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BORDERS College is standing alone among other Scottish agricutural educators and is attracting so many agricultural students it doubled the number of courses it offered this year.
While Oatridge College in West Lothian says numbers of farm workers going to its college has halved, Borders College is this year offering two full-time agricultural courses.
Both colleges offer SVQ II and III qualifications in mixed farming, but come September this year, Oatridge has decided to offer learning-from-home courses too in a bid to reverse student decline.
A Borders college spokesperson said: “We are bucking the trend and have doubled the number of students studying agriculture. We usually run one full-time course but this year are running two at both levels.”
Oatridge is putting the sharp decline in young farming entrants down to the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board scrapping age-related pay bands.
Oatridge College director Peter Scott said the board’s decision to increase the minimum wage for 16 to 17-year-olds has put so much pressure on farmers they are now unable to support young employees for six weeks a year while they attend college block release.
He said applications for part-time courses at the college were down by 50 per cent.
He said: “We want and need a well-educated and trained workforce in modern farming, so it’s crucial we find a way for entrants to the industry to gain proper qualifications.
“We’ve looked at it and we’ve run a pilot programme and we think distance learning, using modern technology, is the way ahead.”
Borders College has no plans to introduce learning from home – and puts its success down in large part to good links between the land-based department and Borders schools.
The spokesperson said: “We are getting a lot of feed from that. Also we are local: youngsters are able to come and do the college courses and still work on the farm, without leaving the area.”
Oatridge’s September intake of students will be offered the distance learning option which will mean just two weeks instead of six at the college.
Most academic work will be submitted by email and practical skills will be checked during farm visits by assessors.
SVQ level 3 Oatridge student, Callum Muirhead, who works at Pressen Hill, near Coldstream, said he and his boss Mark Robson had agreed he should go to college.
Callum said: “We both thought it would be a good idea to go. My dad and my brother had done the course and said it was good.
“I was keen to go and Mark said it was okay.
“It’s what I wanted to learn – it’s all the necessary things for farming like ploughing, livestock handling, maintenance of vehicles and machines – practical skills.”
The 17-year-old hadn’t heard of any students having problems being allowed time off to go to college.
He said: “It sometimes depends on the time of year but most employers are committed to sending them.”
He thought distance learning could work well with the support of employers.
More : berwickshire-news.co.uk
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