Ireland – 15th May, 2008 – The skills challenge facing the Irish economy was the subject of a major seminar organised jointly by the National College of Ireland (NCI) and the National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP), and held in Dublin on May 15.

The ‘Learning at Work’ seminar was chaired by NCPP director Lucy Fallon-Byrne and was addressed by Minister for Lifelong Learning Seán Haughey, Leo Casey of the Centre for Research and Innovation in Learning and Teaching and Prof Chip Bruce, National College of Ireland.

Four national initiatives, designed to promote and encourage learning at work, were showcased also at the seminar, providing the 100-plus delegates with real-life examples of innovative responses to the future skills challenge.

Among the issues discussed at the seminar were:

• The role of workplace learning in driving and growing the Irish economy;
• The opportunities for, and obstacles to, workplace learning that exist in Ireland today;
• Effective ways of engaging employers and employees to ensure Ireland is equipped for the future skills challenge.

National College of Ireland president Paul Mooney said the message was simple:

“For Ireland Inc. to succeed, the barriers to workplace learning must be identified and systematically removed. To survive and prosper in a tougher global environment, we need to collectively up our game to out-think the competition.

“The highest performing companies of the future are the ones that are becoming engaged in workplace learning initiatives today. The time is now and there is zero room for complacency on this. The future is decided by those who sense change and actually start to do something to respond to this. For everyone else, the time bomb is ticking.”

A new DVD was launched by Minister Haughey. Produced by NCPP, the DVD profiles the practical experiences of five Irish public and private-sector organisations that have recognised and embraced workplace learning as an enabler of change. Their stories illustrate the value of promoting human talent and creativity in the workplace, and make a powerful business case for lifelong learning and workplace training and development.  Upskilling is now a necessity.

Copies of the DVD are available (free of charge) on request from the National Centre for Partnership and Performance.  Simply drop an email to Conor (conor@ncpp.ie) with your contact details, and he’ll post them out to you as soon as possible.

Source: Education MATTERS

Ireland – 11th June, 2008 -  AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation, today repeated calls for the government to take action following the increase in those signing on the live register as outlined by the CSO . The figures reflect the highest increase in the number of those signing on the live register since July 1999 with the figure now standing in excess of 200,000.

Reacting to the statistics, Berni Brady, AONTAS Director urged the government to turn its immediate attention to the issue of upskilling those members of the workforce most at risk of unemployment in the event of an economic downturn. ‘Although we were aware that those employed in the construction sector were most at risk, the fact that more women are now signing on the live register is deeply worrying.’

Yesterday, the INOU issued a statement outlining their concern at the lack of government response to these trends.

‘A practical response to this issue involves providing opportunities for those in employment to upskill within the workplace’, continued Ms Brady. This would enable workers to make the transition from one sector to another, and to consider alternative employment options. AONTAS is concerned at the lack of progress regarding the ambitious targets identified within the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs report. Given that economists have predicted another increase in unemployment over the next six to twelve months period, the government must take heed, and act accordingly, through a speedier implementation of the National Skills Strategy‘ she concluded.

AONTAS is the National Adult Learning Organisation. AONTAS is a non-government membership organisation, established in 1969. The organisation’s mission is to ensure that every adult in Ireland has access to appropriate and affordable learning opportunities throughout their lives, thus enabling them to contribute to and participate in the economic, social, civic and cultural development of Irish society. AONTAS is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. AONTAS represents over 600 members, ranging from statutory providers of adult education, such as VECs and third level institutions, to voluntary providers of community education, to individual adult learners and those with a general interest in adult education. The role of AONTAS is to work towards improving the adult education sector in Ireland through policy development, promoting the benefits of adult education and research.
The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs was established in 1997. The group advises government on future skills requirements and associated labour market issues that impact on national potential for enterprise and employment growth. In March 2007 the group published a report entitled ‘Tomorrow’s Skills : Towards a National Skills Strategy’ which included an outline of the skills required for Ireland to develop over the period to 2020 as a competitive, innovation-driven, knowledge-based, participative and inclusive economy.

Source: AONTAS Press Release

Studies by Stanford Research Institute and the Carnegie Mellon Foundation among Fortune 500 CEOs found that 75% of long term job success depended on people skills and only 25% on technical skills.

This is true at other levels as well. For effective performance in the workplace, companies need their employees to have not only domain knowledge, technical and analytical skills, but also the skills to deal with the external world of clients, customers, vendors, the government and public; and to work in a collaborative manner with their colleagues.

The annual rankings of MBA colleges often place communication and interpersonal skills as the most critical skills needed for success in the corporate world.

Noted academic Prof. Henry Mintzberg while speaking on the importance of soft skills for MBAs, refers to the crucial “soft” skills – leadership, teamwork, communication, and the ability to think “outside the box” of a discipline – that separate the best from the rest in the management world.”

Companies are finding that they have to promote people faster than ever before to meet their growth needs.  At the same time, they are finding that the candidates do not have the necessary skills to make the transition from a technical or functional specialist to a team leader, supervisor or manager.  Companies in the IT, BPO, KPO, Biotech, and Pharmaceuticals industries have found that their people need soft skills to work effectively in cross-functional or project teams, local teams or global teams.

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