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Charleston Academy : Intermediate 1
The Rural Skills course gives students an introduction to working in land based jobs. The course has a common part, which includes employability skills, and a part where students choose an introduction to working with animals or to growing plants and crops. The choice that pupils have will vary from school to school and from none to quite a bit. Pupils have to be willing to work outside, sometimes in poor weather.
This popular course is becoming available at a larger number of centres, usually run by the school linking with local employers and sometimes by colleges.
All work is assessed to national standards, and this takes place as the course progresses. All students will operate in a practical environment outwith the classroom. Work experience is not part of the course, but rural visits and possibly work shadowing does help get the course information across to students.
Rural Skills is currently only available at Intermediate 1.
Students will learn about the wider employability skills like time keeping, following instructions and working in a team as well as health and safety and the skills needed for working on the land.
Students spend forty hours getting familiar with and using the common tools used to fix things and make repairs.
Students spend forty hours looking at the wide range of skills and jobs in the land based sector.
Students will learn how to handle and restrain one kind of animal. The animals used will vary from school to school.
Students will learn about looking after one type of animal. The kind of animal may vary from school to school.
Students will learn about the skills for growing plants from seed to harvest.
Students learn about fertilisers, weed control, pest control and pruning.
SVQs are workplace based training opportunities assessed by your local college. For instance you might work in a play group or nursery and be assessed for SVQ level 2 or 3 in early education and childcare. To find your local college please click here, or discover more about what SVQs are in the glossary.
These are usually National Certificate (NC) courses as a full-time college student. They give students knowledge and skills training which will be certificated with the SQA. They can lead on to HNC, HND and degree courses.
You may be able to get an employer to take you on with your Intermediate 1 or 2 certificate, with the offer of on the job training or a modern apprenticeship. You need to be quite clear what is on offer before accepting such a post. In the construction trades you should use the CITB or SECTT pathways.
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SQA Course Pages
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Careers Scotland
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Highlands and Islands Enterprise
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Scottish Qualifications Authority
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