My teenage son is struggling to motivate himself at college doing various IT courses and maths, I suspect it is not for him. At last parent’s evening he was criticised for helping others too much and not getting on with his own work. He’s very active in Scouting and spends a lot of time organising cub/scout camps etc.. I suspect he should consider binning the academic path and go in this direction instead as we know he really enjoys it.

He’s talked about wanting to become a PGL instructor so I phoned their head office and spoke to a few people in HR. Total and utter waste of time as I was pointed to various bits of website that did not work and given lots of fobbing off basically saying he has to apply formally for a job and there is no opportunity for him to do a placement or work experience so he can work out if this is for him.

Is there anyone out there in the outdoors instructing arena that can give me some pointers elsewhere to look? He is currently doing a RYA sailing qualification and it would not take him long to do the same with climbing as he has a well marked up log from the indoor wall. The key thing is for him to get some hands on involvement or experience before making a big decision to bin his current path. It would also rescue him from a life of Counter strike online which is where he will probably end up if we can’t find something to light a spark in him.

For my climbing qualifications, I volunteered at my local climbing wall (try and work with a couple of different ones to show variety) and took friends/family climbing and treat them as a clients for group work.
How old is he? To pass the assesments you need to be 18 and have a valid 12hr first aid certificate. If he is just wanting indoor climbing then climbing wall award will be his best option (CWL includes some basic coaching with it), whilst for outdoors it’s the single pitch award (SPA doesn’t include coaching, more personal and group safety at outdoor crags).
Whichever path he decides, I’d recommend the BMC FUNdamentals courses afterwards, they give a good basis of coaching for an instructor and work really well alongside both CWL and SPA).
Hope that helps (feel free to email if you need more)

get him to apply for a PGL job. I did it for about 6 months in between college and university and it was great.

plenty of opportunities to leave if he doesn’t like it.

Just a note, I earned more working behind the bar at a PGL centre than the outdoor instructors.

If he’s 18 or soon to be would something like Camp America over a summer be worth a try?

Try contacting your local council, some (most?) have outdoor centres for educational purposes – I would imagine they will be more considerate towards younger and inexperienced people wanting a job.

Is there a chance for him to get experience at a Scout camp? Local district/county sites always seem keen for help.

Any outdoor activities run by local authority or at the local reservoir?

With summer holidays coming up might be chances available

The issue he may have getting experience cheaply via a company/council is that without being qualified he is effectively part of the group numbers for the instructors ratios.

That means one less place to sell to a paying customer.

He should look in to the Scouts a little more as they often have systems for getting people qualified as Walking Group Leader and then ML but they take a lot of time to get evidence for.

Single pitch award and some mountain bike qualifications take less time to get but finding somewhere to employ you on those qualifications is often hard unless you have a lot of experience and some coaching ability.

Contact us at UK Youth, we take on several apprentice instructors every year, pay and accommodate and get formal NGB qualifications along the way. Might not be much for this season now but will be for next I should think. Contact is matt at ukyouth dot org tel 01425 672347
Based in New Forest

Where are you based, and is he prepared to travel away from home (if the answer is no, forget it now!)….

Also, as well as being active, is he a people person or a nature/wild places person? IMO, there are three people in the outdoor industry – those who ‘do’ people and stay in the industry for the people they work with, those who love nature and the outdoors and want to be there and inspire others, and the last lot who are in it for the buzz, the activity and the cool sunglasses (this lot last a couple of seasons).

It is an industry of low pay and long hours. But it is immensely satisfying, rewarding and the best job I know of.

PGL / Kingswood / large outdoor companies take on lots of temporary staff, however (As with the whole industry) pay is very low, hours are very long and with such organisations, he will not get training beyond in-house sign off’s at very low level, with repetitive sessions. Again, this can be an industry wide issue. Having said that, the work and team is fun, outdoors and engaging. I wouldn’t send my son to them however for work. I was also refused my son to go to one large provider (not PGL) as I know their training and safety standards 🙁

Look for other centres that take on summer staff – however you may have missed the boat for this season, as most would interview before Easter for summer. I started with a summer job rigging boats and handing out buoyancy aids – but as well as being paid, I was put through RYA Sailing Instructor and a BCU course.
Look at http://www.bluedome.co.uk/jobs/jobs.html and http://www.outdoorstaff.co.uk/

The other alternative is to look at
– college courses (OK, but variable in level of value and external NGB awards), SOME good ones, but be fussy about what they are doing (lots are tourism courses, not outdoors) and what NGB qualifications they WILL have opportunity ON COURSE to get.

– Uni courses (most you need to want to be a teacher, but IM Marsh, Ambleside, Bangor, Moray House and UWS have excellent courses going). I did IM Marsh, utterly superb course, but no longer what it was (we did 2 days a week for four years outdoors on lectures, only 20 students and did ML , SPA, Ski Leader, LCMLA, BCU Instructor and 4* , a fortnight winter walking, sea kayaking etc etc)

– there are also many private courses (again variable in outputs/qualifications), the best one by a long way IME is the Abernethy course (my old employer) http://www.abernethy.org.uk/about-us/courses/professional-instructor-training-course/ and for some idea of what they get upto on the course – this was my last week helping lead the course: http://www.abernethy.org.uk/about-us/courses/professional-instructor-training-course/

– or (and my preferred route) look for one of the few apprenticeships still available. They will appear on the IOL link below.

