Kew Apprenticeship in Botanical Horticulture -
course details

Course objectives

Kew Apprenticeship aims to teach the highest standards of professional practice to all trainees by offering structured training. It provides participants with the opportunity to gain practical experience and knowledge of the responsibilities involved in this type of work, based on the horticultural operations in one of three horticultural sections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Course content

Placement structure

Apprentices will be placed in one horticultural section per year. On-the-job training will be arranged and delivered by garden managers and trainers with focus on practical skills using real tasks. Placements are divided into six-monthly blocks, within the following sections:

First year placement

Arboretum and Horticultural Services

• Arboretum and Nursery
• Arboretum - Woody collections

Second year placement

Great Glasshouses

• Nurseries
• Conservatories
   

Third year placement

Hardy Display

• Amenity
• Collections
  
   

Course teaching

Training and Assessment
Apprentices have a training plan that outlines everything needed to achieve their certificate. On-the-job training will be integrated with training day sessions as needed, where theoretical tuition and practical demonstration will be delivered by Kew specialists. Apprentices have access to our libraries, computer and information systems.

Practical Placements
The work placements are intended to make two major contributions to the scheme as a whole: the acquisition of craft, technical and employment skills, and the opportunity to work with a very wide range of plants, developing horticultural amenity and landscape features, and environments.

Training Logs
Apprentices receive a unique training log, specific to the section they are working in, which records training undertaken. Team leaders or trainers are responsible for the basic on-the-job training which is reviewed every three months.

Work Journals
Apprentices are required to produce a practical work journal to record personal learning on a daily basis. These work journals are evidence of development and learning and will be presented to the Studentship Review board, prior to graduation.

Plant Profiles and Monthly Identification Tests
Apprentices are required to learn a total of 120 plants per year. These will be presented as 10 plants a month by an ident co-ordinator. Apprentices will complete plant profiles for these plants and be assessed with a plant identification test. These tests will incorporate previous months plants leading to an overall test at the end of each year.

Course assessment:

Practical Assessment
Within each section, you will be given a practical test on specific horticultural operations, to confirm you have attained skills to the required standard.

In order to pass the Apprenticeship, you must:

• successfully pass the practical placement to the required standard
• undertake all standard training requirements
• successfully pass all the practical assessments to the required standard
• produce a weekly work journal for each placement
• complete all plant profiles, 120 per year per section
• attend the monthly identification tests
• attend and pass the End of Scheme review

Successful participants will be awarded an Apprenticeship Certificate and a Transcript of Practical Training. This is a bespoke programme managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

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