Cork 2023: Unlocking next generation skills in €230m schem

One of the largest ETBs in the country, Cork Education and Training Board delivers a range of services, including primary and post-primary, further education and training (FET), special education, and youth and outdoor education services across the region.

In 2022 it provided for 34,983 learners, with a total staff cohort of over 3,500, making it one of the largest employers in the region, with a budget of over €230 million, according to John Fitzgibbons, director of FET at Cork ETB.

Blazing a trail in the development of community special schools, Cork ETB opened the state’s first community special school in Carrigaline in 2020, followed by a school in Rochestown in 2022. A new community special school is due to open in Carrigtwohill later this year.

Population growth in several of the large towns in Cork county, as well as growing demand for the quality and breadth of education provided by Cork ETB’s schools, was evidenced by significant development projects including in Carrigtwohill, Midleton, Bandon, Coachford, and Ballincollig, Fitzgibbons said.

Under the new banner of Cork College of FET, the Cork ETB’s further education and training services continue to play a key role within the developing integrated national tertiary sector.

“A key priority of the government to build a comprehensive, integrated tertiary education sector that includes both FET and higher education has not required significant adjustment or step change in Cork,” Fitzgibbons contended.

“The principles of collaboration and engagement have been well established for many years, evidenced not least by Cork ETB, University College Cork (UCC) and Munster Technological University (MTU) being three of the principle partners, along with Cork City Council, behind Cork as a learning city and its recognition by Unesco in 2019 as the first learning city on the island.”

The collaboration between the three partners, along with Kerry ETB, has taken another step forward with confirmation from Simon Harris, Minister for Higher Education, of new pathways for students to commence their studies in FET and progress seamlessly toward completing their degree in higher education.

“The details of the new pathways will be formally announced by the minister shortly,” Fitzgibbons said. “However, the courses announced under the initiative this year are, according to the presidents and chief executives of the Cork/Kerry partnership, locally designated the ‘New Horizons’, only the first step and evidence of a shared ambition to provide accessible, easily understood and navigated pathways and opportunities to learn for the widest possible cohort of learners.”

‘New Horizons’ will build on the work done over many years by Cork ETB, UCC and MTU, and the project group has already identified several areas for development over the coming years.

“A small yet significant collaboration between Cork ETB and MTU this year saw the joint development of an inclusive music education programme, the first of its type in the country, aimed at providing access to music education in FET and higher education for learners with disabilities.” FW: Query

Underpinning Cork ETB’s efforts to meet the requirements of FET learners, employers and businesses in the region is its ongoing development of Cork College of FET, announced in spring 2022.

“The development, an embedding of Cork College of FET, is making steady progress, with the alignment of courses under a unified department structure to better enable the development of new courses and provide simpler and more consistent communications with learners and employers,” Fitzgibbons said.

“Cork ETB will continue to develop the college of FET over the coming years, with plans to introduce courses, both full and new part-time, on a phased basis.”

He said the changing economic and employment situation had necessitated, and would continue to require, Cork College of FET and its campuses to reframe the course offering and delivery.

“With unprecedented low levels of unemployment – 2.8 per cent in the southwest – and more people in employment than ever before, providing upskilling and reskilling opportunities for people in employment has taken a more significant place in Cork ETB’s FET delivery.”

Through the Skills to Advance initiative, funded by Solas, education and training opportunities are being delivered to an increasing number of workers in consultation and collaboration with their employers.

The programme allows employers, either individually or as part of a regional or sectoral grouping, to have education and training in identified skills areas delivered at no cost to the employee and minimal cost to the employer.

Feedback from employers on the training had highlighted the value to their companies, not only as a result of improved skill levels but also in increased employee satisfaction and staff retention, a key factor for them in maintaining competitiveness in an environment with significant recruitment challenges, Fitzgibbons said.

In May, Cork College of FET’s team at Bishopstown campus welcomed Minister Simon Harris, to officially open Cork ETB’s new Near Zero Energy Building (NZEB) and retrofitting centre of excellence.

The centre will contribute to national policy priorities on housing for all, including housing construction, retrofitting of homes and carbon reduction.

It will offer training to approximately 1,500 learners annually to apply NZEB principles in electrical, plastering, plumbing, bricklaying and carpentry skills, as well as retrofitting skills and external wall insulation, air tightness, ventilation and insulation. This will be further enhanced through upskilling courses in solar and heat pump technologies.

Harris said at the opening that this was an exciting time for skills provision and training in Munster. “The new centre in Bishopstown will play a crucial role in this. Learners can access the skills training needed to achieve the government’s target of retrofitting 500,000 homes to BER B2 rating by 2030.

“This new centre will give learners the best possible chance to succeed in their careers while delivering significant benefits for the region. These courses are fast, flexible and free.”

The chief executive of Solas, Andrew Brownlee said its pledge was to provide every FET learner with the green skills and sustainability awareness to allow them to serve as agents of change on climate action.

Denis Leamy, chief executive of Cork ETB, said it had made a deliberate decision to site the centre at the Bishopstown Campus, alongside the craft apprenticeship delivery, to ensure that all phase-two craft apprentices passing through the centre could complete NZEB training in parallel with their apprenticeship activities.

Solas plans to have a cumulative total of 4,550 trainees complete NZEB training by the end of this year.

The opening of Cork ETB’s NZEB centre of excellence was one element in the ETB’s wider focus on sustainability and it planned to deliver additional courses and programmes in the coming years, some in partnership with higher education, to meet the region’s needs, Leamy said.

Environmental sustainability is already being delivered in the workplace under the Skills to Advance initiative. It has identified the transport sector, and its move away from high-emitting fuel sources towards electric and other power sources, as one of its next areas for development.

One of the significant areas that Cork ETB had been involved in over the last 15 months, which gave an insight into the ETB and the sector’s ability to react effectively in a very short period of time, was the response to the needs of the Ukrainian refugees being settled in the region, Fitzgibbons said.

“The level of English language tuition and support put in place in a very short period has played a significant contribution to the integration of these people into our communities, paving the way for them to enter into the labour market and or other studies,” he said.

Meanwhile, increased capacity is being introduced to meet the demands of craft apprenticeships and new apprenticeships. Cork ETB is introducing the national sales apprenticeship in September in collaboration with Mayo Sligo and Leitrim Education Board.

“At the same time, we continue to deliver education and training across all levels from level one to level six on the national framework of qualifications and to improve and increase the pathways for progression for learners,” said Fitzgibbons.