News

A New Chapter for Tree Life – Expert-Led Training, Industry-Ready Learners

Tree Life has entered an exciting new era. With our founder, Dave Dowson, and long-standing director, Andrew Summerley, gradually stepping back from their day-to-day office roles, we are proud to continue benefiting from their unmatched expertise and decades of industry leadership. While both are enjoying a well-earned transition towards retirement, they remain actively involved in delivering specialist courses, consultancy, and guidance, ensuring their wealth of knowledge continues to shape the next generation of arborists.

Today, the day-to-day operations of Tree Life are managed by Keely Dowson, our Business Director, who oversees all aspects of management and finance. Keely works closely with our highly skilled course managers, tutors, and assessors, a team of respected industry professionals dedicated to delivering exceptional arboricultural education. With their combined expertise in consultancy, contract management, arboricultural science, surveying, and practical tree care, our trainers provide not only academic excellence but also the practical insight that comes from years of real-world experience.

Tree Life's Accredited Training Programme in Urban Tree Management

NEW as of the 2022-23  acedemic year – A replacement for the Level 6 Diploma

The Skills & Education Group (SEG) have announced that the Level 6 Certificate and Diploma in Arboriculture is being withdrawn. Currently, in our industry we still have the academic route however we know it is important for our industry to maintain the competence-based training and so we are introducing the Accredited Training Programme in Urban Tree Management (ATP), awarded by Tree Life and SEG jointly.

Our joint enterprise with SEG has been written by Dave Dowson, the principal author of the current Levels 2, 4 and 6 current qualifications. The Urban Tree Management Programme has been tailored for employability – for tree officers and consultants alike. While the ATP is not an Ofqual registered qualification, we believe the industry will embrace this as the next step of their professional path. The Programme will be externally moderated for quality assurance by SEG Awards just as the current qualifications are. The certificates will be awarded by SEG Group jointly with Tree Life Arboricultural Training. Tree Life remains an approved provider of training giving us the seal of approval that training will continue to be to our exceptionally high standard.

Tree Life is proud to add that our Accredited Training Programme is recognised by the Arboricultural Association! Have a look at the article in the Autumn 2022 issue of Arb Magazine here: https://www.trees.org.uk/News-Blog/Latest-News/New-Accredited-Training-Programme-in-Urban-Tree-Management.

The Previous Level 6 ABC/SEG Awards Certificate and Diploma in Arboriculture;

The Level 6 Qualification has existed since 1968 and served the arboricultural professional extremely well. The competency-based nature of it has set it aside from academic qualifications and made it a premier qualification for consultants and tree officers alike since the 1960s. Currently, in our industry we still have the academic route however we know it is important for our industry to maintain competency-based training so we will be bringing forward an Accredited Training Programme (ATP) which would still be under the guidance of SEG Awards. It will still be externally moderated for quality assurance by that awarding body. Any certificates would be awarded by SEG Group jointly with Tree Life Arboricultural Training. Tree Life would remain an approved provider of training giving us the seal of approval that training will continue to be to our exceptionally high standard.

From all our years of providing arboricultural education, we know what the industry needs and this gives us an opportunity to expand & improve on that. In developing the programme, we have the opportunity to review the contents and to make adjustments to the assessment processes. The real advantage of this is that the content can be updated to ensure it is current and reflects employment needs. Also, the assessment processes can be reviewed to ensure they also meet the needs of the learners, employers and the training provider.

The content will still be competence-based and reflect the rich history and legacy of the present level 6 qualification. The target audience remains on consultants and tree officers. 

While we were sad to see the Level 6 Diploma go we are excited about the new training at a strategic level for the consultants and tree officers out there looking to gain the knowledge, competence and confidence that this training can bring.

Please contact Tree Life for any advice on your next step and for any questions regarding the changes to the qualifications in the industry.