Course Finder

Train to be a professional arborist (tree surgeon) at East Durham College's stunning Houghall campus, home to a wide variety of rare trees.

This exciting new T level has been developed in conjunction with employers and experts in the arboriculture and forestry industry, to ensure you learn the skills and knowledge to progress to a rewarding career in this skills priority sector. Taught at our stunning land-based campus you will learn in our newly refurbished workshops, on-site ancient woodland & arboretum as well as offsite, where you will develop your practical skills working on real projects - whilst undertaking a 45 day Industry Placement with one of our fantastic industry partners.

This course covers both tree pruning (formally CS40); aerial pruning operations and looks at crown thinning, crown pruning, crown reduction and pollarding, and aerial tree rigging (formally CS41).

This course is designed for any person employed in arboriculture, forestry, horticulture, landscaping and grounds maintenance who is or will be required to operate wood chippers.

This specialist course will provide you with the knowledge and understanding of the principles of best practice in maintaining and operating a stump grinder safely. This course is perfect for arborists looking to extend their current list of employable qualifications.

This qualification, formally known as CS30, is about the maintenance of a chainsaw and cross cutting trees is delivered through theory and practical sessions. The course covers safety features, preparing the chainsaw for use with correct fuel and lubrication and cross cutting timber accurately. This unit must be completed before progressing on the further chainsaw courses.

This qualification is for individuals who operate chainsaws as part of their work in arboriculture, forestry or other industries. It will provide the individual with the knowledge, understanding and skills required to fell small trees up to 380mm safely and to industry standards in line with current legislation.

This course covers risk assessment, emergency planning, legislation, industry best practice, environmental considerations, tree condition and working at height assessments, equipment and systems, tree climbing, aerial rescue by climbing suitability, rescue plan and implementation.

C&G Level 2 Certificate of Competence in Using a Chainsaw from a Rope and Harness

This course is for individuals who operate and carry out tasks in operations using a chainsaw from a mobile elevated work platform (MEWP) as part of their work in arboriculture, forestry, or other industries. It will provide the individual with the knowledge, understanding and skills required to carry out this work.