Outdoor instructors assemble!

She'll need a properly accredited outdoor first aid qualification, e.g. BASP, REC etc.  Safeguarding ticket is essential.

Then ideally find a local authority outdoor education centre (or similar) and volunteer there for work experience.  Most centres will respond to healthy volunteering by opening up opportunities for part time or sessional work, help her get new or more advanced tickets and all the while decide if that's what she really wants to do when confronted with the ELFs that most have to deal with day after day...

So my 15 daughter is keen on a career in the outdoors - or at least a gap year.

These are different things! Or do you mean test drive the industry for a year then decide if she wants to make a full blown career of it?

 

If full blown career maybe consider choosing A levels that would be a good fit for one of the undergraduate degrees that are partly or completely outdoor education orientated. The ones at  Stirling (combined with environmental science or geography) have a good reputation and there's cumbria and I think Chichester too. 

Would she consider joining the Army? A friend (female) did the outdoor instructor specialism year as a PTI and now works as an outdoor instructor in the army - good god the opportunities and tickets that course gives would be virtually impossible to put together on civvy street. Every week would be a £1k course if you were paying for it and it's month after month of the same.  Do your time in the army and come out bristling with tickets and paid pretty well while getting them. I could pass on her details if your daughter was interested. 

 

Back in civvy land - snagging a place on the Glenmore lodge instructor development scheme is pretty much the golden ticket to a career in the industry.....not something you can just walk into but playing the long game maybe a chat with them this far out to see what they would be wanting on a CV to get on to that year would be worthwhile and then planning the next year or two around achieving that. https://www.glenmorelodge.org.uk/about-us/instructor-development-scheme/

And to add - if we are talking a year or two - could do a lot worse than Nielson - summer and winter venues with staff switching between the two. Brexit has shat on a lot of these opportunities in Europe sadly and places like neilson have more local or Aussies/kiwis/ South Africans and the number of Brits has dropped right away. 

During the Brexit chats of a few years ago, I think a few MTB coaches and guides that were UK qualified found they needed the European equivalent of the qualifications to do proper work in Europe.

I can't now remember the outcome but that may need to be considered in the plan.

Whatever she decides though, it sounds like an excellent plan and I hope she absolutely loves it.

*fist bumps his people in the room*

What's the difference between a sheep and an outdoor instructor? Sheep only have one fleece....

*bows*

 

I agree she needs to define what she wants here - a fun outdoor year out or three earning some cash to ride lots? Or an earnest career to get into, even if only a few years.

Warning: this is the negative bit:

Has she been a volunteered and worked through what outdoor instructor life is like? Low pay, shitty hours, every weekend, and repetitive low level sessions with ungrateful sprogs dominates the industry. To get into properly interesting outdoor jobs takes significant effort and a good few years of experience, plus proper specialism in a one or two sports and matching high level tickets.

If she can dodge the iffy PGL 'groupie' jobs, find enough experience and money to really get good qualifications she needs to recognise the stiff competition, low pay and need to work in (usually) more mountainous parts of the UK. 

Then she needs to work out her knees as a ski instructor or ML give out by about age 50 as it is physically tough..

Now the positive bits:

It is one of the best careers out there if you can navigate your way into it well. I worked up from Saturdays rigging dinghies and handing out buoyancy aids, to seasonal sailing and kayak instructor, onto a teaching degree in outdoor education, onto senior instructor in multiple roles in Galloway, Lakes and The Peak, up to Chief Instructor (at a hugely adventurous centre) in the Highlands and more. That opened the door to a better paid, Monday-Friday role with the national school grounds charity 13 years ago, and I am still here as Da Boss now. I would not change it for the world (but I would have travelled and worked abroad more).

 

A few thoughts from me:

Fun / couple of years / life experience:

- seasonal jobs is where it is at. a summer and a winter ticket of some kind. A good outdoor first aid. Safeguarding training. Some experience before hand either volunteering or paid. Then, the world is your oyster for all sorts of roles - just be aware there are a lot of sharks out there who over work and underpay youngsters.

- Consider jobs close to but not instructing. Eldest_OAB looked at instructing, lifty etc and worked out the low pay AND you worked when the lift was open or sun up. By becoming the snow plough driver and car park attendant, he gets a free lift pass and 2 hours snow boarding a day. By becoming the minibus driver, spanner monkey and part time gravel bike guide he earns 20% more per hour and is readily on hand to sneak off early for some bike park laps. Currently earning OK and doing back to back seasons in Queenstown with an offer of work in Italy doing similar....

EDIT: to add for all of this - careful with the partying and what image she has online. I have had a few folk now that apply for jobs with kids and have a facebook or Insta profile smoking da weed or partaaaaaaying with the best...Not ideal when safeguarding and H&S are so key...

 

Attempt at a big career:

- don't get sucked into the 'pay for a year of outdoor instructor qualifications' or some of the college / uni courses that do not offer a good range of qualifications included.

