TRAINING
GoLandscape, promoting career opportunities to the next generation
L
et’s start with some positive news. I am really pleased to say that the physical events side of GoLandscape is finally back up and running. That’s not to say that we haven’t been attending and supporting careers events, but often these have been in a virtual format. We’re all probably very close to ‘Zoom burnout’ and feeling more ready for face-to-face meetings and events to take place, and I’m sure schools and colleges are no different. Landscape companies have always found it challenging to find new staff, and this became more difficult over the pandemic with the number of projects on the rise. Encouraging fresh talent into the landscape industry has always been one of the key goals for GoLandscape. As I have said before, we can only circulate existing employees within the industry for so long - we need to bring in new people to train and nurture through the ranks if we have any chance of addressing our skills shortage. We can do this by focusing
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LANDSCAPE NEWS WINTER 2021
on three major groups: the school and college leavers, and career changers.
The impact of the pandemic on careers advice
Building engagement with schools was one of the major struggles when GoLandscape was first established and launched, but year upon year, we have seen school engagement improve. The priority of engaging with schools has always been first and foremost to raise awareness of the industry and challenge the misconceptions that people have about it. This often starts with careers advisors and teachers, but also extends to parents - all of whom can impact the view that pupils have of our industry.. Over the last 18 months, pupils’ access, and opportunity to engage with careers advice has been difficult with the pandemic impacting access to work experience and advice from working professionals. Careers activities have often been removed or reduced on timetables to focus on core subjects and to keep pupils
absorbed while studying at home. Schools reported that they had 33% less curriculum time for careers advice compared to before the pandemic. This coupled with many Careers Advisors being furloughed, or teachers with a career’s responsibility having to focus on keeping lessons going over lockdown, has meant many pupils have had no careers guidance at all. There has never been a bigger need than now, to highlight careers in the landscape industry.
Growing interest in landscaping careers
Colleges and training providers have been in a similar situation to schools in terms of careers advice access, having to run virtual lessons for courses and apprenticeships. Feedback from colleges and training providers is that once they reopened fully, they have seen a marked increase in student interest and registrations on horticulture, landscaping, and design courses – positive news for the industry. It’s also interesting to see an even bigger
