Solas from Ireland - Green Skills Award 2024 Finalist
In Ireland, the further education and training sector plays a key role in raising awareness of the skills needed to drive sustainable development and tackle climate change.
SOLAS – the state agency that oversees the building of a “world class Further Education and Training Sector” – is using its clout to ensure that a new range of short, flexible, innovative and accredited courses in green skills are introduced throughout Ireland.
Mary Lyons, Director, Enterprise, Employees and Skills at SOLAS, says that the “Micro-Qualifications” in seven subjects, introduced in 2022, are ideal for providing “wide and easy access to green qualifications to both employees and employers.”
The SOLAS project is among the ten finalists in the European Training Foundation’s Green Skills Award 2024.
The courses, which include Environmental Sustainability, Lean Practice, Resource Efficiency, the Circular Economy, Eco Driving, and Sustainable Supply Chain Procurement, are delivered across Ireland by its network of 16 Education and Training Boards.
All the courses, developed in collaboration with industry, are credit-based and ‘stackable’ – progressing from Level 4 FET courses in Environmental Sustainablity Awareness aimed at all students in the system, to a Level 6 course in the Circular Economy for the Workplace.
The Micro-Qualifications are targeted at employees in businesses of all sizes. A minimum of 5 credits (50 hours total learner effort) per course was seen as “ideas for employees as an accredited programme with a shorter timeframe to allow them to achieve certification and implement the learning in work more quickly.”
Each programme includes PowerPoint slide decks, e-workbooks, infographics, promotional videos, and Continuous Professional Development videos on programme content to support tutors self-evaluate against validation criteria.
Rigorous quality control by the local education and training boards ensures learners progress through the Micro-Qualifications to achieve the target outcomes.
The green Micro-Qualifications have been “a gamechanger for Irish business,” Mary says.
The scheme enables the FET sector to contribute to sustainable development by “equipping learners with green skills that can drive future change and provide opportunities for companies to develop the skills needed to compete in a low carbon, resource efficient, and circular economy.”
More than 1,600 learners from Ireland’s FET sector’s annual 200,000 students have so far started one of the green Micro-Qualifications and feedback from industry have been overwhelmingly positive.
One business leader’s comment for courses from the industry-focused Level 5 Green Awareness programme, sums up the response: “We were able to bring all these news skills back to the business basically straight away, starting off with waste segregation, looking at reusable items for the business, cutting out plastics, and also energy saving.”
Others mentioned “reduced costs” and “improved efficiency” and a new awareness of environmental responsibility in staff among the benefits.
“The project has the scope to scale up and provide green skills training to all learners in the FET system,” Mary notes. “There are huge opportunities for FET to support the green economy to upskill employees, create awareness and grow sustainable areas.”
By collaborating with strategic partners including the Environmental Protection Agency, Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland, Irish Water and other interested agencies, SOLAS believes it has created a programme with lasting value.
“Offering accredited sustainable qualifications to employees at little or no cost to employers, Micro-Qualifications are a new route to future-proofing businesses, upskilling staff in line with future business needs, and flexibly delivered to fit busy work schedules,” Mary concludes.