Education & the RHS

Garden School

Eight career changers who wanted to work in gardening professionally were given a unique opportunity to realise their dreams as part of a BBC television series, produced by BBC Wales, hosted by the RHS at RHS Garden Wisley.

The career changers followed a five-month programme of informal learning, through a mixture of tutorials, work placements within Wisley and across the industry, and project work devised by the series team and Diarmuid Gavin, who led and presented the series. RHS gardeners have provided selected elements of the career changers’ programme.

The programme of learning that the series provided did not pretend, nor seek, to replace the formal professional training and qualifications offered by the RHS to students, it trainees and staff.

The career changers

Information on the eight career changers

A career in horticulture?

What is a career in horticulture? It is not just being a ‘gardener’!

RHS Education

The RHS provides a comprehensive suite of horticultural qualifications, which currently start at Level 2 in the National Qualifications Framework (roughly equivalent to a GCSE, and progress through to degree level (NQF Level 4). The RHS is a QCA accredited Awarding Body, and courses leading to our examinations are offered at nearly two hundred centres in the UK, and internationally.

The RHS School of Horticulture programmes provide acclaimed hands-on practical training, and students from all over the world compete fiercely for one of the 40 places available. The two-year Wisley Diploma offers a thorough grounding in all aspects of practical horticulture whilst the One Year Specialist Option Certificates provide extra experience in six different disciplines. Voluntary Internships are also available for students with a vocational interest in gardening.

Further information on all aspects of RHS education and training

Lantra

Lantra is the Sector Skills Council for the Environmental and Land-based Sector.
More information on Lantra