colleges

[dodger]

i had a few drinks the other night with a couple of old mates, both used to be climbers with about 35 years between them. now days they both are Lecturers for two well known colleges that teaches new arborist. i ask them do you come across any new climbers that show signs to making a great climber in the furture, both said most are unemployable after finnishing there course. what your thoughts on this

[raafbeard]

At my College over the first year I was there, the rate of dropping out was very high and I think in the end only a handful of us have gone onto full time practical work... I would be very interested to know for sure though and hope to find out soon.

[Mesterh]

They must be crap lectures then

 

Depends on how long the course is.

 

If its a year then thats fairly poor but if its one of those 6 week ones than I am not surprised.

[skyhuck]

They must be crap lectures then

 

 

:congrats:

[raafbeard]

For me the College, Lecturers were spot on.

 

I think that some students got a surprise with the work, and some couldn't meet the commitment of college and some would just never be employable.

 

Like I say I am very interested to know where everyone ended up?

[John Hancock]

There is a huge differance between college work and real work in the real world. Perhaps that's what they meant.

[Mark T]

There is a huge differance between college work and real work in the real world. Perhaps that's what they meant.

 

Admittedly there will always be a difference but it needn't be a HUGE difference. We always use real work sites and try to make each scenario as realistic as possible... We are, after all, preparing students for industry.

 

I can't speak for other colleges, but over recent years we have seen some really excellent students come through. It does help if they actually want to be there though!

[Joe]

i've been working for a firm for 2 years doing "real" arb work, and i started college in september on an ND forestry & arb, there are a fair few lads on my course who i reckon will drop out before even the first year:ohmy:, then theres a few who are very keen now but i think that the fact that the job is such hard work, they wont last more than 6 months if they do find employment if they complete the course, i reckon that theres probably only about 5 who will become successful arborists on completion of the course out of the 26 that are on the course. i think the problem is that they all think its just nice, easy fun climbs, rather than the reality of mostly not great jobs, long drags to the chipper, hawthorn hedges, rubbish conifer hedges and working when its pi55in8 it down.

 

i think that if it was compulsory for at least a few weeks work experience doing "real" arb work before accepted onto the course, it would show a lot of the lads the reality and save them literally years of their life on a course they wont complete, or is useless to them after a few months of finishing.

[sanny]

when a done my course there where 23 of us and out of the 23 theres only 4 to my knowledge that are employed at the moment. i think the biggest problem is that in this area there aint enough jobs to go around.

i was lucky enough that a made a good impression on my work experience a guy left and a got offerd the position. most the work in my area is in power line clearence which the college i attended don't accommodate at the moment .

[Stephen Blair]

i've been working for a firm for 2 years doing "real" arb work, and i started college in september on an ND forestry & arb, there are a fair few lads on my course who i reckon will drop out before even the first year:ohmy:, then theres a few who are very keen now but i think that the fact that the job is such hard work, they wont last more than 6 months if they do find employment if they complete the course, i reckon that theres probably only about 5 who will become successful arborists on completion of the course out of the 26 that are on the course. i think the problem is that they all think its just nice, easy fun climbs, rather than the reality of mostly not great jobs, long drags to the chipper, hawthorn hedges, rubbish conifer hedges and working when its pi55in8 it down.

 

i think that if it was compulsory for at least a few weeks work experience doing "real" arb work before accepted onto the course, it would show a lot of the lads the reality and save them literally years of their life on a course they wont complete, or is useless to them after a few months of finishing.

 

such a wise head on such young shoulders.