A new Rural Skills course is laying down roots to help students with additional support needs to grow their interest in practical outdoor skills.
The Workstart: Rural Skills Pathway course – which is a one-year full-time course covering 16 hours of lessons per week - has been created in partnership with local and national rural employers and organisations. It is designed for young people with additional support needs, including care experienced young people, with a particular interest in practical outdoor work.
Students have already gained immense skills and confidence, whilst working in partnership with Hawkhill Community Centre, Brucefield Estates, Fountain Forestry, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, TCV and Helix Park. These photographs show the first cohort of FVC Workstart Rural Skills students out in the field on a site visit, using some of the equipment they purchased from a donation of £500 received from Kingdom Housing.
The group are also looking forward to starting a new project in Alloa for Sustrans and Mar Estates, as they have just been awarded equipment to upkeep the local Sustrans paths that run behind the College’s Alloa Campus.
The Rural Skills pathway will give young people – over the age of 16 the opportunity to learn practical skills and explore opportunities and employment within the rural economy, and it is hoped that completion of the course could lead to students applying for jobs in the rural skills sector, moving on to other training opportunities, or other College providers with Rural Skill development.
The course embeds four important employability and Support themes:
- Rural Employability Skills - offering a practical SQA Steps to Work programme, where students participate in community rural projects, whilst discovering their personal qualities.
- Practical Rural Employability Skills – Work with local and national rural employers to help young people learn the practical skills needed in the rural economy, with the potential to gain accredited LANTRA certificates.
- Employment Progression in Rural Skills - Supporting students to develop knowledge of the rural employment opportunities including: forestry, practical conservation, estate maintenance, and hospitality, and have an emphasis on sustainable employment at the end of the course.
- Attainment – SQA Level 4 Coreskills, Hospitality and Practical Trades are embedded into the course, and students work throughout the year on increasing their qualifications at their required level.
Lucy Hawkins, Curriculum Manager in the Department of Care, Sport, Business and Communities, said: “The new Workstart Rural Skills course has had an exciting and busy start. We have already received funding for tools and we are now working with three rural estates and Falkirk council, as well as the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park to enable our students to visit for a variety of activities.
“We would like to thank all the organisations who have donated funds and equipment and we are looking forward to seeing how the next few months will go until completion of the course. I am sure the first cohort will grow from strength to strength, just as we hope the course itself will grow as well.”
To find out more about the course visit https://www.forthvalley.ac.uk/courses/supported-learning/workstart-rural-skills
