Arboriculture Distance Education Course
- Start or improve an Arboriculture Business
- Become a team leader or manager of trees
What is Arboriculture?
Arboriculture deals with tree management. Arborists select, plant, maintain and manage trees in private and public landscapes. Their work includes tree pruning, transplanting and removal. They use specialised tree surgery techniques, such as bracing, crown thinning and crown renewal, to ensure public safety and to preserve important trees in the landscape. They are able to evaluate and assess tree health and monetary value, and are often involved in landscape preservation and rehabilitation schemes.
Due to the inherently risky nature of working with large trees, arborists need to be well trained; and will normally work in teams, comprising climbers and ground staff. Many arborists work as private contractors, while others are employed by government authorities.
Duration: 900 hours
Accredited by International Accreditation and Recognition Council
COURSE STRUCTURE
This course is comprised of:
*Core studies - Four units (400 hours) of compulsory subjects for all students.
*Elective studies – Three stream units for the development of knowledge in arboriculture
*Project – a workplace project of 200 hrs relevant to your field of study. The project specifically aims to provide the student with the opportunity to apply and integrate skills and knowledge developed through various areas of formal study. Contact the school for more information.
CORE UNITS (see more detail below)
Totalling 400 hours. All four of these modules must be studied and passed.
1. Office practices
Develops basic office skills covering use of equipment, communication systems (telephone, fax, etc) and office procedures such as filing, security, workplace organisations, etc.
2. Business operations
Develops knowledge of basic business operations and procedures (eg. types of businesses, financial management, business analysis, staffing, productivity, etc) and the skills to develop a 12 month business plan.
3. Management
Develops knowledge of management structures, terminology, supervision, recruitment and workplace health and safety.
4. Marketing
Develops a broad understanding of marketing and specific skills in writing advertisements, undertaking market research, developing an appropriate marketing plan and selling.
STREAM UNITS
1. Arboriculture I
There are eight lessons in this module, as follows:
1. Introduction To Arboriculture
2. Tree Biology
3. Soils In Relation To Trees
4. Diagnosing Tree Problems
5. Tree Surgery
6. Pruning Of Trees
7. Arboricultural Equipment
8. Workplace Health & Safety.
2. Arboriculture II
There are 7 lessons as follows:
1. Planting Techniques
2. Controlling Plant Problems
3. Strengthening Weak Trees
4. Controlling Damage Caused by Plants
5. Tree Felling & Stump Removal
6. Tolerant Plant Species
7. Establishing a Tree Plantation
3. Trees for Rehabilitation
There are ten lessons are as follows...
1. Approaches To Land Rehabilitation
2. Ecology Of Soils And Plant Health
3. Introduction To Seed Propagation Techniques
4. Propagation And Nursery Stock.
5. Dealing With Chemical Problems
6. Physical Plant Effects On Degraded Sites
7. Plant Establishment Programs
8. Hostile Environments
9. Plant Establishment Care
10. Rehabilitating Degraded Sites
SUMMARY OF COMPETENCIES DEVELOPED
Here is just some of what you will do.....
* Distinguish between plants in order to identify at least 50 trees.
* Develop a standard tree report form, customised for surveying the condition and use of trees in your locality.
* Explain how to treat three specified soil related problems that can effect trees.
* Develop a twelve month program, for managing a health problem detected by you in an established tree.
* Demonstrate bridge grafting across a bark wound.
* Distinguish between different methods of pruning including:
-Canopy reduction -Cleaning out -Topiary -Espaliering
* Determine the minimum equipment required to commence business as a tree surgeon.
* Compare three different chainsaws, to determine appropriate applications for each.
* Determine legislation which is relevant to a specific arborist in a workplace which you visit.
Explain how to plant a specified advanced-sized tree on a specific site.
* Explain tree injection, including the technique and applications.
* Identify five situations where trees require strengthening operations to be carried out.
* Compare four different ways to control roots which invade underground pipes.
* Calculate the cost of removing a specified tree.
