TACKLING OUR SKILLS SHORTAGE: THE SEVEN ELEMENTS OF SUCCESSFUL ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING PROGRAMMES

C. Feeney (Environmental Communications Ltd and Environment & Sustainability Strategic Training Institute)

ABSTRACT

Aotearoa New Zealand faces a critical shortage of the skills needed to address our infrastructure deficits and deliver on the Government’s freshwater, infrastructure, climate change, resource management and related reforms.

In a presentation to the 2022 Stormwater Conference, I showed how the quickest and most cost-effective way to bridge our skills gaps is to focus on the continuing professional development (CPD) of the experienced and expert professionals already in our sector on the topics they already know they need. Then they can pass these skills on to their peers and new graduates, building industry capability and capacity at the same time.

However the history of successful training programmes in Aotearoa and overseas shows that it is not a simple thing to commit to an environmental training programme, regardless of how much it’s needed.

My involvement in environmental training goes back to the 1990s, with the then Auckland Regional Council’s TP90 erosion and sediment control training programme. This became a highly successful and nationally adopted programme for erosion and sediment control on big construction sites, and was exported into the Australian industry.

A big factor in the success of the TP90 training programme was the formation of a diverse (and initially highly polarised) group of stakeholders representing local councils, consultancies, contracting firms, iwi and community environmental groups. This Focus Group played a seminal role in developing and piloting the training and socialising it into the wider industry.

Reflection on the unexpected success of this programme and my experience with many other environmental training programmes enabled me to identify seven elements that are shared, to a greater or lesser degree, by all successful programmes. My role now as a strategic environmental trainer is to help others replicate this success.

My presentation will explain how and why to apply the seven elements of my Success Framework to any environmental training programme:

• research;
• laws, policies and outcomes;
• guidelines, compliance and enforcement;
• the training itself;
• monitoring, evaluation and programme review;
• resources and endorsement; and
• the core element that supports all the others – partnership.