Hi all,

I am looking for a course (preferably online course or somewhere in Scotland) that would set me up well for educating people about conservation. Especially young people.

This is basically my job already, I lead a team that gives guided tours and talks in Edinburgh Zoo (very conservation-orientated) but I would like a way to take this aspect of my work further, and a qualification could be just the thing. I'd rather not leave my job but would happily go part-time to further my career.

My academic background is 2:1 in psychology, but I did focus on comparative (evolutionary/animal) psychology and have been doing conservation-related work for almost 2 years now.

Is there any route that could be directly supported by my psych background? Would I be better going for a qualification in education rather than conservation?

Any help or tips much appreciated, my course search is in its very early stages so all thoughts are useful.

Thanks in advance to any respondents!
Regards, Arren

It's not my field, but I suspect what you describe might be a little too specific. At least, I don't know if you'd find Masters/PGcert/PGdip level qualifications on that topic. I wonder whether organisations like the National Trust might offer short courses in along those lines though.

An alternative to consider would be a PG course in science communication more broadly. This would cover topics beyond conservation, and non-education settings, but it might be more career enhancing in terms of giving you more options.

The other thing I would suggest is identify people in the kind of roles you would want to move towards and ask them whether they've done any relevant courses. Or indeed whether such qualifications really would enhance your career prospects, or whether it's experience that counts.