- don't get sucked into the 'sausage factory' and 'adventure by numbers' (Colin Mortlock TM) centres who expect archery and tree climbing x5 sessions a day.

- Get a couple of qualifications that stand up - her skiing and biking are fabulous. Mountain Leader is ALWAYS a good employment finder. Then work up from there as you can afford higher level or wider sports courses. I went 'jack of all trades' and ended up with good L2/L3 tickets in climbing, hillwalking, sailing, paddlesports, powerboat (niche earner) cave & mine leader, ropes course instructor, archery and mountainbiking but it took 20 years and concerted effort to achieve and sustain. But I was so employable as teacher + those tickets.

- Do not forget driving. It is the backbone of an outdoor career that is off-site. You now need 3 years from first test to taking a D1 or D1+E, so the earlier she passes the better. And get her driving trailers or big vehicles asap.

- coaching tickets are also valuable, both sports and learning. Brathay and others run good courses, I got a NLP and Facilitators certificate as well. 

- environmental knowledge is increasingly valuable, she needs to know her trees, plants and geo-landscape stuff.

- consider what sport = where you live. If you ski and bike - it is big mountains, and with climate change you need to choose carefully. Probably now outside the UK.

- teaching can be a nice 'fall back' when body gives out or a mortgage is needing to be paid. As can be 'Blue Badge' tour guide stuff, I have a few friends earning nicely with loud but wealth 'mericans doing wildlife trips round Scotland and Ireland..

 

And I agree, Glenmore is a real golden ticket. However, eldest_oab walked out of Glenmore after they refused him accommodation despite having 4 rooms free and he had to put up with some 'unique' people as his bosses. He was speaking to them about the trainee instructor position as he did more on his days off than many on the scheme - but decided that Glenmore was not the employer he could put up with. I am still sad about that....

 

Also agree that some big holiday companies like Neilson can be a good way in. Can help with connections in Alps and NZ if that helps.

 

Finally. Bon chance to her. I have found it a deeply satisfying career.

 

Thanks all - some food for thought.

Will give it a good read through and pass the n the info.

Will be back with more questions no doubt.

Came back to say: best place for better UK outdoor instructor jobs and connections is

https://www.outdoor-learning.org/workforce/job-listing.html

Watching with interest as my daughter has a place to do teaching, but has had a recent wobble and isn’t sure she wants to spend the rest of her life in a classroom “forcing people to learn how to pass exams”.  

She's got a point...

The main hope for young Brits wishing to be ski instructors is a UK Switzerland trade deal which should allow ski instructor and other outdoor work permits. Till then Europe is closed, but she's 15 and talks are progressing on the Swiss deal. All of Junior's British ski instructor colleagues operating in France, Swizerland and Italy now have an EU passport too, and a French or Swiss qualification.

Askham Bryhan college in York does level 3 and 4 courses in outdoor and 'adventure' sport that are aimed at learning the skills that might be needed to a number of outdoor sports and being employed in the sector. It may not be for all and I'd be interested to know the opinion of professionals like Matt but may be an option worth looking at if the level is appropriate as a 6th form or foundation degree.

https://www.askham-bryan.ac.uk/departments/sport/

Posted by: matt_outandabout

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She's got a point...

oh I know, and I certainly don’t want to stifle the passion she has for working with young people or “informal learning”. She left school at end of 5th year and is earning good money (for a 17 yr old with very little costs) and so does see life through through slightly rose tinted specs - teachers pay and conditions might not be great but they start better, climb faster and might be more secure than most outdoor ed work!  

 

Posted by: slowol

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Askham Bryhan college in York does level 3 and 4 courses in outdoor and 'adventure' sport

It's got a good reputation, but my concern after a quick scan is that it does not include the costs or courses such as UKCC or ML. This would need budgeting (time and money) over and above.

I would also suggest that being 'in the mountains' is a better location for such courses is a better bet and more interesting. I had staff at my old place who did outdoor adventure course in Kent or Northampton - and barely saw a hill, or a river rapid.... 

 

Ones I know are good, but I'm not fully up to date:

- Fort William or Perth, a few courses to choose from

https://www.nwh.uhi.ac.uk/en/study/subjects/adventure-golf-and-equine/school-of-adventure-studies/

- Ambleside - again a couple of courses, and superb reputation 

https://www.cumbria.ac.uk/study/academic-departments/institute-of-science-and-environment/outdoor-studies/

Bangor and Edinburgh also have great reputation, but I think Edinburgh is now more post grad. Great team at Edinburgh though.

Thanks for all the help/input - greatly appreciated.

Is something like this worth doing:

https://www.activeoutdoorpursuits.com/outdoor-instructor-training-courses/

 

 

I think MOAB was saying probably not: - "don't get sucked into the 'pay for a year of outdoor instructor qualifications'" 

Just saw this and came to say... if she fancied something overseas my local Uni has an Outdoor Education department. The coordinator is a good friend, and genuinely someone I'd trust with my children's lives.