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Further Education Options

Many people working in green jobs discovered their interests through further study, practical experience, volunteering, work placements, hobbies, or conversations with people already working in the sector.

Further Education is a chance to build skills, gain qualifications, and explore the many different careers connected to nature and the environment.

Image of students outside

Taking Your Next Step

Whether you are considering your options for when your time comes to an end at secondary school, or considering a career change into a Green Job for Nature, there are a variety of different options available to you that will match your learning style and the role that you are considering moving into.

These options differ across the UK and Ireland – below we give an overview of what these could look like.

Charlotte Evans, a Marketing Executive at the Eden Project studied Animal Management at College

More Pathways Than You Might Expect

There are many choices open to people looking to make a purposeful step towards careers in the ecology and environmental management sector. At this stage, you can start to focus on subjects that interest you. This might mean specialising in areas linked to specific roles (such as Forestry), or continuing with broader subjects like Environmental Science to keep your options open. Some people enjoy diving deeper into one area, while others prefer to keep a mix of subjects as they figure out what suits them best.

Further Education (FE) can be available to both school leavers and those changing careers. Many mature learners choose vocational courses or apprenticeships, as these can reduce study costs and help you build practical, job-ready skills more quickly than a university degree.

A university degree is also a well-established and popular route into the sector, particularly if you enjoy academic study, research, and longer-term projects.

Technical Vocational Routes

Technical and vocational courses combine classroom learning with practical experience, helping you develop skills you’ll use directly in the workplace. These courses often feel varied and active, with no two days exactly the same.

For example, in a subject like Countryside Management, you might:

  • Spend the morning learning about ecology in a classroom (e.g. food webs or species interactions)
  • Head outdoors in the afternoon to manage habitats, use tools and machinery, or survey wildlife

Depending on your course, you might find yourself:

  • Working outside in different weather conditions
  • Using specialist equipment or machinery
  • Collecting data in the field or analysing samples in a lab
  • Working as part of a small team on practical tasks

These courses are offered under different qualification frameworks depending on location:

  • Ireland: Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses, including subjects like Applied Ecology
  • England: T Levels, BTECs, City & Guilds
  • Wales: BTECs, City & Guilds and similar qualifications
  • Scotland: Courses such as Level 5 Rural Skills, with pathways tailored to different land-based interests

Some courses lean more towards outdoor, hands-on work, while others focus on science, laboratory skills, or technical areas such as data analysis. For example, you might:

  • Learn lab techniques used to study soil, water, or biodiversity
  • Use digital tools to map habitats or track environmental change
  • Explore emerging areas like environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect species

These subjects can lead into a wide range of roles across the sector, including conservation, land management, communications, policy, and environmental science.

Each country will have it’s own set of qualifications, as well as finding a nearby training provider and asking what is available, you could use these websites:

Variety of Pathways into the Sector

Academic Routes (A Levels and Equivalents)

Academic qualifications are another pathway into green careers and tend to involve more classroom-based learning, coursework, and exams:

  • England, Wales, Northern Ireland: A Levels
  • Scotland: Highers and Advanced Highers
  • Ireland: Leaving Certificate subjects

Popular subject choices include:

  • Environmental Science
  • Biology
  • Geography

However, many other subjects also have strong applications across the sector, depending on your interests, including Maths, History, Geology, Art, Business, and Design & Technology.

This route may suit you if you enjoy structured learning, writing, research, and exploring ideas in depth, and want to keep a wide range of future options open.

Each country will have it’s own set of qualifications, as well as finding a nearby training provider and asking what is available, you could use these websites:

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