Today's school curriculum puts much more emphasis on environmental awareness and conservation, but away from school, these areas also offer a wide range of rewarding careers.

Job titles such as nature conservation officer and landscape ecologist appeal to school leavers and career changers looking for absorbing and worthwhile work. These positions sit within horticulture's heritage and conservation sector, along with other 21st-century job titles such as countryside manager, landscape manager and biodiversity officer.

These heritage and conservation job titles lie alongside the more traditional careers such as head gardener and botanic garden curator.

Those with a passion for history may even like to consider the job of garden historian, with its need for understanding of archaeology and the history of the wider landscape.

What's on offer

The heritage and conservation sector is huge. At one end of it is the maintenance and conservation of the natural landscape. One company that leads in this is EnterpriseMouchel - it was formerly called AccordMP - now a joint venture between these two grounds maintenance and highways giants.

According to the company's senior landscape manager David Ivison: "There are vast tracts of land that are the boundary to motorways and trunk roads, and I'm not just talking about grass verges. There are thousands of acres of land that does not necessarily have public access, but needs to be managed horticulturally and environmentally.

"Ours is a highways services business, offering a range of contracting, asset management and consultancy skills to clients, which includes the Highways Agency and local authorities.

"Such maintenance and preservation of the contemporary landscape is massively important to the environment."

A more traditional horticultural route comes in the form of work in heritage gardens, including those administered by the National Trust, English Heritage, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), local authorities and hundreds of private estates and gardens across the UK, such as those represented by the Historic Houses Association.

The curator, or head gardener, of these types of properties is typically responsible for overseeing their day-to-day management, implementing development and restoration where required, and often promoting the gardens to a wider audience. They need to manage staff, control budgets, and always see the wider picture.

An example of a garden with a dual purpose is Chester Zoo. Its glasshouses and covered structures allow plants and animals to co-exist. There is also a tropical, sub-tropical, Mediterranean and arid collection, which include the national collections of several sorts of cacti and succulents.

Mark Sparrow is the curator of horticulture and botany responsible for the care and development of these areas. He has a team of 14 full-time staff and their responsibilities include plant propagation and husbandry, glasshouse climate control and identifying and dealing with pest and diseases - with biological rather than by chemical treatments.

Sparrow, who was trained at Kew and has been at Chester for 13 years, says: "We always need to keep in mind that this is a zoo. Members of the public come here to view the animals, and to have an entertaining day out. But we are also a garden noted for its botanical planting and plant collections. This is very often the case with zoos - botany and zoology go hand-in-hand."

With the opening of large public garden, good customer care and communication skills are important. If you take just the RHS garden at Wisley in Surrey, and the top five botanic gardens, together they are visited by four million people a year. This has encouraged the administrators of these gardens to open new visitor services, and many of them also boost their revenue and profile by hosting events such as shows, conferences and concerts, at which staff may be expected to assist.

Getting in

In heritage horticulture, employers are looking for enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. Qualifications may not be necessary for an entrance job - school-leavers can attain positions as labourers and trainee or apprentice gardeners where they are available. Also, many National Trust, English Heritage and even Royal Parks take on volunteers and this experience can lead to a paid or full-time position.

A typical route into the heritage sector is through one of the horticultural colleges, in which the entry-level courses are open to school-leavers and mature students. This is a good start for a career in almost any horticultural job and it is not necessary to gain a specific qualification in historic or botanical gardens to get in at ground level.

The RHS garden at Wisley, the society's flagship garden, has operated a school of horticulture for a century, and currently provides work experience in blocks of one or two weeks to year-10 and year-11 students; and from four weeks to three months for horticulture students. There are thought to be twice as many over-55s of both sexes working in the sector as under-25s. These figures are hardly surprising given the high proportion of those entering the industry as a second career.

RHS principal horticultural training officer Tim Hughes says: "We have seen many career changers over the past few years. They bring into the industry skills from outside of horticulture.

