What qualifications do you need to become a qualified bushcraft instructor in the UK?

[johnboy]

Hi,

What qualifications or qualification do you need to become a qualified bushcraft instructor in the UK? Assuming that I'm going to be instructing in a commercial sense for financial gain to a wide variety of client groups 18+ and under 18.

I realise 'Bushcraft' is a broard church catch all definition for a wide variey of skills. So to assist on that I theoretically as an instructor want to offer my version of core outdoor/ bushcraft skills:

Basic fire prep and fire lighting ( non friction techniques)
Basic campcraft.
Camping out using Tarps.
Shelter construction using natural materials.
Safe use of a knife.
Knife selection.
Basic knife cuts.
Basic knots.
Outdoor cooking.
Basic plant recognition.
Water collection and purification.
Basic Navigation.
Basic emergency procedures.
Identifying and treatment of Hypothermia / hyperthermia.

I'm going to conduct this type of activity in broadleaf woodland no more than 250m ASL in the UK. My theroretical course offering will run in all 12 months of the year.

Thanks in advance for your condsidered answers.

John

 

[Toddy]

None.

That said, it would be to your great advantage to have certain first aid and food hygiene certificates so that your public liability insurance and the like are not at horrendous rates, if indeed you can acquire those at all.
Good business practice means certain skillsets anyway.

It's a very full market in the UK. Most schools only work part time, despite claims to the contrary, there's a couple of handfuls of full time, only employed in the bushcraft world, individuals in the UK.

There have been assorted attempts to 'push' instructors to take part in certificated courses, but to be honest, most folks would consider reputation first, and a lot of the 'certificates' seem to be more political competition than any necessity.
Forest Schools run their own syllabus, and charge royally for it, the centre for Outdoor Learning do likewise. Tom Brown jr, is another one and it's all money, money, money........or would you prefer to learn from someone who's lived the life ?

It's a bit like the martial arts folks, with instructors coming out of certain well known and regarded schools, who then go on to set up themselves elsewhere.

Why ? are you coming home ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Shewie]

Do you mean qualifications as in a piece of paper John ? Or qualifications as in skills learnt over life with experience ?

From the instructors I've spoken to over the years, it's not the piece of paper that makes you a good instructor, but rather having the experience to back up what you're preaching and putting that message across effectively and naturally. I'm pretty sure the only qualification over here at the moment is the NCFE which John Rhyder runs at Woodcraft, speak to any of the established schools over here though and they look for experience, knowledge and a good teaching manner.

If you're talking about the skills then I think you've got it cracked.

 

[johnboy]

None.

That said, it would be to your great advantage to have certain first aid and food hygiene certificates so that your public liability insurance and the like are not at horrendous rates, if indeed you can acquire those at all.
Good business practice means certain skillsets anyway.

It's a very full market in the UK. Most schools only work part time, despite claims to the contrary, there's a couple of handfuls of full time, only employed in the bushcraft world, individuals in the UK.

There have been assorted attempts to 'push' instructors to take part in certificated courses, but to be honest, most folks would consider reputation first, and a lot of the 'certificates' seem to be more political competition than any necessity.
Forest Schools run their own syllabus, and charge royally for it, the centre for Outdoor Learning do likewise. Tom Brown jr, is another one and it's all money, money, money........or would you prefer to learn from someone who's lived the life ?

It's a bit like the martial arts folks, with instructors coming out of certain well known and regarded schools, who then go on to set up themselves elsewhere.

Why ? are you coming home ?

cheers,
Toddy

Hi Mary,

Thanks for that.. No I'm definately not comming back to the UK. NZ is my home.. We're very settled. No I was wondering more from a matter of professional interest. NZ outdoor industry is going through a bit of a shake up in the light of some recent events that ended tragically none of the events were bush related but the upshot is folk running activities that they have little experience in or are 'qualified' to do.

I offer commercial courses here in NZ and I know exactly what I need to be able to operate in NZ I was wondering what I'd need to be able to do the same if I was in the UK.

 

[johnboy]

Do you mean qualifications as in a piece of paper John ? Or qualifications as in skills learnt over life with experience ?

From the instructors I've spoken to over the years, it's not the piece of paper that makes you a good instructor, but rather having the experience to back up what you're preaching and putting that message across effectively and naturally. I'm pretty sure the only qualification over here at the moment is the NCFE which John Rhyder runs at Woodcraft, speak to any of the established schools over here though and they look for experience, knowledge and a good teaching manner.

If you're talking about the skills then I think you've got it cracked.

Hi Rich,

Yes good point paper or life experience.. I think I meant a qualification where there was a syllabus of skills that the qualification covered and there could be more than one syllabus for differing qualifications. Where a candidate wanting to gain that qualification had to be assessed by an independant and moderated assessment process. Passing meant that a candidate had shown the ability to perform the required skills to the standard set out in the syllabus.

