education of apprentices

[Huey B]

new apprentice just started,college offering nvq trees and timber call me a synic but surely they are not worth paper printed on.Surely if they trained students for there chainsaw units etc the students would be a more marketable product to the industry.comments please arbtalkers

[Le Sanglier]

new apprentice just started,college offering nvq trees and timber call me a synic but surely they are not worth paper printed on.Surely if they trained students for there chainsaw units etc the students would be a more marketable product to the industry.comments please arbtalkers

 

Are you saying he is useless?

[Tom10]

new apprentice just started,college offering nvq trees and timber call me a synic but surely they are not worth paper printed on.Surely if they trained students for there chainsaw units etc the students would be a more marketable product to the industry.comments please arbtalkers

 

The last thing the industry needs is a shed load more 'out of college' CS unit holders...

 

Theres already about 40 billion of them... If they stick the NVQ out and still wish to be in the career then they can progress to CS units...

 

Fundamentally your right though - practical units are more called for in the industry that 'on paper' tickets.

[Sam Thompson]

Part of the problem is that colleges keep shouting about how desperate industry is for new blood!

[nathan marshall]

The last thing the industry needs is a shed load more 'out of college' CS unit holders...

 

Theres already about 40 billion of them... If they stick the NVQ out and still wish to be in the career then they can progress to CS units...

 

Fundamentally your right though - practical units are more called for in the industry that 'on paper' tickets.

 

tom i would beg to differ on what you are trying to say if i have read this correctly i do not know what position you are in and I did not that long ago complete a level 2 diploma in trees and timber apprenticeship. and are you saying that this was point less and all that is needed is the CS units???

i think i is very important to learn why someting is done to a tree rather than just letting somone pass a CS ticket which only proves they are competent and they may know sweet FA about trees and there bioligy.

[RobRainford]

The last thing the industry needs is a shed load more 'out of college' CS unit holders...

 

Theres already about 40 billion of them... If they stick the NVQ out and still wish to be in the career then they can progress to CS units...

 

Fundamentally your right though - practical units are more called for in the industry that 'on paper' tickets.

 

What about out of university arb students?

[Chris Sheppard]

Part of the problem is that colleges keep shouting about how desperate industry is for new blood!

 

IMO, Forestry is in need of new blood, but very few want the hard work and comparitively low wage that goes with it and it's not as glamorous as climbing trees with shiny gear

 

What gets me is the number of colleges doing courses that are supposedly covering Forestry as well as Arb, but don't actually go into the workings of commercial forestry.

[nathan marshall]

IMO, Forestry is in need of new blood, but very few want the hard work and comparitively low wage that goes with it and it's not as glamorous as climbing trees with shiny gear

 

What gets me is the number of colleges doing courses that are supposedly covering Forestry as well as Arb, but don't actually go into the workings of commercial forestry.

 

agree there we did learn techniques used in foresty but they do push you more toward comercial works, and the amount of other students on my course that actually ended up continuing in arb you could count on one hand, many do think it may be an easy route out but in fact its hard work which they dont all realise

[Sam Thompson]

IMO, Forestry is in need of new blood, but very few want the hard work and comparitively low wage that goes with it and it's not as glamorous as climbing trees with shiny gear

 

What gets me is the number of colleges doing courses that are supposedly covering Forestry as well as Arb, but don't actually go into the workings of commercial forestry.

 

My above answer is in relation to arb (professional puffters).

 

Forestry

 

The average age of a FMO is 56ish I think... we need more operators but the only College that gives true commercial forestry training (and forwarding on proper machines) is the Barony, which runs tiny numbers on it's courses and desperately need new machinery. Most lads don't like the idea of living in a all male static caravan in the forest and working 14 hour shifts living on a cocktail of anti-depressants and Jack. Most in industry treat new guys like **** (maybe the right way, but not encouraging) and this combined with the wage, hours, rain, hard graft and wage (big factor) puts a fair few people off and gets them into arbing where they think they will hit big bucks.

 

Answer -

 

Force colleges who advertise Forestry & Arb to actually grasp the meaning of forestry, not teach what arb instructors think forestry might be like. Get some grants going to re en-state/create colleges with both machine training on decent machines (Ag. Colleges manage it - why cant we?) and options for work based learning that is flexible and favours employers but doesn't duck the students over.

 

 

Well thats my pennies worth anyway.

 

 

 

 

Also, not all those comments are true some are generalisations - I know some machine lads that prefer Tesco Value Vodka to Jack Daniels. There are also some cracking lecturers and instructors about, who teach what industry needs and no crap, however a lot don't get forestry at all.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Sam Thompson

[Chris Sheppard]

My above answer is in relation to arb (professional puffters).

 

Forestry

 

The average age of a FMO is 56ish I think... we need more operators but the only College that gives true commercial forestry training (and forwarding on proper machines) is the Barony, which runs tiny numbers on it's courses and desperately need new machinery. Most lads don't like the idea of living in a all male static caravan in the forest and working 14 hour shifts living on a cocktail of anti-depressants and Jack. Most in industry treat new guys like **** (maybe the right way, but not encouraging) and this combined with the wage, hours, rain, hard graft and wage (big factor) puts a fair few people off and gets them into arbing where they think they will hit big bucks.

 

Answer -

 

Force colleges who advertise Forestry & Arb to actually grasp the meaning of forestry, not teach what arb instructors think forestry might be like. Get some grants going to re en-state/create colleges with both machine training on decent machines (Ag. Colleges manage it - why cant we?) and options for work based learning that is flexible and favours employers but doesn't duck the students over.

 

 

Well thats my pennies worth anyway.

 

 

 

 

Also, not all those comments are true some are generalisations - I know some machine lads that prefer Tesco Value Vodka to Jack Daniels. There are also some cracking lecturers and instructors about, who teach what industry needs and no crap, however a lot don't get forestry at all.

 

That's pretty much what I was trying to say but you said it so much more clearly

 

It wasn't that long ago though that Newton Rigg was the National School of Forestry, with a whole load of machinery getting used regularly. On our CS31, we were felling and presenting timber ready to be forwarded out and sold (a novel concept )

 

Around us there has been colleges going into privately owned woodlands and "managing" them for the owners. In reality it usually means a minefield of high stumps and little eco piles of brash and short lengths of timber, making it twice as much hard work when it comes round to further work needed doing.

 

Sorry, gone off on one a bit