17
WE ARE PROUD TO OFFER THE FOLLOWING
COURSES:
Level 1 Animal Care (Great Yarmouth)
Level 2 Diploma in Animal Care (Great Yarmouth)
Level 3 Extended Diploma in Animal Management (Great
Yarmouth)
Levels 4 and 5 Foundation Degree in Wildlife Conservation and
Animal Management (Great Yarmouth)
Levels 4 and 5 Foundation Degree in Environment and Sustainable
Energy (Lowestoft)
17
WHERE COULD ANIMAL CARE AND ANIMAL SCIENCE
TAKE YOU?
A career in Animal Care or Animal Science can lead to a job in the following fields: - Animal Technician
- Vet Nurse
- Science Technician - RSPCA Worker
- Animal Charity Worker - Zoo Keeper
- Zoo Education - Zoo Exhibit Curator - Care Farm Worker - Pet Industry - Dog Trainer - Animal Handler - Wildlife Conservationist - Animal Therapist - Hydro Therapist - Game Warden - Environmentalist - Countryside Management - Environment NGO worker - And so much more!
17
Why not research some of the jobs we listed? Fill in the table below to see
where you are and what you would need to do to get into the career of
your choice.
Job title
Skills/qualifications
I already have
that meet the
profile
Skills and
qualifications I
will need to
get (including
grades)
How long
will this
take?
What can I
do right
now to give
myself a
head-start?
Check out the National Careers Service website as a starting point for your
search. It lists most of the careers you could think of and gives information
that will help you fill in the table.
17
STUDY PROGRAMME
–
WHAT WILL THIS
INCLUDE
?
English and Maths
English and math skills are vital for anyone who wants to work in this industry (or any other). If you don’t have these qualifications, we have a dedicated team that will support you in gaining these.
People often think maths is pointless, but it allows us to understand the world around us and provides irrefutable evidence for all scientific studies. Math is basically a logical way to solve problems and it doesn’t only involve numbers. Have a go at these puzzles:
People often feel that English is also not that big a deal, however, your ability to write and record information correctly is essential to effectively communicate with other people and in animal care and science recording information accurately and professionally could be the difference between life and death for an animal!
Vocational Content
We will focus on knowledge, skills and behaviours that you will need to succeed in your chosen profession. These skills are often overlooked. However, the ability to work effectively on your own and as part of a team, and to understand how your outlook and attitude to life affects not only you but those people you interact with on a daily basis is essential for your professional development. Emotional intelligence is essential for you to operate effectively as a human being in your personal and professional life. If you don’t understand what drives and motivates you both positively and negatively how can anyone else be expected to?
17
Think about the following really, simple but common scenarios;
Your internal world How will this affect your attitude
towards others?
How will you respond to having to do something you
don’t enjoy?
How will you respond towards other people?
How will this affect the way they respond to and treat you?
1.
You have
woken up
in a bad
mood
2.
You
have
woken in
a great
mood
Industrial Placement
The animal care and science industry is one that requires people to have vocational experience in the form of voluntary work. As many jobs are highly sought after the more work experience you can get the better. All students will take part in work experience as an integral part of the course. We are training you to become professionals, not just to pass a course. Work experience allows you to see if you actually enjoy the work, it also allows you to build relationships with potential future employers. It is your first step into what is known as “networking” – or to use the saying “it’s not just what you know, but who you know”. Animal care and animal science is often a tight knit world (lots of people know each other) so make a good (or bad) impression at work experience and people in the industry will often have an opinion of you before you even get to the interview!
Why not check out the following sites for a look at what it takes and means to be a wildlife biologist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbTjZiV3cc0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmCCrV1RI9Y
17 As the placement is a very important part of your study programme, why not
research two places that you are interested in gaining work experience. We have a specialist member of the team who can aid you in finding a placement, but get ahead of the game by finding your own and contacting them before the course starts!
Name of placement 1. 2.
Address of placement
Distance from your home. Use Google maps or the GPS from your service provider.
How you will travel to and from placement: If you get a bus, where is the stop? What bus do you need? Does it run every day? What time will you need to catch it?
Reasons for your choice. Why have you picked this particular
placement?
University Ready
After completing level 3 year 2 you can apply for university courses. Alternatively, you can choose to continue onto one of our two in house foundation degree programs validated by the University of Suffolk. A full BSc (Bachelor of Science) program is currently being written for validation in 2021/22. Yes, that is right, you could start with us at level 1 and through exceptional hard work and dedication you could go all the way to graduating with a full science degree! Amazing!
