Coming changes with ISA: Qualification vs. Certification

[Sunrise Guy]

For those of you who do not follow ISA's general comings and goings, a change is in the wind: It looks like, very soon, ISA will be offering "Qualified" this and that credentials to those individuals who sit for a class and then pass a written and practical exam. While this may mean nothing to those of you who are out there doing take-downs and pruning jobs without any formal credentials, whatsoever, to those working under very strict municipal ordinances, such as those that I work under in Austin, TX., it may mean quite a lot.

The first Qualification that appears to be in the offing, this Spring, is that of Qualified Tree Risk Assessor. Given ISA's knack for working its way into quite cozy relationships with given municipalities, I can see where this is heading: Only those with this qualification will be able to fill out Tree Risk Assessment surveys for a given city as the same may apply to the removal of a given tree of X" DBH. More hoops to jump through, to be sure. Thing is, I'm in favor of this program, as the more we learn, the better qualified we are, hopefully, to do our job. You can bet, though, that these qualifications will not come cheap. So far, ISA has not posted a fee structure for the class and test. I'm sure that will change, shortly.

The qualification for any given specialized niche will not be renewable with CEU's and a fee. That is, you will need to retake the complete class and tests to requalify. A five-year program retake/retest has been mentioned.

ISA sees their Certification program, now, as an indicator that a certificate holder has a more general overview of a given body of knowledge. With the qualification program, individuals will be seen more as specialists, if you will, in given areas. Again, if ISA can get the word out to the public, no easy task, that, it may get to the point where these qualification programs will pigeonhole you into certain areas of the whole arboricultural knowledge base: Qualified Pruning Specialist, Qualified Tree Removal Specialist, Qualified Root Excavation Specialist, etc., etc.

Ah, yes, the coffers of ISA should swell, indeed, even as the money in our bank accounts does the opposite.

Stay tuned for further developments-----

 

[arathol]

Nothing really new there. I'm a bit surprised it took so long to do this. Municipalities already do the same thing with their employees and have been doing it for years. I have a whole folder full of papers that say I am qualified and/or certified to do this or that because I went to certain classes. There is something from just about every aspect of municipal maintenance work, including hazardous tree risk assessment. I did that class some 5 years ago.

 

[Slvrmple72]

Sign me up for the Qualified Ashmaster Program. I like swimming in Chedda.....

 

[treeseer]

... I'm in favor of this program, as the more we learn, the better qualified we are, hopefully, to do our job. ...

:msp_thumbup:

 

[TreeGuyHR]

Everyone wants to be an expert, and often sound like they are, but few actually are. In regard to trees, an expert continues to learn about trees at every opportunity because they like to do so. Qualifications vs. Certifications? these are just words that will get you a credential on the wall after attending a class, taking a test, AND having x years of experience. That last one is probably more important, although I always learn something at ISA or ASCA conferences, as well as getting CEUs.

The whole process is intended to try and engender life-long learning and weed out the pretenders. Sure it costs time and money, that's a given like death and taxes.:msp_biggrin:

 

[mckeetree]

I can get on board with that. I, along with several other arborist in the Dallas area, would like to see a licensing program in Texas similar to plumbers and electricians. I'm tired of competing with dead beats, illegal aliens, crooks and idiots of every stripe. Enforcement would be the problem. I can see that with the pesticide applicator program here. In the past three years or so some of the "amigos" realized there was potential to make money from diagnosis and treatment of insects and disease. Problem is they don't have a license to apply or even a faint clue as to what they are doing. Believe it or not some really, really, really naive homeowners hire these outlaws. It is absolutely unbelievable what I have seen some of these renegade applicators do. Next step? Turn'em in, right? Well you can, but the problem is nothing ever comes of it. That is really frustrating for the rest of us.

 

[mckeetree]

The whole process is intended to try and engender life-long learning and weed out the pretenders.

Exactly. "The pretenders" are a huge problem in this industry.