"They tend to be very motivated and eager to learn quickly - in some ways they are eager to catch-up. Communication, IT and work-ethics are all transferable skills."

A more academic route into the environmental and conservation careers might come through courses such as those at Birkbeck College, University of London. Associate lecturer in environment, ecology and conservation Frances Burch says: "Studying any of our environment courses will introduce students to some of the cutting-edge issues at the forefront of popular debate.

"Potentially it can also provide them with a pathway to a career in central or local government, or in consultancy, or with non-governmental organisations, both in the UK or abroad."

School-leavers entering further education may be eligible for government grants, but mature students will usually have to fund themselves.

Some National Trust gardens offer tasters to schools in one- or two-week placements as part of the school's work experience programme.

Alternatively, work is available as a full-time volunteer on a six-month placement with accommodation provided at several National Trust properties.

Getting on

Horticulturists can look for funded further education via practical diploma courses such as those offered by the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, and RHS Wisley. Tim Hughes of the RHS says: "We offer a number of part-time courses, day or evening courses that are available to horticulturists who want to get on.

"The RHS qualifications, being modular, allow for working horticulturists to continue to develop their academic knowledge and gain nationally recognised and well-respected qualifications, from our Level 2 Certificate up to the degree-equivalent Master of Horticulture."

Six historic gardens offer training as part of the Professional Gardeners' Guild (PGG) traineeship, for those with two years' practical experience.

The PGG provides successful candidates with the opportunity to gain 'hands-on' experience, working as part of the team of three major gardens throughout the country.

Trainees spend a year in each garden, developing practical experience in a wide range of areas. In-house training focuses on plantsmanship, pruning, garden equipment, seasonal planting schemes and glasshouse skills.

Complementary training will be provided where appropriate by local colleges. Financial help is available for fully employed gardeners seeking qualifications through the PGG Trust, which makes awards twice a year.

Ivison at EnterpriseMouchel looks for graduates who have an interest not just in horticulture, but also the environment and ecology. He says: "For a landscape manager we need someone with certain horticultural skills - planting, specifying grass seed mixes, assessing soils, and so on - as well as ecological skills.

"It's important they can identify animal life such as protected birds, rodent and reptile life, and woodland, forestry and arboricultural knowledge, since only British native tree species are grown adjacent to the UK's highways."

A BSc graduate course in environmental and conservation studies could be just the thing in this case.

According to a spokesman for Birkbeck College: "Our Ecology and Conservation programme for 2009/10 is designed for students who wish to achieve an informed understanding of the diversity and organisation of life.

"We'll take students through the inter-relationships between organisms and their environment, the dynamics of natural and human-made ecosystems, and of the UK and international political, social, legislative and administrative framework of conservation.

"The programme provides a sound academic base for all those who wish to progress by understanding the principles and practice of wildlife conservation and environmental management."

Such courses overlap to some extent with pure horticulture, and include a plant ecology field course. With a couple of years' horticultural experience, perhaps with an NVQ Level 2 (SVQ Level 5 in Scotland), horticulturists can apply for the Historic and Botanic Garden Bursary Scheme (HBGBS).

In September the HBGBS will part-fund 13 trainees, providing work placements in historic and botanic gardens; the ages of students will range from 19 to 60 years, though many are career-changers in their 20s and 30s.

Specialist areas typically covered by HBGBS trainees include propagation, management of veteran trees, the restoration of walled gardens, and the keeping of records for plant collections.

PAYSCALE - TYPICAL SALARIES FOR THE SECTOR

Qualified gardener: £13.5-£19,000 pa
Environmental training assistant: £16-£17,000 pa
Landscape foreman: £18.2-£20,000 pa
Junior horticulturist at a botanic garden: £12.5-£16,000 pa
Senior horticulturist at a botanic garden: £17-£19,000 pa
Head gardener: £24-£30,000 pa
Private sector landscape manager: £25-£30,000 pa