“Woodlands of Ireland are looking to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to lead the development of a forestry education and training strategy to support the
achievement of the Forestry Programme 2023-2027 measure targets and as a large component of a broader tree cover education and training strategy to be agreed on an all-island basis. In anticipation of the Forest Service of DAFM, through a subgroup of the Forestry Strategic Consultative Committee (FSCC) co-ordinating the forestry education and training strategy, Woodlands of Ireland are working on collecting information on all training courses available on tree cover on the island of Ireland and specifically to what extent the curricula focus on semi-natural tree cover and native flora species.
This document can be updated as new information becomes available. The purpose of this discussion document is, apart from encouraging the setting up of a comprehensive stakeholder group to assist DAFM in developing a strategy, to outline the fragmented nature of the available training particularly where it applies to the management of semi-natural woodland (c. 130k ha) and ‘Other Wooded Lands’ (tree cover areas below the threshold of ‘Forest’, c.5% of land area of the island) Woodlands of Ireland (WoI) does not believe that this can be resolved without comprehensive tree cover education and training strategies that take the all island factors into account, for example trade in forestry goods and services, local woodland ecology (native provenance), responses to invasive species, pests and diseases. The blending of modules from two or more course providers in different colleges in a co-operative training network may provide routes to hybrid qualifications that both suit employers and those they seek to recruit.
For example, the education and training background, outlined in the suggested specification for (NPWS) Woodland Conservation Officer (Manager) recruits in part of the WoI submission to the NPWS Review in 2021*, may require that kind of blending.”
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Abstract:
Conclusion
“Forestry Skills Training Scheme grants in 2020 and 2024***are not linked to a published comprehensive education and training strategy, which has involved a diverse range of stakeholders in its production.
Appendix II: Policy Framework of the current forestry programme states: ‘As part of Working Group 3 of Project Woodland a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) was developed. It is envisaged that under this intervention, this work will be further refined and developed, identifying and addressing training/education gaps in the industry as a whole and how best to address these gaps’.
Ad Hoc measures such as the recent DAFM calls for proposals on forestry skills training, will be more coherent when viewed as components of an overarching agreed strategy. The Forestry Strategic Consultative Committee (FSCC) now has the opportunity to initiate a stakeholder group to coordinate the forestry education and training strategy.
Proactive measures to encourage people into the industry should be proportionate in fully evaluating the role of native tree cover within or outside forests and therefore should include the ability of new entrants to blend qualifications from a menu of skills across a spectrum, including agriculture, arboriculture, silviculture, horticulture, ecology, botany, engineering and timber products.
Woodlands of Ireland looks forward to participating with other groups and individuals in the development of a thorough forestry education and training strategy process with DAFM that leads onto an all-island tree cover education and training strategy involving corresponding stakeholders in Northern Ireland as well.
*** https://www.gov.ie/en/service/ee8846-forestry-skills-training-scheme/
https://www.gov.ie/en/service/88f66-call-for-proposals-forestry-skills-training-2024-2025/
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