Climate neutral by 2050
The European Union wants less greenhouse gas emissions and aims for climate neutrality by 2050. In this, the construction and installation sector plays a crucial role. To achieve climate neutrality, all countries in the European Union must make their building stock completely CO2-free. This means that 8 million homes and buildings must be taken off natural gas and 1.5 million homes must be renovated to get rid of poor energy labels.
These ambitions call for skilled workers in the construction and installation sector. It is predicted that 140,000 to 175,000 new construction workers will be needed by 2030 to realize these ambitions. And more importantly, these professionals must have the right skills to build and renovate energy-neutral buildings. There is work to be done here. Because if we want sufficient and well-trained people, we need to retrain current professionals and train future professionals differently. This requires structural changes in vocational education.
MBO courses
These changes have been seen in MBO programs in construction and installation over the past 10 years. Many learning materials for training and further education have been developed over the past decade. In the period between 2011 and 2021, the supply of (partial) courses on the energy transition and the circular transition in vocational education increased significantly. In November 2021, there were 39 complete study programs and 140 optional subjects in MBO with a focus on the energy transition and/or a circular economy. Think of elective units such as 'Energy neutral design and construction', 'From waste to raw material' and 'Charging station technology'. In the hbo this involved 28 courses and 123 minors.
In these courses, aspiring professionals learn new techniques and technologies for the energy transition, but also, for example, how to collaborate differently in the chain or how to advise a customer on climate.
Energy Transition Toolkit
An example of teaching materials on energy transition comes from the Energy Transition Practicum of the ROC Mondriaan in The Hague. They developed a toolkit from the Energy Transition Knowledge and Practice Center that helps teachers teach about the various sustainability choices you may face in the installation sector. The toolkit consists of six steps. In Step 1, students learn to identify the existing energy consumption of a home or building. They also learn to find out what opportunities the environment offers for using (residual) energy flows, for example.
In Step 2, students learn to turn the data from Step 1 into opportunities and improvements to the building. In doing so, they learn to consider the occupants use the building. Who lives in the building and what needs do they have? As a result, they learn how to advise different users differently. Steps 3 and 4 involve design and realization. In step 5, students learn the importance of proper commissioning of installations. They learn in what ways different installations can be adjusted as economically as possible. Step 6 is about maintenance and monitoring. This teaches students how monitoring can trigger new improvements.
How to proceed
Despite the development of this kind of teaching material and the growing attention to the energy transition in vocational education, there is still much to do. So many professionals are needed to shape the transition to a climate-neutral built environment that more is needed than has been done in the past 10 years. Where until now the topics have largely been offered in elective units in the curriculum, there is a world to be gained if it becomes part of the core curriculum of relevant courses. This would make learning about the energy transition mandatory, rather than optional. In addition, there should be investment in mentoring teachers at existing vocational schools. They are also called upon now that they must guide the development of skills for the energy transition. Finally, it is important for vocational schools to work closely with the business community around the energy transition. In this way, training courses are permanently aligned with the skills and knowledge needed in practice.
In addition to training prospective professionals through existing secondary and higher vocational courses, we must also look at training those already working in the construction and installation sector. They need retraining and further training. Therefore, it is important that attention is also paid to the connection between prior education, vocational training and lifelong development.
Talent Innovation Pool
One of the inspiring examples of education that focuses on the development of skills for the energy transition in close cooperation with the business community comes from the University of Applied Sciences. There, third-year students from the Hogeschool Rotterdam are working together with young professionals from the business community in the so-called Talent Innovation Pool (TIP). Together they work on innovation issues in the field of circular and emission-free building. For example, one group devised a way to transport the waste stream during the renovation of a building in Leiden via water to spare the city and reduce the impact on the environment. Another group devised ways to reuse hardwood by removing it from a building during the demolition process. These are assignments that find connections between schools and business. One of the most important lessons students learn as a result is that the various fields of construction are not as separate as they are taught in school. Construction is becoming more fluid and collaboration between those disciplines is becoming the new norm. Construction students also need to know something about logistics and vice versa, because those two disciplines need each other to create a path to a sustainable construction site.
>> this article appeared in Trade magazine Profile. Read the full article here
