Landscaping Victoria Master Landscapers (LVML) has long been campaigning for the introduction of a recognised advanced skill set for landscape designers.
Current landscaping and related courses do not offer a combination of extensive design and construction skills in the one qualification. Recent graduates face employment barriers due to this lack of knowledge, and more broadly, even skilled landscape designers are limited in the services they can provide.
Identifying this gap in training back in 2018, LVML embarked on initial research in conjunction with a broad range of industry experts to identify a way forward. Excitingly, after nearly five years of planning and applications, incorporating 16 months of development work, the Workplace Training and Innovation Fund project ‘Towards Accreditation and Registration: Landscape Design & Construction Course-In’ has just entered the Pilot Phase, under funding received from the Victorian Government.
The way forward
A small army of people have been working with LVML acting as Subject Matter Experts to reach this point. They have been guiding, checking and critiquing the input of professional course writers and adult-learning developers as they work up the course content into formal documentation, toolbox resources, VR/AR and video content.
With a cohort of industry experts comprising LVML and LDI members, along with independent designer professionals, the course is now being piloted with the support of Holmesglen TAFE and industry facilitators. Piloting that content will help ensure it is relevant and can be delivered in a logical and understandable way to achieve the highest outcomes for learners.
Feedback provided by the pilot learners will shape the final submission to accredit the content, which will take place in early 2024. The Course-In is designed to scaffold as an additional level of accreditation to existing Certificate IV and Diploma Landscape Design courses, and it is planned it will be available to all Victorian RTOs for delivery in 2024, and rolled out nationally beyond accreditation.
Team effort
The project has been designed to provide an innovative approach to upskilling currently qualified landscape designers working in the industry and who need the skills and knowledge to meet industry standards and operate as registered practitioners in their field.
Further, it will:
• More accurately reflect job functions and the range of tasks landscape designers are required to perform
• Incorporate the latest technologies, equipment, regulations and consumer trends
• Be designed to meet industry skill requirements relevant to landscape design – ie providing graduates with both the theoretical and practical construction knowledge to produce landscapeconstruction drawings to meet regulatory requirements, and
• Become the minimum requirement for the development of a new registration category for landscape designers within the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) registration framework.
Landscaping Victoria Master Landscapers is extremely grateful to the many industry professionals who have assisted with this project.
For more information please contact Megan Flower at LVML via wtif@landscapingvictoria.com.au. For information on the LVML, log on to landscapingvictoria.com.au.
