Qualifications | Induction | Vocational Courses | Open Day | Support | Commitment
What is expected of you during your 9 months with LEMUR.
As a trainee, you will spend your placement working alongside professional staff from one of the host organisations, learning valuable practical and communication skills and gaining an intimate insight into the organisation’s environmental conservation work. In parallel with the working day, you will need to collect evidence towards a portfolio that illustrates your growing competence to the do the job. Acquiring this evidence normally occurs naturally, as part of the work placement.
Qualifications
Assessors from the hubs (Ambios, Herefordshire, Sheffield) will guide you through the process which leads to the vocational qualification. The LEMUR project offers Units from the Environmental Conservation NVQ level 3 and Biological Assessment Skills OCN Level 3. Your choice of Units and Level will depend partly on you and partly on the opportunities presented at your chosen host organisation and the type of work you will be doing. Your NVQ Assessors will help you to decide the best units to take.
» Click here for more information about vocational qualifications.
Induction
The first placements of the project begin on Monday 26th June 2006. After an initial induction with Ambios Ltd, followed by an introduction to your host organisation and two weeks of fundamental heritage based training, you will attend a 4 day residential team building introductory event.
You will be expected to undertake NVQ portfolio compilation tasks outside the normal working day. Periodically you will get together with all the other LEMUR trainees from your hub for group NVQ sessions.
Vocational Courses
During your placement you will also decide, with your hub/host organisation and within budget constraints, which additional vocational courses you would like to attend. These optional hub courses are pre-set but allow the trainee a degree of flexibility to move between hubs to gain the specific training and skills relevant to their professional development and hosts needs. In the past, trainees have undertaken a range of work-related training including species ID, GIS training, and wildlife law.
Open Day
Together with your fellow trainees at your respective hub, you will also be expected to organise an ‘open day’ for all other LEMUR trainees from other hubs. This day will aim to show your understanding of what your hosts organisation does and how you communicate that message. Attendance at each of these days is mandatory and part of qualifying for your final training payments. Moreover, the day will involve you organising practical tasks for your fellow trainees.
Support
Every 6 weeks you will also receive support sessions on NVQ portfolio building, employability skills and (towards the end of your placement) C.V. writing and interview skills. The project will also require you to undertake some self-assessments of your abilities and working practices at different times during your placement.
Commitment
The partner organisations involved in this project expect trainees to rise to these challenges and take a full and active part in the tasks, situations and opportunities they represent. This will mean some early starts, late finishes, long travel times, eventful days and time pressures... much like the kinds of pressures encountered by employees in the real working environment.
All the supervisors, assessors, trainers and managers involved in this project are either potential employers themselves or are connected via the informal network to employing organisations. Trainees will therefore have a direct and real opportunity to have a positive impact on their future employment. After previous projects some trainees have greatly impressed partner organisations and have consequently been offered extended placements, seasonal positions or full employment. Our past projects have found 80%+ of trainees finding employment within the environmental sector within 6 months of leaving the programme.