17
Guest Speakers and Offsite Trips
We make use of a variety of professional and industry-leading guest speakers and we have strong links with local providers including Africa Alive, The Wildlife Trusts, Pact Animal Sanctuary and Clinks Care Farm. This is just a small sample of the places we visit. We are always open to new ideas so research relevant places to the
careers you like and we will see if trips could be arranged.
If you progress to the degree program, we run a two-week trip to a South African game reserve where you learn all about how these valuable conservation and ecotourism enterprise run!
Master Classes
These are additional qualifications to give you extra skills for you CV. One popular and recurring course is pet first aid. More are in development. Maybe you could think of some after you have researched your chosen careers of interest and well see what we can do.
Why not check out this out for some basic dog first aid tips! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KChHsBKMrgU
We work very closely with placements to identify key skills that can help you to stand out from the crowd.
17
Onsite Animals and Routines
As part of all the courses up to and including level 3, all students take part in what we call routines. Basically, this means cleaning, feeding and health checking all our resident animals each day. Of equal importance to this you will be keeping
consistent and detailed records of all these daily activities! You may want to stop and give some though as to why these records are so important.
We have a dedicated and highly knowledgeable Animal Technician in our team, Rosi. Rosi is not only a valued member of our team but is also studying for her degree in Wildlife Conservation and Animal Management, and her teacher training
qualifications, Rosi is very busy! Rosi will train you in all aspects of animal care, routines and record keeping which are all essential transferable skills that you will need in your chosen career.
Currently due to the Covid-19 lockdown, all our animals are on “holiday” - many of them with Rosi.
Personal and Social Development (PSD) and Tutorials
The college is committed to ensuring students understand the world and become useful citizens in our society. We provide lessons on many current themes including money management, mental and sexual health and career progression. There is a whole programme that students will study alongside their vocational subjects and we have many opportunities for students to get involved with.
You will also have 1:1 and group tutorials with your tutor. These are an opportunity to discuss your progress, and to identify any support you need to help you at college or in your personal life
.
17
Why not start developing your knowledge now?
Here are a list of useful websites and magazines that you can look at to give you a head-start in the new academic year (and all through your time with us).
BBC Wildlife Online: https://www.discoverwildlife.com/ New Scientist: https://www.newscientist.com/
RSPCA: https://www.rspca.org.uk/utilities/jobs
Compassion in World Farming: https://www.ciwf.org.uk/
International Fund for Animal Welafare: https://www.ifaw.org/uk RSPB: https://www.rspb.org.uk/
The Wildlife Trusts: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/ Farmers Weekly: https://www.fwi.co.uk/
Books and Literature
Anything you can read relating to the animal sciences and care will really help, you must always keep reading as we will constantly ask you to reference where your information came from. It is essential that you use reliable source material.
A good start would be to buy the two books below especially if you are starting at level 2 or 3. The other books are just suggestions, but in this field the more you know the better. You don’t have to buy them new, search for deals online.
17
MEET THE TEAM
(We don’t like having our pictures taken, can you tell?)
Carolyn
Lucille
Lecturer and Course Leader
level 1
Lecturer and Course Leader for FdSc,
Wildlife Conservation and Animal
Management and Africa Field Trip.
Lecturer and Course Leader
for FdSc Environment and
Sustainable Energy.
Lecturer and Course Leader for
BTEC Animal Care/Management.
Kat
Ben
17
THINGS TO DO
Spring is an ideal time of year to get to know the animals (and plants) of your local area. Furthermore, with lockdown in place it is an ideal time to explore your garden and or your dog walking route.
Even if you do not have a large garden you can still attract wildlife to it with a few simple measures. Have a go at some or all of the following (follow the link to the instructional videos, and don’t worry if you don’t have the exact materials,
improvise! Adaptability and problem solving are qualities any future employer values greatly!) Then try the follow-up activities to build the skills you will need for your
course!
Bee Hotel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zaQzJxSheQBird Feeders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yV6V6rtpyc
Bucket/Pot Pond
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeT52sDtYEU
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FOLLOW UPS
1.
Garden birds
–
Food type and Diversity
Surveys are important to keep track of species over time. With regular repeated surveys we can see how populations change over time. We can see if some species become more common or more scarce. Information like this is the first step in being able to investigate why populations are changing over time. The RSPB holds the ‘Big garden bird watch’
(https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/) every year
where ordinary people like you record what birds they see once during a specific week of the year. This is called citizen science, and the great thing about this is that you are actually contributing to the scientific world as a whole as your data will be added to the rest and be used to help make changes in conservation strategies, policies and new research. This activity is based upon the RSPB garden bird watch but it will also enable you to learn common birds and also for you to discover which birds eat which food, and maybe with a little research, why.