Quality outdoor jobs tend to appear on http://www.outdoor-learning.org/Default.aspx?tabid=79 , some in TES or Guardian.

http://www.stramash.org.uk/ are also after apprentices at the moment, and are a fabulous organisation.

Over the last 17 years, I worked up from Saturday job outdoors, to degree in outdoor education, to running a team of instructors, apprentices and trainees in a centre in the Highlands. Although not loads of high level NGB tickets, I am yet to meet many who have the breadth of quallies I seem to have picked up. Again, there seems to be a couple of types of people in outdoors – those who do coaching of one sport to a fantastic level, or those (like me) who end up being jack of all trades.

Feel free to drop me an email if you want some specific help – matt_outandabout AT hotmail.com

avontyyrrell perfect, exactly was I was looking for, will call asap.

matt – THANKS, loads for us to look at there and I may drop you a line.

“Where are you based, and is he prepared to travel away from home (if the answer is no, forget it now!)….”

Wiltshire, but he is not tied to location at all.

One last thing!

Get him driving asap – this is the key to more interesting and variable outdoor jobs. He needs car license for three years before he can do D1 minibus and D1E trailer test. Both are vital long term with the changes in license categories…

And I bodged a link – my week leading the trainee’s at Ardgour – some of you will recognise Jules leading the TCL training. https://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/sets/72157632892830612/

Not sure where you’re based or if the Aviemore / Newtonmore area would be of interest but have a look here.

Outdoor Activity Days, Training Courses, Expeditions & Adventure Holidays in Scotland!

I’ve included a link to their apprenticeships page. Worth a call to find out what it entails.

http://www.activeoutdoorpursuits.com/training/apprenticeship.html

I spoke to a couple if their trainees last year who rated it highly. They also covered the costs of a trainees minibus licence. Again, best to give them a call to clarify requirements / obligations.

Another thing to look at maybe getting a job with the Field Studies Council as a centre assistant (cleaner, washer upper and general dogsbody) he can then get some first hand experience by helping out with the teaching etc.

DavidB – no problem, I just saw our Matt and told him to expect a call or email, his ext. number is 469. He said they are putting together the apprentice ads for next round soon. If you, your son want to see what it’s like first though call Matt to arrange a visit and/or remember we have the Big Bike Bash http://www.bigbikebash.co.uk on the August Bank holiday weekend, not truly representative of what we offer but a good laugh nonetheless

Give these people a call:
http://www.lakesideymca.co.uk/recruitment/

If he signs up to be a Daycamp instructor he’ll get 2 months of experience over the holidays without having to give up on his college courses. He’ll then have a better idea of what he wants to do.
I did this some years ago and it was the best job I’ve ever had. No qualifications are needed, mostly all you need is masses of enthusiasm, but anyone who’s sufficiently interested in the more technical side of climbing/sailing/outdoor stuff will be able to learn a lot.

Glenmore lodge also take on apprentices, good luck

Ocean Youth Trust or similar. Volunteer anywhere for anything. PGL staff. Save up and Travel. Working holiday abroad.

YES YES YES make him go now! He will NEVER get the chance so easily ever again. Should be mandatory.

IT and Maths will still be at college/uni in the future.

Wow – now that takes me back, hearing Kingswood mentioned!! I worked there after leaving college and it really did teach me a few skills that have done me good since.

Rachel

DavidB – Member
avontyyrrell perfect, exactly was I was looking for, will call asap.
matt – THANKS, loads for us to look at there and I may drop you a line.

Get him to do it. Nothing worse than someone’s parent applying for jobs on someone’s behalf, screams of laziness

@David he sounds like a great lad and he has a committed an open minded father – cool !

I’d throw in language skills too. Even if formal learning isn’t for him there will be more interesting jobs with some skills, French or Spanish for example.

Specifically on the sailing side the UKSA in Cowes has a programme which fast tracks you through the tickets you need to work in/around boating. Many young kids use this as a route into yachting work, be that skippering or deliveries. It’s tough to make a career but if you do it’s a different lifestyle (eg big yacht skipper, usually with wife/girlfriend, can make £50-70k tax tax free with all expenses paid)

It’s common for kids interested in this sort of work to look at holiday companies when they start out, eg Neilson, SunSail, Mark Warner, Club Med. ClubMed in particular can offer a proper career structure and they have a huge range of summer and winter clubs around the world, multiple languages are essential inc good French.

Get him to do it. Nothing worse than someone’s parent applying for jobs on someone’s behalf, screams of laziness

Fair point, he is in the middle of exams at the moment so I am lining up contacts for him.

Just resurrecting this one if OP is still looking for his son, see:
http://www.ukyouth.org/work-with-us/vacancies/item/836-apprenticeships-at-avon-tyrrell#.U8k1VCimWHs

I started off 20 years ago with the Scouts and did Summer Mountain Leader with Essex Scouts Mountain Activities Team: http://www.esmat.org.uk/

I then went on to WinterML, etc with PyB and Glenmore Lodge etc.