So I think that I have already mentioned that I had some difficulty in finding an exam centre to sit the exams as an external candidate, and I understand that I was not alone in this difficulty.
I had assumed that I would be allowed to pay a local college to sit the exam there. This is what the RHS website states. After all, they were already holding the exam for their own students, so why wouldn’t they want to make a little extra money by giving me a desk in the room?! But I found that they all said “no” without giving me a reason.
Contacting the RHS, I enquired about setting up my own exam centre, imagining that all I would need would be a room with some desks in and some invigilators. It could be done, and easily! Just by hiring a community centre, meeting room in a hotel, or some sort of village hall, it would be a way to help anyone locally in the same position as me. There could be a whole network of external exam centres around the country! This could be the solution!
Alas! The RHS reply to me was as follows:
The security of our examinations is paramount and Ofqual require us to carry out a range of checks and have a formal agreement in place with the education provider. As a result and to ensure we meet our regulatory requirements our exams can only be delivered by those that are approved to deliver our qualifications.
The contrast is with some ACCA qualifications I recently took, which were all sat online. I went to a local exam centre to do these, which was open from 8am to 9pm, 7 days per week and was just a rented room in an office block. You could take the exam any time you were ready to, and it just felt as though the examining board were trying to make things easier for you to take their exams. The exams themselves were still difficult, so there was no question of lowering of standards – it was just that they seemed to want their students to pass and to go on to find meaningful work. It might just be that the ACCA’s modern approach is making the RHS stance seem so incredibly old fashioned. At least, it does to me.
The statement from the RHS does in some part explain to me why there I found it difficult to find free,openly available study materials for their courses – I must reiterate that this blog is NOT approved!
The RHS did go on to say:
We welcome people to contact us directly should they be having difficulty finding a suitable venue as we may be able to assist.
So if you are having difficulty in finding somewhere to sit the exams, pester the RHS! I doubt that they would be able to instruct an independent college to give you a place, so you should probably still keep looking yourself, but perhaps they might come to realise that the world is moving forwards and that they need to keep pace. If you stop moving forwards, you don’t stand still; you’re moving backwards relative to everyone else! That’s not to say that they have nothing to offer – they do – but they need to make things more accessible. Why should the qualifications only be accessible for people who can afford to pay for a college course (and the time to attend it)? Since the RHS is saying that only their authorised colleges can hold the exams, and those colleges only accept exam candidates who pay them to attend the full course and the exam, lots of talented people are being locked out. Quality information should be available for anyone who wants it, not just only for those who can afford it!
And I guess that’s why I decided to write this blog.
Gardening studies 