Creating Futures: A New Vision for Further Education and Training
Ireland’s new Further Education and Training (FET) Strategy 2026–2030, Creating Futures, sets out an ambitious vision to position FET at the heart of a thriving, inclusive economy and society. At its core, the strategy aims to expand opportunities for learners of all ages through career development, lifelong learning, and flexible upskilling pathways.
Building on strong progress between 2020 and 2024—when participation in FET grew significantly to almost 440,000 learners—the strategy recognises the sector’s increasing importance in supporting employment, productivity, and social inclusion. It also responds to major global changes, including the rise of artificial intelligence, the transition to a green economy, and shifting workforce demands.
The strategy is structured around four key priorities:
It aims to equip learners with future-ready skills, particularly in digital, AI, and green technologies, ensuring Ireland’s workforce remains competitive.
It emphasises inclusion, seeking to make education accessible to all through flexible learning options and stronger progression pathways.
It focuses on quality and innovation, promoting excellence in teaching and continuous improvement through data and learner feedback.
Finally, it highlights the importance of collaboration, strengthening partnerships between education providers, employers, and communities to maximise impact.
The previous Strategy aimed to build the FET ecosystem and develop its practices and national policies. This current Strategy looks outwards, with a shift to seeing FET as a major tool for economic development needed to face the challenges Ireland is facing. There is a risk, then, that the importance of FET, and particularly Community Education, in the empowerment and development of learners, as well as the importance of learner participation in governance as a democratic principle, has been deprioritised in this newer Strategy. The importance of Community Education as a transformative force for learners, when it is funded and structured appropriately, has not been highlighted in the Strategy.
The INOU alongside other national organisations, will continue to advocate for a supportive FET system that adequately funds transformative programmes, as well as the resources needed for learners to fully engage and participate in further education.
You can read the INOU’s submission made in the Consultation period of the Strategy here.