Green Futures College

Green Futures Colleges will be set up to train young horticulturalists at the general and further education levels. The graduates of these colleges will be trained to meet the growing need for skilled people in the indigenous horticulture, landscaping and restoration industries.

The colleges will seek to emulate the successful Green Futures College model at Grootbos in Gansbaai by working in close partnership with this college and drawing on the rich experience at this college in learning programme design, in curriculum development and quality assurance systems. The Grootbos Green Futures Foundation will provide the necessary quality assurance expertise and systems into the foreseeable future.

The learners will graduate after a year of classroom tuition and practical experience with a level 1 learnership qualification in horticulture specialising in indigenous flora, and will be well equipped to take up employment in a variety of nature conservation, nursery, gardening and landscaping settings. The learners will be selected through a rigorous process from applicants from the neighbouring disadvantaged communities.

The learning programme covers areas of fundamental learning including language, mathematical and scientific knowledge and in general lifeskills includes motor car driving and computer literacy that will build the foundations for further learning and application. The core of the curriculum programme will cover all aspects of horticulture. Landscaping and restoration work as well as business skills will be offered as areas of specialisation.

It is hoped that each college will employ two educators to be responsible for the learning programme, placement of graduated learners with employers and ongoing mentoring to ensure effective aftercare. The SANBI Green Futures Programme Manager will oversee the development of the proposed colleges and the incorporation of a nursery and landscaping business into each college.
The nursery and landscaping component will sell plant material, landscaping and rehabilitation services to the public and private market. Learners will work in the nursery and on landscaping and restoration projects for practical training.
The colleges will have the support of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the Grootbos Green Futures Foundation, Working for Water and Working for Wetlands, the local municipalities within which the priority biodiversity sites are located (in this case, the City of Cape Town), together with other relevant government structures and communities at site level.