Bad Year (if you can be arsed)

[teresa green]

So i have been wanting to study and work with trees a good few years but it took till a couple of years ago to make the change. Initially i approached my local agricultural college in the september of 2009 just missing out on enrolling on a national diploma arb course, so i enrolled for the following year. Over the summer before i started the college rang me up and offered me a place on their new foundation degree course, now i didn't know anything of this course when i first enrolled but later that month went for an interview for it and was accepted. Now knowing what i know i should have never been put onto that course. I was told i would be more suited to the foundation degree because i had previously studied a BA Hons degree (in something worlds apart.) The course was made out to sound amazing, a smaller class of pupils mostly older than the youngsters on other courses, one day of practical and one day of theory rest of the week would be a work placement. Funding had also been sorted for 10 students to do the course for free and i had been chose, absolutely hellish! I had to stress the point at my interview that i was much more interested in the practical side of things, climbing, saws, machinery, gaining tickets, and was told i would get it all!!!

Quote: 'You will leave here with six and a half grands worth of tickets, all for free'

So september 2010 comes first day at college, so excited cant sit still!

And boooom within 5 minutes of being sat in this classroom this 30 stone beast hands out some paper to everyone with the course fees £1411.00 for each year of the two year course, never seen so many faces in a room turn inside out (no funding for me because i already had a degree) and the beast laughed in my face. So the first part of course being for free was bullsh"t, well okay nothing is perfect even though i have just left my full time job for this with barely any savings chin up find the money somehow. For about two months course was going alright but i could tell instantly that the college was on its arse a bit, nothing organised, no facilities, plenty of blagging.

I was struggling with the work a bit, even though i had already studied at degree level (art based stuff) they must have thought i just sat reading plant biology books whilst i was on the bog at home. I could see that this course was not ideal for myself and more so for people who already had experience in the field or who had studied similar subjects at a lower level. Am i right?

 

Anyways shocker number 2 came just before christmas when we were told that the legislation for the foundation degree had not came through and the course had to be made into a HND, WTF? Which meant no real change with our theory work but no practical work at all. A few of us said we would have to leave the course if that was the case, so they sh"t themselves and promised us our tickets, so we agreed to stay. The rest of 2011 up until now has been rock hard assignments, well rock hard for someone who didn't know the difference between a beech and an ash a year ago. No practical work has been undertaken at at all, (but i do go and climb out of college with a friend which has kept spirits high) we have done 1 ticket PA1, with no evidence or proof that i have passed it.

Its now the end of the year £1411.00 still to pay, assignments to still hand in, supposedly doing PA 6 and CS 30 in two weeks time but i think that is just more bullsh"t.

 

Stuck between a rock and hard place at moment, dont know whether to ride it out and see how next year goes, but i have a feeling not much is going to improve and i am going to end up paying course fees and for tickets elsewhere.

Do i move to another college, or just put my money and time into tickets and forget about college for now?

 

If you can be arsed to have read this let me know what you think and advice would help, my pals have all drank about 10 pints by the time i get to the end of this.

[Joy Yeomans]

is this a college that has previous in arb/hort courses and has lost its way and lost its funding or not had a good track record in these type of courses, would you be better cutting your losses and going to an "arb" type college and getting onto the Royal Forestry Society course, thats both practical and theory and has a good grounding for both sides to move onto further things?

any hort/arb types you know who can help with walking idents/ visits to arboreteums for inspiration.

all the best

joy

[armchairarborist]

thats bang out of order, but i can't say i'm that surprised. i packed in the foundation degree after two years for similar reasons. just keep telling myself that college is just one way of learning, there's other ways that don't involve travelling, days off work, being lied to about money and writing essays.

[teresa green]

It is a well known college in the area for ARB/Hort, it has struggled in recent years after a previous principal drove the place in the ground because he was trying to sell the land off.

It's recovery from that obviously isn't going to happen over night and i do sympathise with everyone who has to work to put it right but at the same time its my education, money,livelihood.

[Ben Lad]

Hello, sucks you're having a hard time of it and i don't know if i have any useful advice... so i'll try for perspective!

 

From what you're saying it sounds like you want to get out and cut things and clean them up... if that's the case, without the tickets all that extra knowledge is unlikely to make you more employable . . . at least when compared to someone who has the prerequisite NPTCs and the like.

 

If you are no longer going to get the tickets with the course you might think of other ways of spending your time and money.

 

However.... i don't want to say college doesn't have its place i am a big advocate for Arbs understanding how trees grow and live and die and having a smattering of knowledge in all the other linked subjects of tree care and tree health can only help to make us more rounded and useful.

 

i cam to Arb a bit late (26???) got talked into the same course you are on and struggled my way through... I left with good contacts to others in the industry and a few tickets and a certain foundation of knowledge....

 

most of my learning has been done on the job since then tho.... I did an apprenticeship in the states and worked my way up the ranks in production climbing.

 

Not sure if all this gumpf offers you any help... there are so many ways to skin the arb training cat... Good luck finding your way:001_smile:

[RobRainford]

I came out of my gcses and did 2 years business btec, chose foundation degree on pretty much a whim, 2 years later I've finished the course, it was tough at some points and now I'm moving onto the BSc hons degree. I've never looked back.

 

I die 1 days practical a week through the first year, nothing in the second year. I had student loans to get me through th money side. It sounds like you've been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

When I started the course I couldn't tell you the difference between most trees, or even anything about them. This course has been brilliant for me.

 

My advice would be to stick it out, if you've been told it's not going to cost you anything then keep going on that. Look into professional/career development loads on Website of the UK government : Directgov and see if that can get you any funding.

[schofield]

By any chance is there a lad called will on your course?

[Gareth Dalzell]

On a positive note, it sounds like you are getting plenty of underpinning knowledge on the arb side. The practical tickets my come through, but as you probably realise you'll need to keep pushing for them. The Foundation degree/HND isnt worth worrying about I don't think there is any difference in the two levels of qualification. Fdegree is just another way of increasing the "kerb appeal" of a diploma by tagging the term degree onto it. It won't kid many employers, the knowledge with the tickets is what counts.

The PA1 tickets is worth pushing for proof on. If you can't get the college to sort it ring NPTC - you should have got a proof of passing slip "Assessment Result Advice Slip" or ARAS for short from the assessor if it was a proper assessment you did. If this wasn't the case I,m sure NPTC would love to hear from you.

It would probably be worth forming a student representitive delegation to meet with college, voice your concerns and get written assurances. Good luck

[likeitorlumpit]

sorry to hear this

you would have thought education was worth it but this gets a bit cynical

if you stick with it at least come away with good contacts

[teresa green]

Thanks for everyones advice, i have decided to put college aside for the time being. Had a year of gaining some good arb knowledge, so not all lost. Decided to go ahead and start getting tickets on my own, already have a lot of good contacts with people sounding very interested to hear back from me once i have certain certs, so thats a good buzz to the bad year. But i would like to carry on with the theoretical side of arboriculture down the line a bit once in employment, any good courses people recommend that can be juggled whilst in full time work? cheers lads