Cuts to additional and continuing education threaten to completely destroy important training fields for the industry and endanger the supply of skilled labor in the future.
According to the current government's policy, savings of 120 million euros will be allocated to the education of adults who have already completed a degree. Savings will now be allocated especially to further and continuing professional education for adults, as well as professional and specialized vocational qualifications, the prerequisite of which is a previously completed basic qualification. The majority of those applying for professional and specialized vocational degree trainings have studied their basic degrees a long time ago, and as working life changes, there are strong grounds for updating and deepening their skills.
The savings have not taken into account that important fields of education and skills essential for employment are endangered or threaten to cease completely. As the construction industry tries to recover from the downturn, it is worrying that the availability of the skills needed by the industry may significantly weaken or even completely disappear from the education offer. Renovations and savings should always take into account the need for a skilled labor force in the business world and ensure that the availability of skills in any industry is not jeopardized.
When continuous learning is saved, the ability to adapt to changes in working life and operating environment is reduced. In the highly regulated construction industry, there are numerous personnel-related qualifications that are maintained through regular additional and continuing education. The Construction Act, which will enter into force at the beginning of next year, requires a huge investment in education from the sector, especially for those already in working life. The digital green double transition also requires further training. The continuous development of professional skills keeps the entire chain of construction in order, from planning to implementation and maintenance. If the opportunities for training are reduced, the expertise in the field becomes obsolete faster than the legislation and the requirements of the transition require.
Updating the skills of adults will inevitably shift more and more onto the shoulders of employers. Many companies in the industry already manage the training of their own people in a very exemplary way, but the majority of companies remain as intermediaries: small companies that do not have the resources to organize internal training on their own or to order company-specific training.
The Finnish education system must be able to continue to offer skills development opportunities for the construction industry. The savings presented now threaten to significantly reduce the supply of special expertise in the construction and real estate industry, which will reduce the availability of experts who are central to security of supply. The cuts are very damaging, especially in terms of the skills of adults and the availability of skilled labor.
We urgently need a national, continuous learning strategy for vocational adult education, which especially takes into account the availability of industry-specific expertise. Although the youth age group is shrinking and the need for education for adults is increasing, educational policy decisions do not follow the development. The inter-government plan for safeguarding and developing vocational adult education would secure the availability of skilled labor in the future as well.
The article was originally published in Rakennuslehti's Näkökulma column.
Heidi Husari
Principal (RATEKO), CEO (Rakennusmedia)
heidi.husari@rateko.fi + 358 40 831 2829Construction industry training center RATEKO, Rakennusmedia
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