Garden Design - QLS Level 3 Course

The Garden Design - QLS Level 3 Course is a positive step in taking control of how you can plan and create your garden. It could also be the first step towards a successful garden design business.

Garden designers need to be trained in the principles of design and in horticulture, and have an excellent knowledge and experience of using plants. Our distance learning Garden Design course will teach you about the Design Layout, considering elements such as paths, walls, landscape features, water features, sitting areas and decking.

The courses also cover information about the plants themselves, with consideration given to their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, size, speed of growth, and combinations with other plants.

On successful completion of this course students will receive a QLS Level 3 Endorsed Certificate of Achievement.

You will receive access to the course materials through an online portal for a 12-month period. Students can use the portal for accessing their course materials, submitting assignments and to log tutor questions.

Please Note: An optional hard-copy book version of the course notes can also be purchased for £48.00.

This is handy if learners also want to work away from the computer and means they have course notes they can keep and refer back to beyond their online course license.

Delivery of the hard-copy materiuals is usually within 5 to 10 day working days.

There are no particular entry requirements for this course, so students can sign up providing they are comfortable studying at a Level 3 standard.

You can start this course at any time, and you would be registered for a one-year period. You also have access to a personal tutor who can be contacted by email. Your tutor is available to assist with any queries and to mark your assignments for the Awarding Body.

As the course is self-study, you can complete it as quickly as you like. Support extensions are available if students do not complete the course within the one-year period.

The course is assessed by a series of written assignments, which are submitted to and marked by your course tutor. There is no external examination required.

At the end of this course, successful learners will receive a QLS Level 3 Endorsed Certificate of Achievement from the Quality Licence Scheme and a Learner Unit Summary (which lists the components the learner has completed as part of the course).

The Quality Licence Scheme is part of the Skills and Education Group, a charitable organisation that unites education and skills-orientated organisations that share similar values and objectives. With more than 100 years of collective experience, the Skills and Education Group’s strategic partnerships create opportunities to inform, influence and represent the wider education and skills sector.

The Skills and Education Group also includes two nationally recognised awarding organisations; Skills and Education Group Awards and Skills and Education Group Access. Through our awarding organisations we have developed a reputation for providing high-quality qualifications and assessments for the education and skills sector. We are committed to helping employers, organisations and learners cultivate the relevant skills for learning, skills for employment, and skills for life.

Our knowledge and experience of working within the awarding sector enables us to work with training providers, through the Quality Licence Scheme, to help them develop high-quality courses and/or training programmes for the non-regulated market.

The course has been endorsed under the Quality Licence Scheme. This means that O-S-C has undergone an external quality check to ensure that the organisation and the courses it offers, meet defined quality criteria. The completion of this course alone does not lead to a regulated qualification* but may be used as evidence of knowledge and skills gained. The Learner Unit Summary may be used as evidence towards Recognition of Prior Learning if you wish to progress your studies in this subject. To this end the learning outcomes of the course have been benchmarked at Level 3 against level descriptors published by Ofqual, to indicate the depth of study and level of demand/complexity involved in successful completion by the learner. 

The course itself has been designed by O-S-C to meet specific learners’ and/or employers’ requirements which cannot be satisfied through current regulated qualifications. The Quality Licence Scheme endorsement involves robust and rigorous quality audits by external auditors to ensure quality is continually met. A review of courses is carried out as part of the endorsement process.

You can find more information on level descriptors from our Certification Overview Page.

*Regulated qualification refers to those qualifications that are regulated by Ofqual / CCEA / Qualification Wales