- Soil Association
- Certification
- Forestry
- Training and Other Services
Training and Other Services
As well as our certification portfolio, the Soil Association Forestry team develop training and partnership initiatives with a view to growing sustainable forest practices at every level.
We provide a range of forest certification training services targeted at relevant professionals. So, whether you are a trainee auditor, a current - or future - certificate holder, a certification consultant or researcher, or just someone working for an organisation that has an interest in forest certification (e.g. an NGO), we have an option designed for you.
Using our experience and expertise as an FSC® and PEFCTM certification body, we employ many expert assessors to provide the right training for you based on our work with hundreds of current certificate holders around the world, along with our deep understanding of the FSC and PEFC systems and standards.
We offer a training approach that is specifically suited to your needs. Typically, our courses are blended in nature, consisting of both e-learning and in-person training. However, there are options to select one or the other, depending on what will work best for you - for example:
Using our online learning management system, we can cost effectively provide refresher training and assessments to large numbers simultaneously. Alternatively, we can provide in-person training for groups of 5-20, lasting between 1 and 5 days, depending on your specific requirements.
As well as the ability to provide a package to suit your needs in a location that works for you, all of our training is also fully compliant with our independence as FSC and PEFC service providers. This means that, whilst our courses are based on our longstanding expertise as a certification body, we cannot advise on specific certification requirements for your organisation.
Our FSC training courses have been submitted to support our application to become a provider of approved FSC training courses in line with FSC® PRO 20-004 (General Requirements for an FSC Training Programme). When approved, those who select and successfully complete the full Forest Management or Chain of Custody Excellence courses will receive a valid training certificate as a crucial step towards becoming a qualified FSC auditor. These courses will also be of interest to certificate holders and other providers of certification services.
Our full FSC and PEFC Excellence courses are a systematic way to learn everything that an FSC or PEFC auditor needs to know.
- The full Forest Management course consists of a number of e-learning modules combined with a 4 day in-person training course (5 days, when taken in combination with the ISO auditing techniques course).
- The full Chain of Custody course consists of a number of e-learning modules combined with a 3 day in-person training course (4 days, when taken in combination with the ISO 190011 auditing techniques course).
Within these courses, you will learn on both an individual and team basis through a comprehensive set of exercises designed to replicate real-world audit scenarios.
In addition to our FSC and PEFC forest certification courses, we also offer an innovative course on Responsible Forest Management and Sustainable Forest Product Supply Chains, available to participants from a worldwide audience. It takes place over 11 days at Shuttleworth House and Woodlands in Bedfordshire over 11 days as both a residential and non-residential programme.
If you’d like to learn more about our courses or for all training course registrations, questions, and applications for bursaries, please contact our Course Director, Clive Thomas: forestrytraining@soilassociation.org.