With a concentration of knowledge-intensive sectors in Ireland, it is vital for workers to stay on top of the skills required in a rapidly changing employment market.
Workplaces are being transformed by artificial intelligence, sustainability and reporting requirements, and the World Economic Forum calculates that 39 per cent of the skills needed in today’s jobs will be obsolete or transformed by 2030.
“Fundamentally, we need to shift our thinking from one-off retraining to continuous lifelong learning being a normal part of life for all workers in Ireland,” Mairéad Nic Giolla Mhichíl, associate professor and head of the National Institute for Digital Learning at DCU, tells Peter McGuire in Continuing Professional Development, published in The Irish Times on May 1st.
The bad news is that studying and working at the same time is often a balancing act that feels impossible for people, even if they are eager to upskill or add a qualification. The good news? Microcredentials are a flexible alternative, writes Danielle Barron.
