What Does A Landscaping Apprenticeship Involve?
Nearly all of the beautiful places in the built environment will have been made and/or maintained by landscapers. Parks, gardens, outdoor shopping malls, car parks, restaurant terraces, private gardens, village greens, churchyards - these are just a few of the places where landscapers and horticulturists work in order to improve the lifestyles of millions of people.
Everything You Need To Know About Landscaping Apprenticeships
Landscaping is a thoroughly rewarding career. Just look around you any time you are out and about. Nearly all of the beautiful places in the built environment will have been made and/or maintained by landscapers. Parks, gardens, outdoor shopping malls, car parks, restaurant terraces, private gardens, village greens, churchyards - these are just a few of the places where landscapers and horticulturists work in order to improve the lifestyles of millions of people.
What Does A Landscaper Do?
Landscaping is one of the few trades where you use an extensive range of skills to build and care for outdoor spaces. To create paths, patios, terraces, decking, garden structures, water features, lawns and planted areas so that they last for many years, you need to understand soil, drainage, building regulations, bricklaying, tiling, planting, carpentry and much much more. It’s a profession where no two projects are the same and you never stop learning and developing your skills.
There’s no doubt about it, Building and maintaining gardens is hard work. It will certainly keep you fit, and there’ll be days when you get filthy dirty too. You’ll be outside in all sorts of weather conditions but you’ll be able to take pride in the fact that your work not only looks good, it makes people happy too.
When you have several years of landscaping experience behind you, you may want to start your own business. You could even change your career and to into teaching others how to build gardens.
How Long Does A Landscaping Apprenticeship Take?
Landscaping apprenticeships normally take 1-2 years depending on the level you choose to work towards.
What’s In It For Me?
Besides acquiring a whole heap of skills and a qualification that will serve you for life, as an apprentice you’ll be paid to learn. You’ll also receive holiday pay, be allowed time off to study and be supported throughout by experienced and knowledgeable work colleagues.
You can find out about current rates of pay from the Government website. https://www.gov.uk/become-apprentice/pay-and-conditions
What Will I Learn?
It takes a long time to hone your skill as a landscaper but during your apprenticeship you will learn the basic techniques for things like laying slabs, working with timber, caring for plants and soil and operating and maintaining the specialist tools and machines you’ll need for your work.
You will also learn important life skills such as working to a deadline, communicating with colleagues and clients, being a good team member, managing your own time and playing your part in keeping yourself and others safe on site. These are all criteria that any employer values - no matter what industry they operate in.
You can read more about the course on the Institute For Apprenticeship and Technical Education website. https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/horticulture-or-landscape-construction-operative-v1-1
The link will also be posted at the end of this article.
Have You Any Tips To Help Me Get More From My Learning?
As we’ve already mentioned, it takes a long time to perfect all of the skills that a landscaper needs and it’s important that you are patient with yourself and others. Don’t expect to be given full responsibility for complex tasks as soon as you begin training. Instead, work hard at developing basic good habits such as keeping the site tidy, cleaning tools, turning up on time and being ready for work. In other words - no partying on a Sunday night if you know you need to be fit for work on the Monday.
Switch your phone off while you are working. Better still, leave it in the van where it can’t get broken. You can check it during tea breaks. There’s nothing more annoying to an employer than having somebody texting friends when they should be on the tools. If you find yourself twiddling your thumbs in between tasks, ask colleagues if they need any help with anything.
Treat clients and their property with the utmost respect. No swearing on site and no messing about either. Even if you think the clients are not at home, you may still be caught on CCTV. Remember, these people are paying your employer a lot of money to do a great job. Be professional at all times.
The more you prove yourself to be reliable, sensible and enthusiastic, the more your colleagues will entrust you with interesting and skilled tasks.
How Do I Find An Employer?
As a landscaping apprentice, only 20% of your learning will be in college. The rest will come from working alongside skilled landscapers. It’s important that you choose to work with a reputable company who know how to build gardens properly and can also teach you about legislation such as the CDM regulations.
Landscaping companies who are members of the Association Of Professional Landscapers (APL) are carefully vetted to ensure that their work meets high standards and that they train employees properly. Many such companies ongoing training programs so that their team can continue to up-skill, even when they have completed apprenticeships.
Start your search for an employer by finding APL members in your area and learning what you can about the type of work they do. Call or email them to ask if they are looking for an apprentice and to tell them why you want to be a landscaper and what you can offer them in return for training. For example, enthusiasm, reliability, loyalty and a willingness to work hard on site and in college.
Getting Started
Read more about the landscaping apprenticeships on the Institute For Apprenticeship and Technical Education website. https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/horticulture-or-landscape-construction-operative-v1-1
Find an APL member near you. https://www.landscaper.org.uk
Find Colleges Offering Landscaping Courses. https://landex.org.uk/
The Association Of Professional Landscapers Apprenticeship
For many years now The APL have worked with Myerscough College to deliver a high quality Landscaping apprenticeship programme.
It is a 2 year programme with 7 weeks block attendance at Myerscough College Preston Campus.
The programme is designed to meet the specialist needs of the Landscaping Industry. Each block or ‘bootcamp’ as we like to
call them see apprentices challenged in a wide range of skills with input industry experts like Mark Youde, Rupert Keys, Pip Probert, Karl Harrison, Paul Willavoys, Paul Gough, Steve Smith and many other leading industry professionals.
Apprentices work towards the Level 2 Landscape Operative Apprenticeship programme, and also are encouraged to participate in the World Skills UK Landscaping competitions.
Myerscough College apprentices have achieved several gold medals.
