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Last month, the Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB) and Teagasc announced a collaborative partnership for enhanced agricultural training and learning support services.
The two educational bodies joined forces to help meet the evolving needs of the agricultural community.
“As an ETB and a public body, collaboration is so important for us, not just to maximise resources, but to work with the experts in your field – and that’s how the conversation with Teagasc started,” says Gráinne McGrath, Contract Training Officer, enterprise support at LOETB.
Supporting part-time farmers
A focus of Laois and Offaly ETB’s agricultural strategy is the introduction of additional agricultural education through training programmes.
Their target audience is primarily part-time farmers in the Laois-Offaly area who, in most cases, have to work off-farm.
“Internally, our motto has become, ‘we want our part-time farmers to stay part-time farmers’. Just from chatting to them every year, the volatility is such a challenge and farming is so uncertain, they don’t know what’s coming down the tracks for them.
"As an ETB, we are trying to help those smallholders and do anything that we can for them,” says Gráinne.
Under the new initiative, LOETB and Teagasc will offer a diverse range of agricultural training programmes designed to equip learners with the relevant skills and knowledge required in the modern agricultural sector.
They are hoping this will result in off-farm income being generated by part-time farmers to remain in the industry.
Participants can gain accredited qualifications that are recognised and valued within the industry as well as non-accredited courses for local farm families.
Specific learning supports
One of the key aspects of this collaboration is the implementation of learner support services into three Teagasc colleges.
“We’re trying to get stronger and better in terms of how we meet the needs of learners. Learners can present with varying needs. We’re trying to professionalise that and make sure students have the relevant and necessary supports,” says Anne-Marie Butler, Head of Education in Teagasc.
Three learning support teachers funded by the LOETB will be placed in Kildalton, Ballyhaise and Mountbellew colleges to provide specialised support to students who need additional help.
“As a pilot, we’re going with three qualified learning support workers this coming academic year,” says Gráinne.
“The principals are involved with the recruitment process as well, which is something that we thought was very important, because every college is different. The general learner profile and the needs of those learners is different in every college.”
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