Open Awards · RQF Entry Level

Open Awards Entry Level Award in Horticulture Skills (Entry 2) (RQF)

You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.

  • LevelRQF Entry Level
  • Total credits6
  • Guided learning60 hours
  • Units in this qualification14

Awarded by Open Awards · on the Ofqual register

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What you’ll learn

What each unit actually teaches you to do

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These are the units Open Awards registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.

Edge up an Amenity AreaReal unit · Open Awards
This unit develops learners' practical skills to edge lawns, flowerbeds, or shrubbery neatly and to specified standards. You'll use tools correctly, create defined edges, and safely remove and dispose of waste material.

What you'll be able to do

  • Demonstrate the ability to edge up a lawn to a defined standard.
  • Demonstrate the ability to edge up a flowerbed to a defined standard.
  • Demonstrate the ability to edge up shrubbery to a defined standard.
Health and Safety AwarenessReal unit · Open Awards
This unit develops learners' awareness of health and safety procedures in the workplace. You'll describe relevant procedures, identify sources of information, explain the importance of compliance, and observe safe working practices to recognise potential hazards and consequences of non-adherence.

What you'll be able to do

  • Describe relevant Health and Safety procedures in the workplace
  • Explain the importance of following Health and Safety procedures
  • Observe safe working practices in accordance with Health and Safety procedures
  • Identify potential hazards in the workplace
Insert Plant MaterialReal unit · Open Awards
It teaches you to insert plant material correctly using specified techniques. You'll follow instructions and specifications to ensure the inserted material meets required standards.

What you'll be able to do

  • Demonstrate the ability to insert plant material correctly.
Introduction to Customer CareReal unit · Open Awards
You'll understand the concept and importance of customer care in the workplace. They will recognise their own role and responsibilities in providing customer care and demonstrate appropriate behaviour when interacting with customers.

What you'll be able to do

  • Understand what customer care means in the workplace, including its importance and benefits
  • Understand own role in providing customer care, including responsibilities and expected behaviour
Introduction to the Propagation of PlantsReal unit · Open Awards
You'll recognise different forms and sources of embryo plants and understand the importance of appropriate planting techniques. This includes correct depth, spacing, support, and protection to ensure successful propagation.

What you'll be able to do

  • Recognise different forms of embryo plants.
  • Identify sources of embryo plants.
  • Understand the need to plant appropriately.
Maintain a FenceReal unit · Open Awards
You'll learn to maintain fences safely and to a satisfactory standard. They will identify defects, carry out repairs, use appropriate personal protective equipment, and recognise potential hazards during maintenance tasks.

What you'll be able to do

  • Maintain a fence to a satisfactory standard
  • Work safely when maintaining a fence
Maintain a FootpathReal unit · Open Awards
You'll gain skills to maintain footpaths by identifying defects and hazards, carrying out minor repairs, clearing debris, and applying appropriate materials. They will work safely in accordance with relevant health and safety legislation.

What you'll be able to do

  • Maintain a footpath to a safe and usable standard
  • Work safely, adhering to health and safety guidelines
Prepare and Plant an AreaReal unit · Open Awards
It teaches you to prepare an area for planting by assessing and improving soil conditions. You'll select and plant suitable plants, seeds, or bulbs with correct depth and spacing, maintaining a safe and tidy working environment.

What you'll be able to do

  • Prepare an area for planting, ensuring appropriate soil conditions
  • Plant an area with plants, seeds or bulbs
  • Work in a safe and tidy manner when planting, minimising risks and maintaining a clean workspace
Recognise Parts of PlantsReal unit · Open Awards
This unit focuses on recognising different parts of plants, including roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits. You'll gain knowledge of the functions of each part and their roles in plant growth, reproduction, and survival.

What you'll be able to do

  • Recognise parts of plants, identifying roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits.
  • Know the functions of parts of a plant, understanding their roles in growth, reproduction, and survival.
Recognise Use and Care for Tools Used in HorticultureReal unit · Open Awards
It teaches you to recognise, use, and care for common horticultural tools. You'll identify tools, demonstrate safe and correct use, and understand procedures for cleaning and storing tools to maintain their condition.

What you'll be able to do

  • Identify different tools used in horticulture
  • Demonstrate the correct use of tools used in horticulture
  • Describe procedures for the care of tools used in horticulture
  • Explain the importance of maintaining tools in good working order
Shred Waste VegetationReal unit · Open Awards
You'll gain the skills to prepare waste vegetable matter for shredding, operate shredding machinery safely according to manufacturer instructions, and manage the shredding process. The unit also covers appropriate disposal of shredded material.

