I have been overwhelmed by the interest generated by my TurfPro blog last week, when I spoke about the total disregard of our turf professionals by some members of the TV media - along with my concerns about the recruitment of new people to come and work in our diverse industry.
I had multiple, distinguished industry figures commenting publicly on the argument I presented.
I also had a few people contact me directly, wishing to talk about the points I had raised. Two such people were Daniel Ratling, BSc Hons, PCert TSC and Dr Jonathon Knowles who were keen to share with me the important work they have being doing to improve sports turf apprenticeships.
Daniel is grounds and estate manager at Whitgift School, whilst Dr Johnathan Knowles is head of the Sports Turf Academy at Leicester City FC.
Daniel, as chairperson of the employer group responsible for development of the Sports Turf apprenticeships, wanted to bring me up to date with where they are with the scheme. He said of the Sports Turf Trailblazer, “We are a volunteer group of industry professionals made up of employers, training providers and industry bodies. I am Chairperson and Jonathan is Facilitator.
“We lead the development and review of all sports turf apprenticeships including development of occupational profile, apprenticeship standard and end point assessment schedule. We work with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IFATE) in the development of the apprenticeships.
“Access to Apprenticeships – the apprenticeships are delivered nationally by land-based colleges and other training providers. The cost of the apprenticeship is set by IFATE following consultation with employer group, training providers and end point assessment organisations. The cost to the apprentice/employer is 0% total cost if an apprenticeship levy payer and 5% of total cost if a non-levy payer.
"The remaining funding will be covered by Levy payments/government grants meaning that the apprenticeships are a low or no cost option.”
Here are links to the current reviewed courses.
Level 2 Sports Turf Operative
Level 3 Advanced Sports Turf Technician
Daniel continued, “We have begun development of a Level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager apprenticeship. This is a managerial qualification. We have provisional agreement from IFATE for its development but are still working through the detail of development now. Our hope is that we are able to integrate the L5 Foundation degree.
“This would give the apprentice access to the FdSc covered by apprentice funding rules i.e., 0% or 5%, a game changer for higher level sports turf education. This is a work in progress but we are aiming to develop the L5 within 12 months.
“In summary we are a group of employers who frustrated with the lack of industry educational opportunities have seized the initiative and worked with IFATE and developed free or almost free to access government backed apprenticeships.
“These apprenticeships give our industry parity with other industries and seek to provide an educational pathway from entry to degree level.”
It was pleasing to hear about the work they both Daniel and Dr Knowles are doing. I have now been invited by Jonathan to go and see for myself Leicester City Football Club’s Training Academy. I have pencilled in a date and will be visiting the Academy later this month.
I also had a good conversation with Mike Chappell, owner of Chappell Enterprises UK, specialist in recruiting people to come and work in the sports turf industry.
He agreed there is a recruitment crisis that needs to be addressed and he was keen to talk about the work he was doing to get people to come and work in our industry.
After conducting some polls across various social media groups in the Sportsturf industry, Mike said he was given some valuable insights into the preferences of job seekers, particularly regarding the transparency of salary information in job postings. He said, this data highlights the increasing demand for salary disclosures and the benefits this practice can bring to both job seekers and employers.
Mike explained, “The results of this market research clearly demonstrated that job seekers highly value salary transparency. Employers who adapt to this trend can expect to attract more applicants, more qualified candidates, gain trust, show transparency, improve the perception of their business, and streamline their hiring processes. Embracing this practice can ultimately contribute to a more positive and effective recruitment experience.”
Mike has also agreed to write an article on this subject that we will be publishing in a future edition of TurfPro.
More forthcoming features
As for other developments that I shall be covering in TurfPro in upcoming editons, I have been sent some more EGO products to test along with some STIHL and Makita products - so I’m going to be quite busy in the next few weeks. I also have some hedge trimmers, strimmers and chainsaws to test.
Also last week I took a trip to Rugby to meet up with Sami Strutt who’s recently taken up her new role working for Bernhards.
I spent a couple of hours talking to Sami about this new adventure. I will soon be publishing an in depth article about her new role and ambitions to develop the training and education programme for turf professionals.
