Course details

Summary

Programme highlights

Get a great foundation of parks and gardens skills and take the first steps towards your career or further study. Get hands on experience with planting, pruning, lawn care, using and maintaining tools and machinery.

Combine this with knowledge about plants, soils, fertilisers, pests and diseases to develop your basic skills. Enhance your communication and team work skills to give a broad base of the fundamentals for working in parks and gardens.

Your skills will be in demand in New Zealand and overseas. The New Zealand Certificate in Horticulture (Level 3) with Strand in Parks and Gardens is the introductory qualification if you want to launch a career in the parks and gardens industry or if you are working in the industry and want to obtain a formal qualification.

Career opportunities

Assistant Amenity Gardener, Gardener, Grounds Person

Programme structure

This certificate is based on both practical and theory content.

The four courses are:

Plants and Planting
Demonstrate communication skills, selecting and planting plants for use in the landscape industry

Maintenance and Care
Interaction with team members and colleagues, carry out routine maintenance tasks for the landscape industry

Parks and Gardens Development
Carry out the development of parks and garden spaces, work safely with tools and machinery in parks and gardens.

Parks and Gardens Quality Control
Ensure quality assurance of parks and gardens through the growing seasons, keep amenity records through the growing seasons.

Further training or study

Certificate in Parks and Gardens (Level 4) which leads to the leads to the New Zealand Certificate in Horticultural Services with a strand in Amenity (Level 4)

Entry criteria

General: Be physically capable of completing the practical aspects of the programme as per the Faculty Checklist list at an information session.

Academic: Have an appropriate level of literacy and numeracy skills to study at Level 3

English Language Entry Requirements: Applicants must have sufficient competence in the English language to undertake this programme which is taught and assessed in English. This will be demonstrated by meeting the current NZQA requirements.

• IELTS test - General or Academic score of 5 with no band score lower than 5
• TOEFL Paper-based test (pBT) - Score of 500 (with an essay score of 4 TWE)
• TOEFL Internet-based test (iBT) - Score of 35 (with a writing score of 20)
• Cambridge English Examinations - FCE or FCE for Schools with a score of 154. No less than 154 in each skill OET at Grade C in all sub-tests
• NZCEL a) Expiring b) Current - a) Level 3 (General) or (Workplace) b) Level 3 (General)
• Pearson Test of English (Academic) - PToE (Academic) score of 36
• City & Guilds IESOL - B1 Achiever with a score of 43
• Language Certificate - B1 Achiever IESOL (LRWS) with PASS

Provisional Entry

Students who have attained the age of 20 years and do not hold the minimum entry requirements for a programme will be eligible to be enrolled as a student where their previous educational, work or life experience indicates they have a reasonable likelihood of success. Students who have not attained the age of 20 years and do not hold the required minimum entry requirements for a programme may also be eligible to enrol in exceptional circumstances. Such decisions will be made by the Faculty Dean.