What you'll be able to do

  • Prepare waste vegetable matter for shredding
  • Operate a shredding machine safely and effectively
  • Monitor the shredding process to ensure optimal results
  • Dispose of shredded waste vegetable matter appropriately
Sustainability and Our EnvironmentReal unit · Open Awards
You'll gain knowledge of sustainability principles and their importance for the environment and future generations. They will understand how sustainability meets resource needs and contributes to environmental protection.

What you'll be able to do

  • Know why sustainability is important, including its impact on the environment and future generations
  • Know how sustainability meets our needs, including resource management and environmental protection
Water plant material by handReal unit · Open Awards
This unit equips learners with skills to water plant material by hand using hoses or watering cans. You'll understand different watering equipment, adjust techniques based on plant type, and consider environmental factors affecting watering needs.

What you'll be able to do

  • Water plant material using a hose or watering can, applying the correct amount of water for the plant type and environmental conditions
Weed a Planted AreaReal unit · Open Awards
This unit equips learners with skills to weed planted areas by hand effectively. You'll identify common weeds, apply correct removal techniques to minimise damage to desired plants, and dispose of removed weeds appropriately.

What you'll be able to do

  • Weed a planted area by hand, identifying and removing unwanted plants effectively

The honest bit

You’ve started things before

Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.

There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.

And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.

Your passport

Every credit is a stamp you keep

Entry Level credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.

Edge up an Amenity AreaHealth and Safety AwarenessInsert Plant MaterialIntroduction to Customer CareIntroduction to the Propagation of PlantsMaintain a FenceMaintain a FootpathPrepare and Plant an Area

Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.

Who’d teach you this

The Evidence Evaluator

Assessor

Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.

Meet all twelve tutors

Where this connects

Where these credits take you

A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.

Where this can lead

H&S Training Coordinator

Your journey starts here, but where it goes is really up to you. We're committed to providing the opportunities and support for you to build a meaningful and impactful career in health and safety, whether that's as a hands-on trainer, a data guru, or a future leader.

See the whole journey →

Showing 3 roles, drawn from 4 job records mapped to this qualification.

Skills it covers

What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.

Maintain and repair paths or surfaces

How you’ll actually learn this

One-to-one, on your own real work

A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.

One-to-one, on your real workNo lectures, no past-papers. Every unit is practised on the actual tasks your job throws at you, a tutor beside you, not a video in front of you.
Taught to the top, not the testMost courses stop at remembering. Your companion keeps climbing: analysing, judging, creating. That’s the part a machine can’t do for you.
Credits you keep, a map that continuesEvery unit is regulated and yours for good. The day you finish, Zavmo already knows the next role your new credits open.
Edge up an Amenity AreaEntry Level

Applied to your work in any of these jobs

This unit develops learners' practical skills to edge lawns, flowerbeds, or shrubbery neatly and to specified standards. Learners will use tools correctly, create defined edges, and safely remove and dispose of waste material.

How the thinking builds
  1. Remember
  2. Understand
  3. Apply
  4. Analyse
  5. Evaluate
  6. Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.
Your PlanIllustration

Built for Open Awards Entry Level Award in Horticulture Skills (Entry 2) (RQF)

14 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by Open Awards.

  1. Edge up an Amenity Area
  2. Health and Safety Awareness
  3. Insert Plant Material
  4. Introduction to Customer Care
  5. Introduction to the Propagation of Plants
  6. Maintain a Fence

and 8 more in the full unit list below.

These are the real units of this credential, in its own order. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

One to one, not one to many

No two people run this the same way

A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.

  1. Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
  2. What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
  3. The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
  4. How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
  5. Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.

See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.

Why it sticks

Most courses stop at remembering

There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.

  1. 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
  2. 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
  3. 4AnalyseThe Analyst
  4. 3ApplyThe Coach
  5. 2UnderstandThe Connector
  6. 1RememberThe Builder

Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you

Why this matters: AI can already remember and understand for you. What it can’t do is take your real problem and judge the right call. So the only learning worth paying for is the learning that takes you to the top. That’s exactly what a tutor doing it with you, on your real work, is for.

The value

Why the companion is worth £70 a month

You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.

That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.

Earned on your own work, taught to the top.

Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.

Build my plan, free

No card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.