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BES/IEEM Workshop II: Meeting Report

Biological Recording, Survey and Monitoring: Addressing the Skills Gap

University of Birmingham, 30th March 2004

Background
Outcomes from first workshop
Workshop Objectives
Workshop Output
Training provision
Postgraduate and professional developement courses
Short courses
Guidance and mentoring

1. Background

The first BES/IEEM workshop on Biological Recording, Survey and Monitoring was held at The University of Birmingham on April 3rd 2003.
Both the BES and IEEM identified biological recording, survey and monitoring as an area that has been neglected in mainstream education and training and consequently the growing demand for these skills is not being met.

1.1 Outcomes from the first workshop

It was widely agreed that the first workshop was a scoping session to try and agree on future actions for both organisations and their partners.

Problems in education and training provision were identified at all levels from early school through to professional training. There was unanimous agreement that a serious skills shortage exists and that this is likely to get worse.

The employers reported that an increasing number of job vacancies are being advertised in the environmental sector but that these jobs are proving hard to fill as applicants generally lack the appropriate skills.

Many participants involved in training pointed out that a substantial number of training course already exist but that there is a need to match up employer requirements with training provision.

It was recognised that considerable work has already been undertaken by the BES Education Group and other organisations on problems of lack of field-based learning in School and University Undergraduate Curricula. The newly appointed BES Education Officer should be encouraged to continue with this work.

The problem of the current shortage in field skills and the need for appropriate training courses at Postgraduate and Continuing Professional level should be the focus of future workshops.

Consequently the second workshop focussed on the perceived mismatch/shortfall between skills required by employers and skills exhibited by graduates and/or provided through postgraduate training

2. Workshop Objectives

To produce a list of critical skills shortages from an employer's perspective
To compare this list with the training opportunities available
To propose mechanisms for provision of training needs at postgraduate level

3. Workshop Output

The following is the output of the meeting organised into two mains themes that arose from initial discussion; 'training provision' and 'guidance and mentoring'

3.1. Training provision

3.1.1. Postgraduate and Professional Development Courses

The Issues:

There is a broad range of courses available for graduate students covering a multitude of different aspects of ecology. The level of skill gained by students in identification and pure and/or applied taxonomy varies tremendously with each individual course. It is important to realise that it is the quality of the process involved in the training which is important as well as the end product. In other words it is more important that the students are confident and competent with the process of identification itself rather than for example, being able to name 20 species of chalk land plants from memory. If ecologists understand the identification process, the spontaneity of being able to identify organisms on the spot will increase with experience. University courses should act as a spring-board and lead onto further experience and skill expansion in identification, probably in a limited number of taxonomic groups and/or habitats. This can be achieved by taking further short courses which are designed to deliver the end-product rather than the underlying processes involved.

Different post graduate courses have different emphases and so an individual course cannot deliver everything that a student will possibly need to know in practice. In the outside world, many areas of ecological work actually start off as rather messy problems that need to be solved as opposed to neat, custom made projects handed out on a plate. There is a need for students who are able to carry out and manage surveys as well as understand the survey report and employers are looking for people with a prepared mind in terms of problem solving. However, many students are rarely given the opportunity to experience the problem solving side of ecological work and their skills in this area tend to be weak. It is better that students learn how to do this in a supportive environment rather than making an irreversible mistake later on during their employment. It might be the case that some of the more vocational flexible / distance learning packages offer a more applied model that is more appropriate in terms of producing competent practical ecologists.

Some students are offered training placements with organisations as part of their course and this is seen as a very positive step forward in theory. However, in some cases there are a number of practical issues which mainly revolve around host organisations not being informed about the expectations and intended outcomes of the work placement experience. In some cases, there seem to be very few guidelines and a general lack of communication can exist between the universities and the host organisations. Training placements could potentially be a very effective way of helping to prepare students for a job but greater co-ordination is needed if students and host organisations are to gain the most benefit and least frustration from these schemes.

Although the focus of the discussion group was on identification skills, it was felt very strongly that the development of inter and intra personal skills should not be ignored. To be a successful ecologist all of these things are needed and are absolutely essential for maximising employment prospects. In addition to the skill of identification, the other supporting fundamental competences recognized included:

a) data interpretation,
b) data evaluation,
c) effective communication,
d) negotiation
e) diplomacy,
f) general awareness about current legislation and policy and
g) statistical testing.

There should also be a recognition that the employers themselves will need to support the delivery of more specific professional skills since any masters’ course will only have a limited timescale. Continuing professional development (cpd) then becomes applicable and employers should be encouraged to provide the necessary on going training (in-house or external) for their own employees. It was noted that with the current trend in short-term temporary contracts, there was not a great incentive for employers to invest in this and that the situation would improve if the terms of employment were offered on a longer basis.

Recommendations

Level M courses need to provide a basic delivery of how to identify – including resources, use of keys etc in addition to limited practice in at least one given named group and/or habitat.
Students should be encouraged to get involved in practical ecological work in non-contact time as part of the university course. This could be voluntary work at the weekends or a structured work experience placement.
Where training placements are offered, it would be helpful if all universities appointed a work experience co-ordinator who is responsible for laying down expectations and intended outcomes and communicating these clearly to the host organisations.
Problem solving activities and development of thinking skills should specifically be incorporated into courses wherever possible.
Courses should identify opportunities for developing intra and interpersonal skills to help students interact more effectively both with their employer and their clients.
Students should be taught about the current legislation pertaining to their area of ecology and know how they can gain access to further information if necessary.
All masters’ students should have at least a sound understanding of basic statistical techniques before they graduate from the course, up to and including multivariate analysis.
All students looking for jobs would do well to enquire about the level of provision offered for further professional training in order to persuade employers to provide it as a matter of course.

