Cork College of FET offers companies the key to continued staff skills development

One of the country’s largest Education Training Boards (ETBs), Cork ETB 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.

Under the new banner of Cork College of FET, Cork ETB’s Further Education and Training services play a key role in providing upskilling and reskilling education and training for Cork, with a wealth of opportunities available for those in employment to upskill and reskill on a part-time basis while continuing to work full time, through the apprenticeship system and the Skills to Advance upskilling programme.

John Fitzgibbon, director of FET at Cork ETB, said it provides for over 35,000 learners, with a total staff of approximately 3,500, making it one of the largest employers in the region, with a budget of over €240 million.

“In Bishopstown Campus, we ensure that the employers in Cork will be supported in developing their staff and be provided with the right upskilling opportunities for staff,” he said. “The Cork region is currently experiencing full employment. While this is something to be celebrated, it does pose a challenge for companies, who now have to rethink their staff development pathways. In the past, companies could hire new staff, now they are looking for ways to invest in existing staff to help them to upskill and reskill to meet skills gaps within the organisation.”

Cork College of FET, along with other FET Colleges nationwide, are leading the charge in this upskilling revolution. The campus in Bishopstown is focused on workforce development. Campus manager Valerie Cowman said her vision for Bishopstown Campus, was to offer an extensive range of apprenticeships.

“Traditionally this campus was heavily associated with craft apprenticeship, which is still the case today,” she said. “We deliver Phase Two of 11 of the national craft apprenticeships, and through the team in Apprenticeship Services, oversee the implementation of all apprenticeship activity in Cork. We expanded our remit in recent years and offer a range of the newer apprenticeship programmes along with colleagues in other Cork College of FET campuses. The National Sales Apprenticeship, which we run in collaboration with Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim Education and Training Board, is a fantastic opportunity for companies to upskill and reskill new and existing salespersons.”

The focus on upskilling and reskilling staff through apprenticeship is further complemented by the Skills to Advance initiative, funded by SOLAS.

“Through the Skills to Advance team we have expanded our offerings for employees, increasing our number of learners upskilled by 119 per cent in 2023,” added Cowman. “Employers and employees can engage with us in two ways, through an open course or a bespoke upskilling option designed for a specific company or network of companies.

“Employees can directly sign up for one of our open courses, advertised on our website or on www.fetchcourses.ie Once the employee self-declares that they are in employment, the course will be offered at no cost. We provide a range of courses, delivered at times that suit the employee’s busy work schedule. One of our most popular courses is a QQI (Quality and Qualifications Ireland) level 5 in Manual and Computerised Bookkeeping. We offer this course at a range of times, including Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. In this way we provide multiple routes for learners to upskill.”

The jewels in the Bishopstown campus’s Skills to Advance crown are the bespoke upskilling courses co-designed with local companies. Bespoke courses are offered in many areas including sustainability, computer applications and restaurant skills and bar management for hospitality. The campus specialises in leadership and management training and has provided bespoke upskilling courses for many Cork companies or networks of companies.

One example is the Leadership and Management programme co-designed with the Cork Electronics Industry Association (CEIA). The CEIA is an industry-lead, non-profit association representing hi-tech companies in the Cork region. It works in collaboration with regional and national agencies including the Industrial Development Agency (IDA), Enterprise Ireland, Cork ETB, Munster Technological University and University College Cork, to ensure a sophisticated technological infrastructure is in place to enable the industry to grow and prosper.

The CEIA learning and development network identified a need to upskill staff in the area of leadership.

Member companies nominate staff to attend the programme – an Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) Level 4 Certificate in Leadership and Management.

The certificate was co-designed with the member companies and includes modules in developing mental toughness, managing change, understanding coaching and leadership styles.

To date, over 70 CEIA employees have benefitted from the upskilling. Companies who have availed of the training include Horner, DELL Technologies, Boston Scientific, Bossard, Wisetek Flextronics, Logitech, QT Technologies, Alcon, FirComms, Intel and Netgear.

Speaking about the course, Cowman praised those involved, saying that companies who partake “show great commitment to investing in staff learning and development and to developing industry leaders of the future”.

Chair of the CEIA, Alan O’Flynn, of DELL Technologies, said the programmes have been widely received and hugely successful in terms of helping people learn and upskill.

“The collaborative and inclusive learning and development approach embraced by the Cork College of FET in the programmes we have developed and delivered have been met with a resoundingly positive response from learners across the CEIA network,” he said. “The inclusive approach to learning means that our high-potential, high-performing team members get to learn from experts and peers, secure more skills and learn more about themselves, and all this while building a relevant local network for themselves and their organisation. This makes programmes such as these, designed and delivered locally by the Cork College of FET, hugely valuable.”

For more information on Cork College of FET’s Skills to Advance offerings, email skillstoadvance@corketb.ie.