly less practical. It's a good option if you want to be aiming for a team leader / foreman type of role. There are several assignments to complete and these have to be at a higher level than expected of the NC (level 2) qualification.

 

Foundation Degree courses:

 

These are much, much more theory based with some pretty heavy assignments and are meant for those who want to move in to a management level job. There are different offerings here - Myerscough, for example, offer a distance learning course which will require you to be very committed and methodical to ensure you get the work done (but is easily the most flexible offering); whereas other colleges run this level of course part-time over 3 years. This requires you to attend 2 days a week at college, and the middle year is all about gaining industrial experience. There's often some chance of getting those NPTC qualifications as Secondary Learning Goals too - although you will probably find your options limited compared to those taking the NC courses.

 

RFS Qualifications courses:

 

These are a sort of half-way house between short courses and full-time courses - and are a good bet if you are already in the industry.

 

The RFS offer a Level 2 Diploma in Arboriculture and what makes this course different is the fact the theory is covered one day a week, and successfully passing the examination actually gives you an award provided by ABC awards - and not the RFS.

 

To get the RFS bit, you'll need to pass 4 mandatory and 3 optional NPTC assessments.

 

Here at Sparsholt College we've just started to offer this course (£1,180 + £103 examination fee).

 

The other option (and what this level two course offers) is to progress to the RFS Level 3 Tech. Cert.

 

That's a somewhat condensed precis - if you've any questions, ask here / PM me or email [email protected] and I'll do my best to help.

 

Naturally, I'd love you all to come and study at Sparsholt(!), but feel free to ask questions about the types of courses wherever you want to do them.

 

Cheers,

David.

[DriveLink]

I forgot to mention that the pre-requisites for the courses (and these are not set in concrete, but are certainly looked for) are...

 

National Certificates:

At least 4 grades D (or above) at GCSE level, including English (for City & Guilds Level 2) or...

 

4 grades A-C including English at C+ for BTEC NC.

 

National Diploma:

Grades A, B, C in GCSE in English, two Science/Maths subjects or a majority of Merits / Distinctions at First Diploma level.

 

Foundation Degree courses would require at least one A level A-D and preferably in a science based subject.

 

As mentioned above, these are flexible in that colleges tend to take a 'rounded' look at the individual applying for the course - if you've got industry experience already then that will definitely help you to get the course you want.

[Paul Smith]

Sparsholts RFS is twice the price of my local college!

[DriveLink]

Please don't let this degenerate in to a "Provider A does it for £xxx, but Provider B charges £xxx" type of thread. There's a whole host of reasons for the different charges out there.

 

The post was just to attempt to give someone who was thinking about forestry / arboriculture training some idea about what was out there - wherever you are.

[Paul Smith]

and what a good post it was!

[Foord]

What about the ISA qualifications?

[John Shutler]

im actually coming to sparsholt to start the fd in september

[madm]

and what a good post it was!

 

Yup:thumbup1:

[DriveLink]

What about the ISA qualifications?

 

Ah yes, the ISA certification. This is an ongoing scheme where you have to accrue 30 CEU 'points' (Continuing Education Units) within a 3 year period. After the 3 year period, you have to apply for re-certification with another 30 points, and so on. It's a good scheme in that if you want to maintain your ISA certification then you'll need to maintain that study and improve your knowledge.

 

Many things count as CEU points - it could seminars as much as an actual training course. The areas that should be covered include:

 

Tree

• Biology
  
• Tree Identification
  
• Tree/Soil Relations
  
• Water Management
  
• Nutrition/Fertilization
  
• Tree Selection
  
• Installation/Establishment
  
• Pruning Concepts and Techniques
  
• Cabling, Rod Bracing, Propping and Lightning Protection
  
• Problem Diagnosis and Management
  
• Construction Management
  
• Climbing Techniques and Working in the Tree
  
• Safety
  
• Statutory Protection for Trees
  

 

I think it's fair to say that there's something for everyone in that

 

For more information on it, look up http://www.isa-arboriculture.org/content/cmc000084.htm and click on Arborist Certification on the left hand side.

 

Hope it helps?

[Foord]

Yep.