EDUCATION
Sowing the seeds for the next generation of landscapers
W
hen is too early to start the conversation about careers with children? Probably never. Children imitate what they see around them in their play, especially in what they see mum, dad and grandparents doing. You may have already seen them role playing an aspect of what you do in landscaping with friends or toys, after all, we often see children playing at being doctors, police and in the fire service, but what about those children that are unaware of the landscape industry? Landscape companies have always found it challenging to find new staff, and this became more difficult over
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LANDSCAPE NEWS SPRING 2022
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 on three major groups: the school and college leavers, and career changers.
Who am I?
GoLandscape has successfully been working with and promoting the
landscape industry in secondary schools for the last few years. We have now turned our attention to include primary schools in our campaign. The purpose of school and education is to prepare young people for life and work, so learning should be linked to the real world. This can support motivation, hard work, teamwork and broaden aspirations, as well as beginning the process of appreciating the world of work. Whilst the children at primary school level are a very different audience and we have had to adapt the way in which we deliver the message, they are still a vital audience to engage to help support our skills gap further down the line.