1. Garden bird watch activity (on one of the essential shopping trips ask your parents to get you two types of bird food, for example seeds or peanuts and meal worms). Or if you already feed the birds then take two of your existing feeders and set them up with different foods. Place them far enough apart so you can easily see the birds that visit them. Note: if you are doing this for the first time it may take the birds a while to find your feeders, so you will need to feed regularly for a week or two, so they learn where they are. REMEMBER, you need to be aware of domestic cats. Set up you feeders in an area as safe from cats as possible, for example a thin tree branch that is too thin for the cat to climb on and too high for it to reach.
2. Select a time to observe your feeders and watch them both simultaneously for one hour.
3. Record the species of birds (sheet is on the following page) that you see. And importantly the maximum amount of that species you see at any one time. You will need to keep a tally and you will only retain the maximum number you see during that hour. For example, you see three blue-tits at 10 minutes in, then five at 45 minutes and then two at 55 minutes. You will only record on your final check sheet five blue-tits as that is the maximum number you saw at one time.
4. Repeat this activity for three days at exactly the same time of day and for the same length of time each time. Over the three days only record the maximum amount of each species you saw over those days on your sheet.
17
Common Garden Birds
Birds included in the garden bird watch – they may or may not visit your feeders but they may be present. These are the garden birds that the RSPB concentrate on. If you see another bird, try to capture a picture of it. You can search for free bird apps on apple, android or google play.
17 5. Produce a graph of your results. You maybe never saw the point of
graphs, or they scared you. Graphs are just a convenient way of showing lots of numbers and they are used by scientists to display patterns and trends in data.
6. If you have access to a PC or laptop that has Microsoft Excel, then follow this simple guide to making a bar chart. The sooner you get used to using Excel the better! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Txpfyn4ipI.
Alternatively, just do it on paper, here’s how.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mKzTBYufaQ.
7. Now analyse you results by filling in this table.
Most common
bird/s
Least common
bird/s
Which bird/s
eat meal
worms
Which bird/s
eat
seeds/peanuts
8. Investigate the beak types of the birds that eat more seeds and peanuts are they the same or different to the birds that eat meal worms? Why do you think that might be? Find pictures of beaks and research beak shape and how it relates to food type.
9. Where did you find your information? Was the source reliable? Check out this guide and see if your sources fit the criteria for reliability
https://bowvalleycollege.libguides.com/research-help/evaluation
10.Engage with science. Read the linked article about how feeding birds has changed some of our garden birds. Two articles have been included – first a BBC report and then the source used by the BBC to write the report. Do they match? What does media do to scientific source material? Does it simplify it? Does it leave things out? How accurate is the media in its reporting? SCIENTISTS QUESTION EVERYTHING!
a. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41696123
b. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6361/365.full
Don’t worry if you didn’t get (b), it’s aimed at degree students,
however if you did! Amazing! You are well on the way to becoming an animal scientist!
17
Citizen Science
If you enjoyed the above or you are interested in helping out in any scientific field, then you may want to check out Zooniverse https://www.zooniverse.org/ which has projects from all over the world. Lots of the projects actually involve playing online games that are related to the project. Great for rainy (or lock in days!).
2.
Moral Maze
Should we all become vegan?
1. In animal science the question of ethics is nearly always a part of what we study. In fact, there is an ethics exam in the first year of level 3. Ethics is tricky for many people as there is never a definite right or wrong answer. Ethics is a grey area that is influenced by your nationality, age, gender identity, beliefs and many other factors. The key to ethics and ethical arguments is to provide a balanced overview of each side with the supporting evidence from reliable sources. The hardest thing about many ethical debates is to argue for
something that you totally disagree with. However, this is an excellent skill to develop as it forces you to see something from the other side and in doing so you can gain understanding into the outlook and mind-set of other people.
17 2. To help you with this task try to fill in the table below using your own feelings
and when necessary researching the topics. To build a balanced view that may help to answer the initial question “should we all become vegan?”
Veganism:
We hope that this guide has helped to inspire you during this strange time. We
are still here and we hope to welcome you onto your chosen course in the
new academic year.
All the best
Positive effects
on food
animals
Negative effects
on food animals
Positive effects
on the
environment
Negative effects on
the environment
Positive effects
on human
health
Negative effects
on human
health
Positive effects
on farming
Negative effects on
farming