* Determine five appropriate tree species suited to a specific site visited and analysed.
* Devise a method for removing a tree, including tree felling and stump removal.
* Analyse three specimens of mature trees, from each of five different genera, to detect any patterns in problems occurring in those trees.
* Develop criteria for the establishment of a tree plantation on a specific site which addresses; site restrictions, cost and function.
* Compare different approaches to land rehabilitation, to determine strengths and weaknesses of alternative options on a site to be rehabilitated.
* Determine techniques to maximise plant development in land rehabilitation situations.
* Explain the different ways of producing seedling trees for land rehabilitation purposes.
* Determine appropriate plant establishment programs.
* Develop procedures to care for plants, during establishment in an hostile environment.
* Manage the rehabilitation of degraded soil.
* Explain the effect of plants on improving a degraded site, both physically and chemically.
CORE UNITS
Office Practices Unit
This develops basic office skills including the use of equipment, communication systems (telephone, email, fax, etc) and office procedures such as filing, security, workplace organisations.
The course consists in eight lessons where these subjects are developed.
- The Modern Office
- Communication Systems
- Interpersonal Communications
- Phone Skills
- Writing Letters and Other Documents
- Computer Applications
- Office Organisation and Procedures
- Health and Safety in the Office
Business Operations Unit
This course provides the building blocks for a successful career in business planning and operations. Covering topics such as business law, the money market, taxation, business plan writing and mistakes to avoid, it is a solid foundation, developed by highly qualified and experienced professionals.
It develops knowledge of basic business operations and procedures (eg. types of businesses, financial management, business analysis, staffing, productivity) and the skills to develop a 12 month business plan. There are 6 lessons as follows:
- Introduction
- Finance
- Financial Records
- Financial Management
- Business Planning Developing a 12 month business plan.
- Mistakes to avoid
Management Unit
This course outlines theories and procedures, problem solving and decision making tactics, staff management, supervision, recruitment and workplace health and safety. It is developed by professionals with a substantial amount of industry experience, it is the perfect foundation for a successful career. There are 6 lessons as follows:
- Introduction and Organizational Structures
- Management Theories & Procedures
- Problem Solving & Decision Making
- Management Styles & External Influences
- Employing People & Interview Skills
- Staff Management
Marketing Foundations Unit
This course develops a broad understanding of marketing and specific skills in writing advertisements, undertaking market research, developing an appropriate marketing plan and selling. The course consists in ten lessons, as follows:
- Marketing and the Business
- Scope of Marketing
- Target Marketing
- The Marketing Mix and Managing the Marketing Effort
- Product Presentation and Packaging
- Promotion Communication skills, Merchandising, PR and Advertising
- Product Pricing and Distribution Pricing
- Customer Service Methods
- Market Research
- Organisations
FREQUENT QUESTIONS
Why Choose This Course
- Unique course materials (developed by our staff) and more current than some colleges (many reviewed annually); as a result, ACS graduates can be more up to date.
- We work hard to help you understand and remember it, develop an ability to apply it in the real world, and build networks with others who work in this field (It’s more than just serving up a collection of information –if all you want is information, buy a book; but if you want an education, that takes learning to a whole new level).
- Start whenever you want, study at your own pace, study anywhere
- Don’t waste time and money traveling classes
- We provide more choices–courses are written to allow you more options to focus on parts of the subject that are of more interest to you; a huge range of elective subjects are offered that don’t exist elsewhere.
- Tutors are accessible (more than elsewhere) – academics work in both the UK and Australia, 5 days a week, 16 hours a day. Answering emails and phone calls from students are top priority.
- We treat students as individuals –don’t get lost in a crowd. Our tutors communicate with you one to one.
- Extra help at no extra cost if needed. When you find something you cannot do, we help you through it or will provide another option.
- Support after you finish a course –We can advise about getting work, starting business, writing a CV, etc. We can promote students and their businesses through our extensive profile on the internet. Graduates who ask will be helped.