3.1.2 Short Courses

The Issues

There are a recognised series of providers offering a range of courses across the spectrum of expertise. Some of these courses are accredited by academic bodies, some are recognised as offering appropriate cpd and others are designed for interest and enjoyment as opposed to professional training. For the employers – the range was described as very thorough yet the information is not always easy to access – particularly from the smaller providers who only offered one or two training events in any one year. It was also noted that quality was not always consistent. The FSC was cited as a major player in identification training courses and the group welcomed other techniques such as surveying, recording, vegetation classification etc as being valuable – offered by some other short course providers. It was felt that the courses did not always link up to give a balance and that some courses booked a long way in advance can lead to potential disappointment. It was also recognised that Losehill Hall had a good reputation in delivering the management and interpretation training courses – which were thought to be slightly outside the range of skills that BES/IEEM were interested in at present. The issues are therefore fourfold:

a) Access to training information for employer
b) Quality control
c) Integration of the training package
d) Appropriate number of training courses

Recommendations

Some of the above issues have been partially addressed through the FSCs partnership with the University of Birmingham in offering a certificate programme in biological recording and species identification.This programme links with the recording societies and enables employees to accumulate a number of credits from a choice of identification modules and a compulsory core module.There is a system of quality control, a central point for employers and an integrated programme, which can be accessed during employment. The certificate could be considered as the starting point for those wishing further progression through a diploma or masters programme also offered through the partnership.The programme is very successful and serves to address some of the gaps in the training voiced by employers – although it was agreed that many of the skills need practice and development in the working environment and cannot be solely delivered through a course.

There are many other providers in addition to FSC (although not on the same scale) and it was thought to be helpful if an annual listing were available on the same lines as the old English Nature/|Countryside Commission training booklet. Evidently, there is an embryonic website being developed by David Mount through the Countryside Agency and Losehill Hall and John Hopkins (English Nature) will examine ongoing initiatives and report back on whether they fully meet the needs of students and employers

In summary the suggested ways forward are:

To identify gaps (and tutors) where appropriate
To seek to publish availability from a central point eg through English Nature/Countryside Agency
To seek a forum where employers could post training needs and providers could therefore develop appropriate courses.

3.2 Guidance and Mentoring

Background

The general view was that there is adequate breadth of provision of training for biological recording, survey and monitoring. However, what both employers and prospective students find a major stumbling block was how to pick their way through a mass of courses at different levels by different providers, and most importantly choose courses that met with their learning aims.

A 'Skills Pyramid' (click on the right hand side of the page to download) was presented by Sarah Whild and Sue Townsend and it was generally agreed that this could provide a framework for assessing skills and determining appropriate levels of courses. From this it was suggested that guidance through course provision would be a valuable start for employers and employees alike. Mentoring was also recommended, whereby field biologists would have a friendly technical expert to turn to, to help with ID and survey design.

The main points raised in the discussion are listed below

Guidance on courses

There is a vast range of courses available but little guidance to employers or prospective students on learning outcomes and appropriate levels. Guidance could be provided on where courses fit into the Skills Pyramid. Courses cannot provide a student with a level of skill, but the guidance could indicate what level of skill the student should be at in order to take a particular course. Identification courses can provide a student with the ‘tools of the trade’ in terms of naming of parts and familiarity with keys, but a course cannot confer identification skill, just a systematic approach to identifying a particular taxon or habitat group.

It should be recognized that all course providers are essentially competing for cash.

How do you gauge identification skills?

Identification tests, either lab or field-based are the best way to gauge ID skills.It would be useful to give an indication to new practitioners as to how much time and commitment they would be required to put in to moving up through the skills pyramid to the next level.

The taxonomic societies (BSBI, BBS, BLS etc) should be engaged by the BES to take this forward, but there are funding implications. Taxonomic recording groups are the only organizations that can give an unbiased expert view.

Such a partnership could provide and informal framework for trainers and employers in order to assess the skills of students/employees.

Mentoring

It was generally acknowledged by the recorders in the group that informal mentors provide a huge boost to acquiring ID skills. Often, taxonomic recording societies can provide this through vice-county recorders or local recording groups, on an informal basis.

On a professional level, the Environment Agency has developed a system of technical advisers within its regions, who can act as mentors to other staff and can pass on technical knowledge such as ID and field skills. This could be a good model for other employers to adopt as it values the technical skills and acknowledges the requirement to disseminate these skills throughout the team.

Recommendations

Provision of a ‘one-stop-shop’ for recording, surveying and monitoring courses, preferably web-based, but note the political minefield that this opens up (why isn’t my course listed; is there any quality control; is it just a directory) and make it clear BES is not providing accreditation of courses listed.
BES and IEEM to engage with the recording societies
Consider revision of 'Rooting for Careers', making it more prescriptive.
Encourage professional and society-based mentoring.
Work with current practitioners to develop identification tests that link in to the Skills Pyramid

General Recommendations for BES action

Does BES support recommendations?
The report should be circulated to BES/IEEM members to generate comment.
BES/IEEM need to look at the recommendations and decide who is best placed to take each on forward.
To consider hosting a website for the listing of currently available courses.