John Mulhern, Principal of the College of Amenity Horticulture, National Botanic Gardens summarises findings of the recent strategy review for horticultural education in Ireland
During the summer of 2016 Teagasc embarked on a strategic review of its education delivery. The policy context that has driven this review emanates from Food Wise 2025, the Report of the 2025 Agri-Food Strategy Committee, which sets out a cohesive, strategic plan for the development of agri-food sector over the next decade.
“The committee has identified that opportunities will arise as a result of significant population growth and greater access to international markets. In addition, the committee
recognises that the increased pressure on global agricultural resources and the environment will offer potential further growth opportunity for the Irish agri-food and fisheries sector.” (DAFM website), Action 65 under the Human Capital actions in Food Wise 2025 states, “Teagasc to continue to calibrate its education function to match the needs of industry, for example through the development and introduction of customised short training programmes”. Teagasc education, advisory and research services have a substantial involvement in both accredited and non-accredited short training courses and continuous professional development for adult farmers, growers, operatives and professionals operating across the land-based and food sectors.
Teagasc is the primary provider of QQI accredited further (vocational) education and training at education levels 5 and 6 on the Irish national framework of qualifications (NFQ) for the overall land-based sector. Teagasc, through its partnership with the higher education sector, has a substantial input into higher education delivery at NFQ levels 6, 7 and 8. Teagasc also has a significant involvement in postgraduate education at level 9 (Masters) and even more extensively at level 10 (Ph.D.) with typically over 250 Ph.D. participants annually primarily delivered through the research programme.
During summer 2016, Teagasc Horticulture based in Ashtown, The National Botanic Gardens and Kildalton teamed up and invited stakeholders from all over the Irish horticulture sector to meetings to get their views in relation to our education business.
There was a very welcome response from industry in relation to this exercise. Over 25 members of the horticulture sector joined us for deep and probing discussions in relation to our education programme structure. Among the questions, we posed to the stakeholders were the future of the industry, drivers of change in the industry, the structure of our courses to match changes, current staff training requirements and gaps that may arise in the future.
Overall this was a very worthwhile exercise and I wish to thank most sincerely the stakeholders that gave of their valuable time to engage in this process.
SUMMARY OF STAKEHOLDERS VIEWS ON TEAGASC HORTICULTURE EDUCATION PROGRAMMES
The overall views of the sector will be produced in a document that will be overseen by a steering committee in Teagasc in early 2017. Here are some of the views of the stakeholders.
In relation to future education levels, it was widely supported that levels 6 and 7 were the primary qualifications needed by the industry. Level 5 should be introductory and that levels 6 and 7 would produce graduates needed by the industry. A general grounding in horticulture should be available to all students. Plantsmanship is an area that needs to be improved. Digital media /social media /apps should be stronger with students. The area of compliance and QA is needed in the industry. This particular area could be addressed through targeted CPD courses for individual sectors. In relation to office skills, computer skills, including knowledge of Excel were mentioned strongly. Customer service, marketing skills, trend awareness, IPM, and the use of machinery are all skills sets that will be needed in the future.
Stakeholders commented that students should be solution focused and good problem solvers. There should be longer placement in all programmes. Teagasc should consider the role of an apprenticeship programme and have customised CPD for each sector. Business ethics should be included as a subject which includes aspects of technology and business management. Entrepreneurship must be grown through programmes. Online/part-time and blended approaches would be strongly recommended
Overall, stakeholders were happy with the programmes but felt that more practical learning period was a key requirement. They felt that we are not necessarily attracting the right students to our courses, especially in the food sector. Our courses should include more precision technology and allow students to have better problem-solving acumen. Possibly the calendar of course delivery should be altered to reflect the seasonality of the industry.
HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION DEMAND
Horticulture students are quite diverse in terms of age, educational qualifications and backgrounds. The majority are typically from non-farming backgrounds.
Demand for horticultural education, both for full-time further education and Teagasc linked higher education, is trending downwards and appears to reflect similar difficulties facing horticultural education in many European countries and a lack of clarity of what horticultural education is about. Preliminary findings indicate there may be untapped demand for part-time, distance education and continuous professional development and upskilling in the horticultural sector. There is a need to more deeply explore the level and nature of demand for more industry-focused training in the context of Teagasc education. To this end, we in the Teagasc College in the National Botanic Gardens will have a Masters Walsh Fellowship student appointed from January 2017 for an 18 month period to examine the training needs of the horticultural sector in the Leinster area now and into the future. We intend to use this data to guide our training and education delivery over the next few years. ✽
 JOHN MULHERN has worked with Teagasc for more the 17 years, primarily in an educational capacity. He is the current principal of the College of Amenity Horticulture, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin. |
