Employers in the arboriculture, forestry, horticulture and landscape industries have taken part in a survey to comment on the new apprenticeship standards developed under the "˜Trailblazer' programme.
Trailblazers were developed as a result of a 2012 Government review which found that there were key areas of the apprenticeship programme where substantial improvements could be made.
Representatives from industry, led by Bartlett Tree Experts, developed the standards which list the key competencies, skills, knowledge and behaviours required by apprentices in the following occupations:
- Arborist
- Forest Operative
- Horticulture/Landscape Operative
- Horticulture/Landscape Supervisor.
These standards went out to consultation in May and responses were extremely encouraging, with 293 completed surveys being returned across all four standards. Collectively, the respondents employ tens of thousands of employees and hundreds of apprentices, so gathering their feedback was critical in order to ensure the standards are fit for purpose.
Businesses from the full spectrum of the industries, from multi-nationals to micro-enterprises, commented on the standards, reflecting the nature of our sector. The industry representatives looked at all comments provided and were hugely impressed by how many detailed and constructive thoughts they have received.
A summary of responses is below:
Arborist
When asked if they agreed with the content of the different parts of the standard, respondents were overwhelmingly positive with approval rates of between 82% and 97%.
53% of respondents were small or medium sized businesses (SME's) and their responses were not significantly different to those of larger businesses.
Forest Operative
When asked if they agreed with the content of the different parts of the standard, respondents were overwhelmingly positive with approval rates of between 74% and 94%.
63% of respondents were SME's, with 48% being Micro-Enterprises. This group was strongly in support of all parts of the standard
Horticulture/Landscape Operative and Horticulture/Landscape Supervisor
These two standards were broadly endorsed by the respondents. There was some debate over the average duration of the apprenticeship, which is now being carefully considered by the industry representatives. Otherwise approval rates were between 77% and 92%.
Standards are currently being modified and improved to reflect respondent feedback and will be submitted for ministerial approval in late August.
Those leading this initiative would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped spread the message about the consultation and those who took the time to respond.
The next stage of the process is writing assessment plans for each occupation. This is employers' opportunity to explain how to test that the apprentice has reached full competence.
The assessment plans are due to be completed before the end of the year with training and assessment providers invited to an event in September to comment on the draft plans.