- Support from a team of a dozen professional horticulturists, living in different parts of the UK, and in both temperate and tropical climate zones of Australia.
About ACS
ACS was started in 1979 by John Mason, who at the time was a gardening author, horticultural consultant and lecturer in horticulture at several colleges across Melbourne (in Australia). Over the summer that year John discovered that there were thousands of applicants going to be turned away from horticulture courses at Burnley Horticultural College (now Melbourne University). There were simply too few courses being offered for the number of people wanting to study horticulture in Australia. This situation prompted a move to establish a correspondence course at Burnley; but after months of unsuccessful lobbying for support from government; John wrote a course, and with help from a colleague at Council of Adult Education, marketed it.
Standards were originally set in line with what were seen to be the standards of Australia's top horticultural college; and over the years, those standards have never been reduced. This makes our courses longer and more demanding than some other colleges; but it has also led to us building a credibility that stands tall in the horticulture industry across the world.
In the early 1990's John started visiting the UK and becoming involved with the horticulture industry there. Around the mid 1990's ACS began offering RHS courses, and in 2003, John was formally recognised for his contribution to British Horticulture by being made a fellow of the Institute of Horticulture. ACS, as a school, established an office and staff in the UK in 2001, and has expanded considerably since then. Today it is formally affiliated with five other colleges in the UK (including Warwickshire College); all of who license and deliver ACS courses.
A team of leading horticulturists work for the school's horticulture department, including 12 faculty members in both the UK and Australia
How You Study
- As soon as you enroll, we send an email to explain it all.
- We direct you to a short orientation video (downloadable over the internet) to watch, where our principal introduces you to how the course works, and how you can access all sorts of support services
- You are either given a code to access your course online, or sent out a CD or course materials through the mail (or by courier).
- Work through lessons one by one, each lesson typically having four parts:
- An aim -which tells you what you should be achieving in the lesson
- Reading -notes written and regularly revised by our academic staff
- Set Task(s) -These are practicals, research or other experiential learning tasks that strengthen and add to what you have been reading
- Assignment -By answering questions, submitting them to a tutor, then getting feedback from the tutor, you confirm that you are on the right track, but more than that, you are guided to consider what you have been studying in different ways, broadening your perspective and reinforcing what you are learning about
- Other - Your work in a course rarely stops at just the above four parts. Different courses and different students will need further learning experiences. Your set task or assignment may lead to other things, interacting with tutors or people in industry, reviewing additional reference materials or something else. We treat every student as an individual and supplement their learning needs as the occasion requires.
- We provide access to and encourage you to use a range of supplementary services including an online student room, including online library; student bookshop, newsletters, social media etc.
- We provide a "student manual", that is a quick solution to most problems that might occur
Recognition
- ACS has a highly respected international profile: by employers and academics alike. People are more aware of us than many other distance education schools –just do a search for “horticulture distance education courses” and see what comes up on the internet; or search for ACS Distance education on Facebook or Linked in, and see how many connections we have compared to other colleges.
- Recognised by International Accreditation and Recognition Council
- ACS has been educating people around the world since 1979
- Over 100,000 have now studied ACS courses, across more than 150 countries
- Formal affiliations with colleges in five countries
- A faculty of over 40 internationally renowned academics –books written by our staff used by universities and colleges around the world.
Extra Books or Reference Materials
- The course provides you with everything that you need to complete it successfully.
- Assignments may ask you to look for extra information (eg. by contacting nurseries, visiting gardens or searching the internet), but our school's resources and tutors are always available as a back up. If you hit a "roadblock", we can quickly send you additional information or provide expert advice over the phone or email; to keep you moving in your studies.
- Some students choose to buy additional references, to take their learning beyond what is essential for the course. If a student wants to buy books, we operate an online bookshop offering ebooks written by staff at the school. Student discounts are available if you are studying with us. The range of e books available is being expanded rapidly, with at least one new ebook being written and published by our staff every month. See www.acsebook.com
