LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Arboriculture is trending – how can we inspire young people to choose forestry?

by Sean McLaughlin

In response to the article on ‘the forestry workforce of the future’ in the August edition of Forestry & Timber News, I’d like to share some thoughts.

I’m currently a forestry and arboriculture instructor at Plumpton College but I was previously a hand cutter working alongside a timber harvester and forwarder for a tenant farmer responsible for around 4000 acres in Kent who also worked for The Montreal Estate. As a self-employed forester I also ran a lucrative logging business and during my time running the business I took on unemployed workers from a local charity who needed an opportunity to get back into leading a productive life. I had various people come to work with me, some them going on to fi nd jobs of their own.

This gave me a heart to want to teach others forestry skills and I started to enquire about being an assessor for NPTC, but this is a very diffi cult fi eld to break into unless you’re sponsored. But during my enquiries an opportunity arose at Plumpton College. I love teaching and I have already passed a Level 3 teaching qualifi cation and now I have started a Level 4. I have a real passion to try and inspire future generations, especially forestry workers, and I try to tell the students that they not only can be manual workers but have high aspirations, especially with all the opportunities to be had in forestry.

However, it seems that many of the students who I teach aspire to be tree surgeons as it’s an obvious source of employment in the south east. This also means that currently our department is very arboriculture heavy with less focus on forestry.

Plumpton College recently hosted the Royal Forestry Society (RFS) and the Forestry Commission who initiated a new scheme for those leaving the Forces could be offered the opportunity to retrain in forestry, helping address the much recognised skills gap that currently exists across the sector. A colleague and I also attended the RFS Skills Day at Shuttleworth College with some of our apprentices.

Since the skills day I’ve been in contact with John Deere’s Country Manager and I’m in discussions to secure a laptop simulator to use at some of the college STEM events and also at the shows we attend (Heathfi eld Show, South of England Show, Kent Show, Plumpton College Open Day and Bentley Wood fair.) I did enquire if the students could have the opportunity to have a go at showcasing the larger TimberMatic! Simulator but I believe this would be too costly to move to the South East.

In conclusion, I believe Plumpton College are working hard to improve the forestry education provision via training and industry partnerships but there is still a lot more that could be done. Students, especially based here in the South, can see obvious links to employment in the arboriculture sector and less so in forestry. I am keen to nurture partnerships with forestry organisations and Confor by showcasing forestry to my students to inspire them to pursue careers in the sector. I would be delighted to explore partnership opportunities, please do not hesitate to contact me to explore ideas.

GET INVOLVED

If you would like to collaborate with Sean and Plumpton College to promote forestry as a career, please get in touch sean.mclaughlin@ plumpton.ac.u

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