Back to Basics

we need to be starting back to basics to get the skilled people back into the industry,

we need to go back into the schools and sell horticulture and be giving demonstration, teaching the schools basic horticulture and very practical less to inspire their curiosity

Start to up skill the present staff with the basic skills, have discussions with the colleges to what he industry is expecting from future employees.

We allneed to take a greater ownership and work together  for the same goal

College Conversation Skills shortage in the horticulture industry

Barrie Duesbury is a horticulture and landscape tutor at BALITraining ProviderBerkshire Collegeof Agriculture. He wants all students he teaches to be industry ready, which means the industry has to tell the educators what they want...

I have 39 years of horticultural experience working within the horticulture and landscape industry. The days of the four year apprenticeship, when you where shown every aspect of horticulture and able to build up your knowledge and practical skills Dver that four year period, have long gone. It was (en years ago that I first recognised there was a shortage of skilled people coining into the industryand it was at that time that I decided to come into teaching. That's also when I first started to push for delivering better trained, industry ready people with a higher level of practical knowledge.

Five years ago I came to Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA) and with the shortage of people with the right skills and calibre still a major problem I realised that what the industry requires and what we teach at colleges with our syllabus are rniles apart. This is largely because the industry has changed so much.

About two years ago BCA moved over to more vocational teaching and all our learners have as much practical time outside on the grounds gathering as many new practical skills as they can. We have also adopted and recognised the neec that they should be skilled ready for the industry

learners the opportunity to undertake the City & Guilds NPTC Land based machinery qualification.

The other area we have been looking into is the USS/CSCS skills card, which requires the holder to have passed the ROLO (Register of Landbased Operatives) Health and Safety Awareness course and the CSCS 'Touch Screen' health and safety test. We feel that everybody should hold a first aid certificate these days and that this should be the industry minimum requirement. I feel it is important for all learners to leave with that training and a LISS/ CSCS card at the appropriate level.

These are very difficult times for the industry and knowledgeable staff with strong practical skills are difficult to find these days. This is the best time and the greatest opportunity for the colleges and the industry to work hand in hand and structure the courses so that we deliver industry ready staff. My aim, therefore, is to provide a forum to oring together employers and colleges so that we establish what the industry needs. Any comments can be posted on http://gardeningofthefuture. blogspot.com/

Anyone interested in joining the forum please email Barrie at bduesbury@bca.ac.uk

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Certificate of Competance

Should the Industry now be moving  forward and ensure that all employees should hold a  currant certificate of competence for the use of diffrent types of  machinery etc, and by doing this will it release the companies the burdon of having to train new employees, then future employees be industry ready ?.

BCA, the College that knows it's students

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Lecturer says courses must change to meet employer needs

Friday, 14 January 2011

 

Training must match the needs of horticulture, garden retail and landscape employers more closely, according to a course leader who wants to launch an industry forum.

Barrie Duesbury said students were leaving college ill-equipped for life in the business world and needed "bolt-on" modules.
The horticulture course manager at Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA) recently hosted a BALI and turf supplier Q Lawn presentation day to help graduating students.
"I want to bring together our college and industry to build courses around what the industry wants," he said. "Employers say they do not want brickwork skills but people who know about maintenance and plants. We must give them that."
He added that bolt-on courses could include those in being on site, handling machinery, first aid, spraying and chainsaws.
Duesbury proposed starting a forum for colleges and businesses to help shape training. He recently spoke with Hillier director Richard Barnard, who said he wanted career starters with health and safety, first aid and competence certificates.
"Employers seem to be saying the same thing but not to the colleges," said Duesbury. "When I go to garden centres, basic skills are not evident. Meanwhile some retailers, like Wyevale, have training but it's not recognised."