If they have to belong to a trade body, before they can practise, then you turn a trade into a profession. I can only see the point of this if it protects the general public in some way. For instance, gas fitters have to be trained and qualified and on the gas safe register. It is against the law to install a gas boiler unless you are qualified and on the gas safe register. This protects the public from Bodgit and scarper unlimited.
I cannot see how horticulturists would need a trade body that they would have to belong to,in order to be able to carry out their trade.
... returning to the Q posed...Sam... you still haven't defined horticulturalist...
...'A gardener is a person that tends to a garden and is therefore a horticulturist. However, not all horticulturists are gardeners'. I'm happy to be wrong but this is a gardening forum.
I think... for what it's worth...people can garden without having formal qualifications, I don't have formal horticultural qualifications yet me thinks I do pretty well in the gardening department as regards growing veg and other stuff I'm familiar with...so am therefore a horticulturalist by the above definition...my knowledge has been gained through experience, from other people and reading...I try to be organic, am interested in conservation....
I decided before finishing reading your Q ...the answer was no...so set out to support that judgement. Dawin sprung to mind and his theories. Darwin although an educated man and a biologist he had no formal qualifications to arrive at the conclusion he did around the evolution of man (happy to be wrong on that point) he set out on a vorage of discovery, gardening is like that, you don't need qualifications but if you want to change the world having a better understanding helps and if that is gained through formal qualfications... why not ...I'm sat on the fence...
Yeah horticulture is a bit of a naff word isn't it? There's just so much going on under the horticultural umbrella. I can understand how "gardeners" can see the no formal qualifications route of entry. But I think with landscapers, designers and tree surgeons a little bit more knowledge and finesse is required? So by horticulturalist I probably mean a skilled person in the horticulture industry. I completely agree that most people can "garden" without qualifications.
If you're going to market your skills to the general public, then most people will want to know what qualifications you have - but letters after your name or qualifications on a CV will do that.
A professional 'title' will only show the level of the least skilled unless one has 'ranks', e.g. Horticulturalist 1st Class, etc.
My degrees are in fine art, I am an artist, that doesn't preclude anyone else from producing a work of art and calling themselves an artist. However if I apply for a job or tender for a commission then I will present my qualifications and experience in my cv.
There are a few professions where it is illegal to falsely claim to be one (does that make sense?) and one of those is Social Worker - for obvious reasons. A lot of damage could be done. However, I think that for the majority of trades to limit employment to those who have a qualification is overly prescriptive.
My other thought is that Horticulturalist is such an all-encompassing term - as you say it can include landscapers and tree surgeons. When I employed a tree-surgeon recently I checked out the relevant qualifications online and invited estimates from suitably qualified people, and then checked their references before engaging someone to do the work. If he'd had the word Horticulturalist after his name in his advert I would still have done all of that so what would it change?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Posts
If they have to belong to a trade body, before they can practise, then you turn a trade into a profession. I can only see the point of this if it protects the general public in some way. For instance, gas fitters have to be trained and qualified and on the gas safe register. It is against the law to install a gas boiler unless you are qualified and on the gas safe register. This protects the public from Bodgit and scarper unlimited.
I cannot see how horticulturists would need a trade body that they would have to belong to,in order to be able to carry out their trade.
reported.
Snap! Must be drinking alone on a Friday night - how sad
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
nothing else to do in aberdeen on a friday night, poor soul.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
...
returning to the Q posed...Sam... you still haven't defined horticulturalist...
...'A gardener is a person that tends to a garden and is therefore a horticulturist. However, not all horticulturists are gardeners'. I'm happy to be wrong but this is a gardening forum.
I think... for what it's worth...people can garden without having formal qualifications, I don't have formal horticultural qualifications yet me thinks I do pretty well in the gardening department as regards growing veg and other stuff I'm familiar with...so am therefore a horticulturalist by the above definition...my knowledge has been gained through experience, from other people and reading...I try to be organic, am interested in conservation....
I decided before finishing reading your Q ...the answer was no...so set out to support that judgement. Dawin sprung to mind and his theories. Darwin although an educated man and a biologist he had no formal qualifications to arrive at the conclusion he did around the evolution of man (happy to be wrong on that point
) he set out on a vorage of discovery, gardening is like that, you don't need qualifications but if you want to change the world having a better understanding helps and if that is gained through formal qualfications... why not ...I'm sat on the fence...
Well said zoomer.
If you're going to market your skills to the general public, then most people will want to know what qualifications you have - but letters after your name or qualifications on a CV will do that.
A professional 'title' will only show the level of the least skilled unless one has 'ranks', e.g. Horticulturalist 1st Class, etc.
My degrees are in fine art, I am an artist, that doesn't preclude anyone else from producing a work of art and calling themselves an artist. However if I apply for a job or tender for a commission then I will present my qualifications and experience in my cv.
There are a few professions where it is illegal to falsely claim to be one (does that make sense?) and one of those is Social Worker - for obvious reasons. A lot of damage could be done. However, I think that for the majority of trades to limit employment to those who have a qualification is overly prescriptive.
My other thought is that Horticulturalist is such an all-encompassing term - as you say it can include landscapers and tree surgeons. When I employed a tree-surgeon recently I checked out the relevant qualifications online and invited estimates from suitably qualified people, and then checked their references before engaging someone to do the work. If he'd had the word Horticulturalist after his name in his advert I would still have done all of that so what would it change?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.