New Accredited Training Programme in Urban Tree Management

After many years, the well-respected ABC Awards Level 6 Diploma in Arboriculture, previously called the Professional Diploma in Arboriculture, is no longer available for registration. This is a great loss to our sector as it has been, and remains for those holding it, a symbol of quality learning and accomplishment at a high professional level in our sector.

Tree Life AC Ltd has been largely responsible for its development and maintenance, alongside the Level 4 qualification, providing an essential route to career progression for the arboricultural industry over the past 20+ years. Of course, during this time as the arboricultural sector has grown, other sector qualifications have developed and others still are in development. While the awarding organisation ABC Awards, now Skills Education Group (SEG), supported the Level 6 qualification for many years with relatively low registrations each year, it has now had to make the decision, following Ofqual guidelines, that it can no longer offer it as an accredited qualification. The Association would like to express its thanks to both Tree Life and SEG for their sustained contributions and support.

However, the good news is that SEG and Tree Life have been working to offer an alternative route via a new Accredited Training Programme (ATP). While this is not an Ofqual-accredited qualification, it offers an equivalent level of training delivery and integrated assessment to the original Level 6 qualification and is formally accredited, on an annual basis, by SEG, an Ofqual-accredited awarding organisation.

Offered as a two-year, distance-learning programme, the Accredited Training Programme in Urban Tree Management is available via two streams, for consultants or tree officers, and covers the following four components:

• Strategic Urban Tree Management
• Advanced Urban Tree Management
• Diagnostic Processes in Urban Tree Management
• Research in Urban Tree Management

The Association has been asked to review the ATP content and scrutinise its delivery and quality assurance procedures and is pleased to confirm that it will be recognised as a valid way to demonstrate eligibility to apply for Professional grade membership, which normally requires evidence of an Ofqual-accredited arboricultural qualification at level 5 or above.

We welcome this new addition to the range of career progression available to the sector and look forward to welcoming graduates to join the Arboricultural Association at its most senior membership levels.

If you have any queries or want to find out more about the ATP, please contact Tree Life: admin@treelifeac.co.uk, 01162 606939.

This article was taken from Issue 198 Autumn 2022 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.