Accredited Courses - Background

Report on Pilot OCN Coppicing Courses - Green Wood Centre Jan – April 2005

The courses were supported and funded by:

Open College Network at the Green Wood Centre - by Su Barber & Mary Lewis

The National Context for Coppicing and Green Wood Working

The recent report “Crafts in the English Countryside: towards a future” by Ted Collins (Launched November 2004) highlighted the issue of a decreasing supply for coppice material in Britain, despite continued demand and increased reliance on imported coppice materials. There are only 22,000 hectares of working coppice left in UK, with many traditional coppiced areas left to turn into derelict coppice or the land utilised in other ways.

Coppicing is a technique for producing a sustainable rotational crop of small-diameter timber and has been practised in Britain for thousands of years. Today, this system can still deliver many benefits to the land and people, including encouraging rare species of woodland flora and wildlife to flourish in the light areas of the underwood. It also provides rural employment for woodland workers and greenwood crafts people, making wood products from sustainable local woodlands and preserving traditional crafts and skills.

The History - Setting up the courses

Since September 2003, The Green Wood Trust has been developing the OCN courses in Coppicing and Green Wood Working, through detailed consultation with experienced coppice workers. In October 2004, we submitted a new coppicing course (levels 1 & 2) to Open College Network, West Midlands to be accredited. This was agreed to in December 2004.

In January the two tutors and two co-ordinators of the OCN pilots were trained in OCN delivery and internal moderation processes.

On February 14th we were able to launch the first of three pilot courses in coppicing, with guest speakers Andy Mason, from The Forestry Commission and Ron Smart and Richard Wellings, who gave a lecture on the coppice industry of Worcestershire at the turn of the previous century.

The three OCN coppicing courses

The Green Wood Centre site was the hub for the courses; hosting the launch and historical talk; providing food and refreshments for sustenance; a library of books for additional research; the Cruck Barn for equipment and a space for tool sharpening and a copse of derelict coppice to regenerate.

Other areas utilised through the course were:

• Wenlock Edge woods, where Karl Liebscher has been coppicing for many years

• Westhope Woods, where Larry Jones has been coppicing in rotation over the last ten years

• The Rock willow and hazel coppice in Telford, which Larry has been developing for the last ten years, initially planted by The Green Wood Trust

The courses gave participants knowledge, understanding and practical skills in the many areas of coppicing, including:

• winter bud tree identification

• tool sharpening, care and maintenance

• health & safety issues

• hand tool skills

• planting, layering and stooling new coppice growth

• identification and creation of coppice products

• helping to regenerate derelict coppice

• working and visiting other types of coppice

The tutors

Karl Liebscher and Larry Jones were chosen as the lead tutors for the pilot courses, both are very skilled coppice workers and in the case of Karl Liebscher, a renowned hedge layer. They have both delivered many successful, un-accredited, coppicing courses at the Green Wood Trust over the last decade and both tutors were exceptionally well received by the participants on the courses for their extensive knowledge and experience in the field.

Karl ran an intensive five day course in February and Larry ran two one-day-a-week courses during the months of February to April 2005:

• Feb 14th – Feb 18th 4 students

• Feb 14th – March 14th 7 students

• March 8th – April 12th 6 students

The participants

• 17 people between the ages of 20 and 55 years have succeeded in gaining an OCN (Open College Network) in Coppicing at Level 2

• 5 females and 12 males have gained new skills in working in the woods in a sustainable way

• The groups were made up of people genuinely interested in furthering their careers, by extending their knowledge of managing woodlands using coppicing

• The groups consisted of two farmers, two greenwood workers, four people given or owning areas of woodland to manage, three office bound workers co-ordinating and assisting coppice related projects, one forestry student, two trained arborists, one professional hedge layer and estate worker, one new coppice worker and one Green Wood Centre volunteer

The Feedback

The three courses were well attended, with only one person having to drop out of the course in total.

During internal moderation interviews we gleaned a lot of very positive feedback and evidence in a change of levels of understanding and practice.

“It’s helped me with everything. It’s even helped me with hedge-laying. I could never get on with a billhook before and now I know why… This has given me a lot more knowledge. We don’t usually worry about which trees are in bud and now I do. It’s made me study, like many blokes my age I never went to school and I’ve been getting in to it. It’s been a great course.”

- Martyn

“Explosion of knowledge.. .. We did a lot on identification and different uses of different types of wood, different products, the trees really and how they coppice. There are so many products it’s mind blowing really.

- Mark

"It may not be a complete career change but I may now have a more feasible hobby and make it more sustainable. I can do various things with the woodland that I’ve got …I do class myself as one of the more ecologically sound amongst farmers.

The biggest surprise was that professional foresters and hedge-layers are on the course. The calibre is high.”

- Anthony

“It’s opened my eyes up to another form of woodland management…I was surprised at the products you can get from things that I would usually put in the chipper.”

- Ross

“As a farmer you tend to look at coppice as a bit of scrub ground, I have better appreciation of another crop..”

- Penny

“I approached this knowing nothing, but now I feel that I know what I am doing, I won’t go out and butcher the wood. It teaches you a lot but it also shows up a lot of things that you don’t know and need to learn. I can manage my own wood now and I am doing it really all the time when I am not here… Everything I have learned here I will put into practice there straight away. The structure is informal, you can ask whatever questions you like and everybody’s contribution is valued which creates a good learning environment.”

- Lloyd

“I hope to be at least semi-professional and get into the education side. During the winter I will coppice and perhaps teach a bit…I would like to do some shows and things as wall as raise awareness and help promote coppicing”

- Matt

“The most valuable thing has been being in contact with someone who is doing coppicing all the time….I was able to ask detailed and specific questions and he could give information that will really work. His answers were thorough and passionate.

I had never seen coppice like his before at The Rock, the amount of light let in was much more than I would have thought. Visiting the woods was valuable and crucial to my understanding. The different woods, the different stories involved in each place and the consequences of poor management.

The most important thing is that I am aware of coppicing as part of the wood industry. Aboriculture is a different discipline, but they are all interwoven. I understand more about trees and wood and it has enriched my knowledge and understanding.”

- Sam

“…given me more confidence, a level of authority and able to assert the benefits of coppicing – economics, biodiversity and habitat.”

- Dominique

“Better implications on taking wood for my work, particularly plant health and sustainable management, which is what I really hoped to gain from this course”

- Adrian

“The OCN qualification itself, will help towards my degree in Woodland Management, this is all theory. The practical work will be very useful. This is a field of work I want to work in.”

- Edward

Conclusions

• There was more demand than originally expected, which was why we introduced a third coppicing pilot course

• The courses were well attended, particularly the one day a week courses, which enabled more self-employed and local workers to attend the courses

• The courses gave new insight, knowledge and skills to even those participants who were already experienced in the field

• Those that were taking the courses with often a high level of practical skills and experience really desired a certificate, to show that they had all these skills, particularly to prospective employers and landowners

• Using two highly experienced and respected tutors in the field has given the courses a high level of integrity and value. This level of quality of teaching needs to be preserved

• The teaching materials created for the courses helped to reinforce the practical on site learning

• Visiting or experiencing other types of coppice and other coppice workers was seen to be very important and enriched the whole experience