Writtle College: A piece of home away from home

Nigel, Simon and Rebecca in a glasshouse at Writtle College. Australian technical teachers should make note of the relaxed attitude to the correct workplace footwear in the UK!
Your wistful correspondent looking at the soon-to-be-sold Writtle College Red Polls
An extremely large variegated thistle in a habitat garden.
Some of the college's Mules ewes with Texcel cross lambs at foot
A sign of the changing times in the feeding shed at Writtle College with Euro-cross cattle in residence
Rebecca Harris, Animal Production lecturer

Writtle College: A piece of home away from home

Writtle College is located within 3 kilometres of the major city of Chelmsford in Essex. The rural nature of the campus could not be guessed until you enter the village then the college. It has become, in the shakeout of post-secondary education, a partner of the University of Essex, the main campus of the university being located at Colchester [home to the parents of Lucy King, Cert 3 Agriculture, Richmond TAFE, 2010].

The college offers a similar array of courses to Richmond College, with the strong sections being Agriculture, Horticulture, Equine Studies and Animal Studies. Originally it was known as a centre for agriculture studies, but trends in enrolments and costs of course offerings has seen a change in the past 10 years or so. The now Secretary of the UK Red Poll Society, Ray Bowler, was previously employed as dairyman then farm and estate manager of Writtle College, but has moved on in the past few years as directions at the college have changed. There is no longer a dairy herd at the college, and numerous other changes have led to the Red Poll herd also being no longer required.

The college has a number of sites mainly adjacent to the village of Writtle. One gloriously-named section is called Cow Watering Lane, and it is the main site of the agricultural facilities. [There are reminders of Piggery Lane in this.] There are sheds for pig production, cattle feeding and sheds for sheep. Equine facilities are also located in this area. Full cycles of pig production are managed by the staff with the additional help of students at different levels of study throughout the cycles. From my previous posts, the education of students at the technical and undergraduate level in the UK is less well defined than in NSW. Further Education here takes students up to Foundation Degree level (roughly equivalent to our Diploma qualifications) but students can then convert their foundation studies to First Degrees with an extra year of study. [Those reading this from the UK who are involved in Further and Higher Education may wish to comment as to whether or not I have the correct end of the stick at this point.]

Students in the different courses are responsible for a different set of activities and therefore competencies (in our TAFEspeak), and in the main the lecturers keep to their specific courses. The demise of the Red Poll herd is partly due, I believe, to a change in direction of performance recording for beef cattle at the college (a Higher Education initiative) and now animals with a strong Euro-cross profile (Belgian Blue crosses) have replaced the breeding herd. These animals will be bought in and then complete the production process by being slaughtered at 22 to 24 months of age. An indication of the changes in handling of the cattle is shown by the photograph of a sign indicating that a particular heifer kicks, an unnecessary sign when Red Polls were in the feed sheds.

The farm facilities were very good, with pasture area, cropping areas, a warm season grazing area for the cattle and sheep (again the favoured cross-breeds in this part of the world, known as mules because I don’t think anyone can remember which breeds are in them). The ewes and lambs and the Belgian Blue crosses were having a great time in the sun and enjoying the 28 degrees of warmth. The cattle are used by the agriculture students as a regular part of their training but also are handled and treated by the Animal Care students (a similar range of courses to ours, from animal facility worker through to veterinary nurse with other streams in between). The capabilities of the Animal Care students were at times questionable, according to some staff members, as they were only involved with farm animals for a short part of their course.

The strength of the college, for my money, lies in the value of its teachers. I had the pleasure to spend some time with Rebecca Harris, Animal Production lecturer, Simon Grundy, a Horticulture Hard Landscape lecturer (brickwork, stonework and construction) and Nigel (surname restricted to protect the innocent), also a Hort teacher in plants and garden design. An afternoon in the sun being shown around the facilities and then having an opportunity to discuss the ins and outs of our representative organisations has led me to believe that we essentially deal with the same issues even though we are so far apart. Restructures, course reaccreditations, funding changes, student attitudes and performance: all issues that Ag and Hort teachers at Richmond College will have dealt with and will deal with in the future. It was refreshing and equally concerning to hear that some course outcomes had been revised to meet minimal industry standards with little consultation with the teaching staff involved. There is also talk of degree courses being delivered within 2 years at a significant loss of face-to-face teaching but fees charged increasing. The management of the teaching of these courses by the lecturers involved could be enhanced by setting up an exchange of ideas from each of our countries as we both have plenty to learn from each other.

A short tour through the Hort teaching areas showed that much of our course areas are similar, with workshops and garden areas being reminiscent of those at Richmond. A rock-climbing wall had been installed in one section of the workshop as a practice area for outdoor recreation students, but Simon was relieved as its removal will allow more floor space for his students. Exotic plants over here include some that would be questioned by Richmond Hort teachers, and all the Ag teachers would rail at the inclusion of variegated thistle in a planted garden area. It apparently is a good source of pollen for native insects and also provides a suitable habitat for small birds. I just felt like kicking it out, but I remembered that I was a guest at the college.

My deepest thanks go to Becs, the animal studies lecturer for her time during an obviously busy period towards the end of term. She took time to photograph me in amongst the last of the Red Poll heifers at the college, and it was quite a moment for me. She also introduced me to the obviously English method of driving a car some distance with the handbrake engaged. I can’t wait to put this new skill into action. Simon and Nigel gave their time freely as well as their thoughts, and I greatly appreciated the frankness of all three teachers. The thought of a teacher exchange program was discussed and should be taken further. We can all learn from each other’s travels. Once again it was both refreshing but disappointing that we have so much in common so far from each other. This was a great experience for me on a hot and sunny afternoon.