I'm not sure that exists in the UK or is the NCFE run along those lines?? I suppose it must be.


Yep I agree that a 'piece of paper' on it's own is worth little I suppose if you have a rigourous process behind the bit of paper then it's worth more.

Thanks for your thoughts on my skills.

Cheers

John

 

[lannyman8]

one day i plan to do my JWIC (jungle warfare istructor course) which includes jungal survival and teaching it........

dreams eh.........

 

[Toddy]

That's a good point Chris, we often forget that a lot of the instructors are ex-military, and they have done courses that are paper as well as practical qualifications.

cheers,
M

 

[Shewie]

When I applied to do the NCFE a few years ago, part of the interviewing process was to give a demonstration of fire lighting using three different methods (this probably changes from year to year no doubt). The aim was to prove you actually knew the subject and could put the skills across in an effective way. As well as the hands on stuff you had to back it up with a talk and be prepared to take questions on what you've demo'd. From reading the literature I got the assumption that the course would teach to a high level many of the skills that fall under the bushcraft umbrella, plus there was also the emphasis on how you put those skills across to students.

I never made it down to the interview and had to cancel my place which I was gutted about, working out my haul down to Sussex once a month plus using up all my holidays to actually attend didn't go down to well at work or at home for that matter

There's quite a few folk on here who've now been through the NCFE so hopefully they'll chirp in with what actually went on.

 

[Tony]

I could be very cynical here and say that there's a movement by those that don't have 'bushcraft qualifications' to create qualifications to their specification and force others to jump through the hoops before they can be recognised as 'bushcraft instructors' If you follow the example of nearly everyone (I'm excluding military course completed qualifications here) teaching in the industry they have achieved a certain level of competence and then started teaching, they have attended courses, years ago many of them attended Ray Mears courses at Woodlore and then moved on to teaching themselves, some have travelled widely and learned from native people by spending time with them. Some have done very little in the way of courses and are mainly self taught. There's always been people that can pass on their knowledge, there's thousands of people that have been taught by Mors kochanski in Canada and around the world, some of them have opened schools and would class themselves as 'bushcraft instructors'

At the moment to be a bushcraft instructor you need to be competent in what you want to teach and how you teach it, that's one of the reasons it's good to get courses under your belt so that you can get knowledge and skills and see other teaching styles, if you can get a job or volunteer with a company it will be good experience. I think the most important thing though it to know your limits, only teach what you're good at, if someone is rubbish at preping game but brill at general campcraft then teach campcraft and practice the game prep.

Anyway, I've just reread the OP and i've strayed. At the moment you do not need a qualification to teach bushcraft in the UK, the qualifications out there at the moment are basically voluntary qualifications issued by organisations that have created them. There is some recognition of them as a level of competence but they're not a prerequisite to teaching. But, teaching is serious stuff that effects other people, it should be taken seriously. If a qualification was introduced I expect that Ray and many many others would become 'unqualified' overnight, that would be an interesting power play/struggle

Saying all that, having a piece of paper from a instructors course might help you get land to use and people that do not know much about bushcraft would view you as competent (although, if you've done one of the courses i'd hope you were competent) It's never been an issue for most though. I know quite a few people that have got a lot out of instructors courses and value them greatly, most of them though value the experience and knowledge not the piece of paper.

 

[hog]

I realy dont see why 'qualified' means such a lot to folk when it comes to bushcrafting, can anyone name me one world wide known qualified bushcrafter?

 

[Tony]

No........other than experience, practice, knowledge etc

 

[johnboy]

I realy dont see why 'qualified' means such a lot to folk when it comes to bushcrafting, can anyone name me one world wide known qualified bushcrafter?

I dont think it means anything if you are recreating and enjoying it with your friends and peers.

Hypothetically however say for example I was a teacher in an Intermediate school and wanted to organize some EOTC activity for my class. All my kids are enthused as they've been watching TV and a bushcraft programme so seizing on that I want to organize an EOTC session. I dont have the required skills myself so I want to hire in some expertise.

If I as a Teacher know nothing of the bushcraft industry. How do I know that Bushcraft School A is better than Bushcraft School B or Bushcraft School C?

As there is no baseline qualification for setting up a Bushcraft School and instructing as other folks say it's down to reputation, passion, ability to work with groups and a whole host of important skills.

So I could attend Bushcraft School A and my class could have a great time learn heaps. Equally I could attend Bushcraft School C and the instructors might have no idea what they are doing and the kids could have a miserable time learn nothing and potentially be unsafe.


