A Graduation Ceremony for participants of the first Traineeship in Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Customer Service Logistics [T1] was hosted by Coláiste Dhúlaigh College of Further Education [CDCFE] in the Hogan Suite of Dublin’s Croke Park stadium on Tuesday 28th May 2019.
This new 30-week National Traineeship programme, based on a pilot programme we successfully ran in 2016/17, was co-produced and developed by Speedpak Group with CDCFE and industry partners – Allergan PLC., Butlers Chocolates, Bewleys Ltd., IKEA and Real time Technologies. While training allowances and trainers were funded by CDCFE, the programme was delivered on site in Speedpak’s Learning Centre. Our role as lead industry partner also involved supporting programme coordination, industry engagement and providing professional coaching to participants.
There were ten graduate groups presented with their certification on the day. It was a real celebration of achievement by people living in the community who were supported by their family and friends. It was great too that senior representatives from host employers, where the graduates had their industry placements supported by in-house mentoring, also attended.
It’s noteworthy that approximately 50% of trainees on this first programme were unemployed foreign nationals. All living locally, they saw the Traineeship as a great opportunity to access industry on their doorstep and gain recognised qualifications too.
The resources required to develop and support the Traineeship was made possible with grant support from The Ireland Funds Flagship Grant and Social Innovation Fund Ireland’s Education Fund. We also received grant funding from The Allergan International Foundation to upgrade our Learning Centre which enabled us house the Traineeship alongside other programme training. We would like to acknowledge and thank these partners without whom we could not have provided this innovation.
The Traineeship was singled out for special mention at the graduation by Mary Hickie, Principal of Coláiste Dhúlaigh College of Further Education who offered ‘heartfelt thanks’ to industry partners for their input and support on this new programme, the first Traineeship to be delivered by the City of Dublin Education and Training Board [CDETB].
Graduates agreed their work placement in industry was hugely valuable. For some it was a life-changing opportunity as it was instrumental in them securing full-time employment, in many cases, with their host company.