Transforming vocational education and training for nearly zero-energy building

Abstract

Nearly zero-energy building (NZEB) requires the training of millions of construction workers and significant upgrading of vocational education and training (VET) systems across the European Union. This paper shows how an approach to VET based only on learning outcomes and targeting specific skills is too narrow and lacking in depth to allow for the systematic application of theoretical lowenergy construction (LEC) knowledge to practice and develop NZEB expertise in the workplace. Theoretically broader, deeper, more technical and interdisciplinary expertise is needed to build to LEC standards and meet European Performance in Buildings Directive (EPBD) targets. Instead, VET for LEC has been largely confined to short and task-specific continuing vocational education and training (CVET) courses, illustrated in the cases of both Slovenia and Ireland and ranging from a narrow, learning outcomes approach to a broader, standards-based approach linking theoretical considerations to specific applications. Mainstreaming the knowledge, skills and competences required for NZEB into initial vocational education and training (IVET) curricula is rare. Though less successful in Finland, it is achieved in Belgian construction IVET, which takes a standards-based approach, successfully embeds LEC elements, and seeks to overcome occupational boundaries and develop a holistic understanding of the construction process. Policy and practice relevance The emphasis on a standards-based, as opposed to a learning outcomes-based, approach to VET for LEC is of relevance to VET practitioners and policy-makers alike, especially given the preoccupation across Europe just with developing specific 'skills' through CVET. Broader construction occupational profiles and qualifications are essential for the cross-occupational knowledge and coordination required for successful NZEB, implying a transformation and upgrading of VET systems in many countries. The examples given from Irish CVET and Belgian IVET are valuable in showing what can be done to incorporate LEC elements. In highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of different VET systems in meeting NZEB requirements, the paper is relevant for industry and unions in illustrating the significance of social partnership, the need to overcome the fragmentation of the construction process and the high-quality VET essential to addressing climate change.

Domestic retrofit: understanding capabilities of micro-enterprise building practitioners

“…To be effective, Clarke et al (2020) suggest capability development for low-energy construction needs to move away from narrow capabilities and specific tasks and to take more standardsfocused approaches with broad occupational profiles. In the UK, the measures intended to drive change in retrofit, stemming from the Clean Growth Strategy and Energy Performance Certificates, need to be more widely understood, not remaining the preserve of specialists alone (Fawcett & Topouzi 2020).…”

“…This approach to standards can enable top-down implementation to meet bottom-up problemsolving capability (Winch 1998). Skills development should include how individual technologies work together as a system (Clarke et al 2020) and how they are used in practice (Killip et al 2018). However, enabling a training approach that integrates systems across multiple traditional practitioner training programmes may require a reconfiguration in professional domains to deliver an integrated service (Janda et al 2014).…”

“…However, enabling a training approach that integrates systems across multiple traditional practitioner training programmes may require a reconfiguration in professional domains to deliver an integrated service (Janda et al 2014). This integrated delivery could be enabled via broad occupational profiles that enable multiple skills training (Clarke et al 2020), as opposed to singletrade-practitioner training.…”

“…Creating capability in a workforce to deliver energy-efficiency retrofit at scale is an enormous undertaking, according to Clarke et al (2020). One of the biggest challenges in delivering an energy-efficiency programme is the availability of skilled professionals (Gross et al 2020).…”

“…One of the biggest challenges in delivering an energy-efficiency programme is the availability of skilled professionals (Gross et al 2020). Retrofit may include fabric improvements to increase energy efficiency, as well as measures to decarbonise heat, power and the water supply (CCC 2019), requiring an approach that considers the building as an integrated whole (Clarke et al 2020). An integrated approach includes technically challenging activities that cut across different professional domains, such as external wall insulation, increased air-tightness, ventilation upgrades and low-carbon heating such as heat pumps, alongside the decarbonisation of the electricity system (Lowe & Chiu 2020).…”