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Changing Skills Demands
It is predicted that there will be an increase of 16,100 in numbers employed 2001-06. Business numbers are expected to rise by 3,100 from 2001 to 2006.
Future Skill Needs
The level of skills needed is expected to continue to increase throughout the industry. Increases in the diversity of both food and ornamental crops are requiring a wider range of production skills. Quality control, packing and labelling are critical particularly in food production, and increased technological demands are creating an ongoing requirement for higher-level skills in information and production technologies as well as the ability to understand, set up and operate complex production systems. Business management and marketing abilities are becoming critical to enabling growers to remain competitive.
The skills needed varies in different parts of the industry with, for instance, larger businesses involved in intensive production requiring high levels of skills in production technology and increasingly ICT among senior staff, while small, traditional nurseries emphasise more practical production skills and may not recognise a need for ICT.
Employees increasingly need to be able to organise, plan, and think their way through practical problems, and general skill demands are increasing. Attributes such as flexibility, willingness to learn and initiative are needed, and there is also an increasing demand for communication and customer care skills.
Landscaping (source:
Lantra)
Changing Skills Demands
An increase of 5,100 people is predicted. Business numbers are expected to rise by 500 from 2001 to 2006.
It is also important to assess the likely 'job opportunities' created through the need to replace people who retire, change career, as well as any net demand created through employment expansion. Even where employment is declining overall, net occupational demand can still generate a significant number of 'job opportunities' and therefore related training requirements.
Future Skill Needs
Both 'best-value' contracts in the public sector and more discerning private and commercial clients demand higher skill levels in both contract management and craft areas. Specialised skills associated with historic gardens, restoration, interior landscaping and environmental conservation and management are also expected to increase in importance.
An increasing demand by lottery funding, TV coverage, increased sport within schools is creating a demand for better sports surfaces and therefore skilled sports ground operators. Also due to the increasing threat of litigation from sports injuries there is more awareness of the need for skilled grounds staff. Skill levels are expected to increase across the industry in a wide range of areas, with flexibility, initiative and willingness to learn being seen as particularly important along with communication and customer care skills. The rise in small units and movement towards mobile maintenance teams increasingly requires self-management abilities. Research suggests that almost a quarter of employers in the industry are identifying skills gaps among their workers, with the largest area of demand being for job-specific abilities.
The need for awareness of health and safety and legislative requirements is generally rising, and is promoted by the Registration of Landscape Operatives scheme (ROLO). The entry of some unskilled workers into the industry through self-employment points to a need for basic job skills among some workers.
Skills Supply - Education and Training
Production horticulture (source: Lantra)
Current provision
Production horticulture tends to be characterised by larger businesses that
are located in specific areas of the UK e.g. the South East, North East
and Eastern region. There are two distinct sides to the industry, food crops
and ornamentals, that have some training needs in common as well as some
industry specific technical skill needs. This is one area of horticulture
that is less well served by specialist qualifications, the most used awards
are all in the areas of general horticulture rather than production specialisms.
This indicates that the current portfolio of qualifications may not be meeting
the needs of the industry. It is much more difficult for colleges or private
training providers to offer realistic practical experience of large-scale
glass houses with modern technological controls than it is to offer experience
of landscaping/horticulture.
Qualifications
Despite rationalisation there are still 204 awards available to the production
horticulture industry, although 156 of those are NPTC Certificates of Competence
and Proficiency Tests. There are NVQ/SVQs available at each level from 1
to 4 as well as a range of other types of qualification from a variety of
awarding bodies. The greatest reduction is in the Edexcel ND, HNC and HND
provision.
Estimated Required Workforce Skill Levels Compared to Estimated
Workforce Qualifications
The table shows the lack of qualified people at NVQ/SVQ level 3 and above.
It is possible that many workers with low or no qualifications have considerable
skills at higher levels although not evidenced by formal qualifications.
Vacancies and Recruitment Difficulties (External Skill Shortages)
Only 7% of production horticulture businesses surveyed by Lantra reported
a current vacancy, but 20% had experienced recruitment difficulties over
the past 12 months. 51% of employers reported difficulties recruiting skilled
workers. Reasons for recruitment difficulty were reported as:
Internal Skill Gaps
22% of production horticulture businesses reported a skills gap within
their workforce. Businesses reported significant skills gaps with employees
from the more highly skilled occupations, see below:
Types of skill associated with their most significant skills gap were job specific skills, followed by customer service and communication skills.
Landscaping (source: Lantra)
Current provision
Landscaping is a broad term for a diverse industry, which includes amenity
horticulture, greenkeeping, interior landscapes and arboriculture, as well
as 'gardening'. It is not surprising that this industry has more provision
available to it than any other a range of qualifications and types of provider.
There is also considerable overlap with the environmental conservation area
(e.g. historic gardens) and floristry. Most specialist agriculture and horticulture
colleges offer courses in one or more of these areas as do many general
FE colleges. In addition many private training providers work in this area
and several very large organisations have developed their own schemes (e.g.
the National Trust Careership).
Qualifications
The landscaping industry had more qualifications available to it than any
other industry in the land-based sector. Currently there are 187 qualifications
from entry level to notional level 5 and this is a reduction from 244 different
awards. The rationalisation is mainly in Edexcel FD, ND (from 17 titles
to 1) and HNC (from 28 to 13 titles) and HND (from 25 to 7 titles) provision.
The most used qualification in this area is the City and Guilds Certificate
in Gardening, which is not a professional award and tends to be taken by
a majority of amateur gardeners. However, numbers are relatively high with
4551 awards being made in 1998, and might be used by some as a route in
to the industry. The other qualifications with significant take up are the
SQA NC modules in Gardening/Floristry/Plant sales (1199 awards in 1998)
and Amenity Horticulture/Sportgrounds (1099 awards in 1998). There were
a lot of qualifications with no take up at all, most of which are being
removed by Edexcel. In addition City and Guilds are due to revise all of
their level 2 NC and level 3 ANC provision by the end of this year. The
National Trust recruits 15 people annually to its Careership Scheme, many
of whom are mature entrants who have to be funded by the National Trust
through their training. The high number and variety of awards available
means that there are no identifiable gaps in provision for the landscaping
industry.
Estimated Required Workforce Skill Levels Compared to Estimated
Workforce Qualifications
The table shows the lack of qualified people at NVQ/SVQ level 2-3 and above.
It is quite possible that many workers with low or no qualifications have
considerable skills at higher levels although not evidenced by formal qualifications.
Vacancies and Recruitment Difficulties (External Skill
Shortages)
Only 5% of landscaping businesses surveyed by Lantra reported a current
vacancy, but 19% reported a recruitment difficulty over the past 12 months.
62% of employers reported a difficulty in recruiting skilled workers. Reasons
for recruitment difficulty were reported as:
Internal Skill Gaps
24% of landscaping businesses reported a skills gap within their workforce.
Business respondents reported significant skills gaps with employees from
the more highly skilled occupations, see below:
Most significant skills gaps were job specific skills, showing initiative, problem-solving, and willingness to learn.
skills needed
Some of the qualities you need are:
If you decide to work with the public in some way, for example working in a garden centre or sports ground, you should be able to communicate well. More jobs these days require you to use new technology, from computers to mobile 'phones.
If you want to run your own business you will need all the qualities above especially working under pressure, organisational skills and handling difficult situations and people! But you will also need experience of:
Many of skills can be gained through short courses at your local college or the industry training bodies mentioned below. Trade associations can also advise on issues like employment regulations.
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