What a qualification does IMHO is set a baseline of assessed / moderated competence. It doesn't confer that the holder is an expert or know everything. It just says they have a level of skill + competence and can put those skills into practice.

 

[Toddy]

See Tony's post above.
It's regulation by the back door. Expensive too and a nice little earner for the certificating providers.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[johnboy]

See Tony's post above.
It's regulation by the back door. Expensive too and a nice little earner for the certificating providers.

cheers,
Toddy

I'm a bit confused by that??

 

[Toddy]

Bushcraft is a set of skills that enable one to be comfortably confident on one's own abilities in the natural world.
Those skills are incredibly varied.
So far there has been no syllabus of 'bushcraft'.
No, "you must know" before one may participate.
No, "We are the authority!"
No piece of paper that supercedes experience and hands on learning.

Those who would claim safety, quality assurance, concensus, etc., are perceived to be using those to insist that certification is the only way forward.

Patently it's not, but suspicions that their insistance is biased because of their financial attainments through administering the certification courses, makes them a dubious investment and a less than authoritative quality assurance for the individuals who present with no other recommendation.

Is that clearer ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Retired Member southey]

I just don't understand what a certificating process has to do with teaching bushcraft skills, fair enough to teach someone how to do a job that requires a national stamp such as manufacturing or engineering, but to teach bushcraft!! I can see the logic behind attaining the relevant safety and security certs for first aid and crb type bits, but a cert for the subject itself is preposterous, I'm sure if you attend the ncfe course then you have an interest but as i see it as soon as you make it a certified instructor only industry it becomes just that an industry no more just teaching for the love of passing on skills so that an art or craft wont die out, sorry rant over having coffee now,

 

[johnboy]

Hi Mary,

Yep I do understand your point.

I personally make a big seperation between folk Bushcrafting for their own recreation and pleasure going to meets sharing skills etc and those that stand up and say hey come and learn from me and there is a charge to do so.

Once you enter the commercial world things are a lot different. My take on it that really the vast majority of the interest in bushcraft in the UK is at most 10 years old (yep some providers have been around a lot longer but they are the exception rather then the rule) so the industry of bushcraft schools that support that level of interest is relatively new. The industry has also grown at an exponential rate to keep up with demand for tuition and experiences. As the barriers to entry into the industry are seemingly low (personal knowlege and skills, FA cert, food Hygenie cert, enhanced CRB check, PLI and somewhere to operate etc) it's seemingly easy to set up a school.

As you say there is no regulating body for the commercial sector, no qualification system etc. A lot differnet than say other commercial provision of outdoor activities.

My view is that as the industry matures some form of regulation for commercial provision may well be likely.

 

[Toddy]

And those are the excuses given for those who would regulate it into another set of 'outdoor pursuit' certificates.

Those who actually practice bushcraft want people who have a reputation, a real one, not a paper one.

It's the martial arts type of regard and reputation of the schools that most consider.

Right now, if I only went with those schools who are certificated, I would totally miss the best, the most active, the most admired, the most recommended ones.

Funny how they're not signing up in their droves to pay the £3,000 per instructor, for the privilege of being
assessed as fit, by self appointed adjudicators.

You can understand our cynicism I'm sure.

In this country bushcraft courses, and survival ones, have been offered for nearly fifty years, not ten.
Most were originally the basic survivial with the extra bits and pieces of knowledge given by the individual instructors as the much appreciated extras then it was realised that folks really did want those bits and pieces expanded to be courses in their own right.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Tony]

You're right, it is easy to set up a school and that it a downside to the freedom we have, as you say, the last 10 years has brought forth a lot of schools and a higher demand for instruction in bushcraft, some that start schools do it on a whim with little knowledge or experience and that's just bad, most of those though never grow beyond doing a few stag parties on a weekend or doing it for their mates. There's a lot of good schools out there and a lot of people that are hugely qualified to teach bushcraft, or at least aspects of it.

I would not and do not encourage anyone to start a school without a lot of thought and a high skill level in the areas they intend to teach to others, then the business needs to be set up properly, insurances etc and all that. It need to be done right. If someone has the skills though and sets things up correctly, as things stand i have no problem wtih them teaching those skills and don't think they need to be qualified. But, if the right assessment came along that would add credibility to their position as teachers I would support it as progress in the industry.

I have no intention of this becoming a political issue in any way, it's just my observations and thoughts. I applaud anyone that wants to better themselves through their own hard work, setting up a business is hard, doing it right is even harder, those that have done it

 

[tomongoose]

The big issue is insurance and for that you have to have a relevant governing body recognised qualification if there is one (there is not for bush craft) or be able to prove you have relevant qualifications and experience, so if there was an accident it would be upto you to prove beyond doubt that you had said skills and qualifications