The effects of Covid-19 and the looming threat of Brexit show the importance of a strategic and agile FET system. ETBs and other FET bodies have responded admirably to the challenges of 2020, while the creation of the new government department and its launch of a new FET strategy point to an exciting future for the sector, as this article reports.

Further education and training makes a substantial impact on the social and economic landscape for citizens across Ireland. This article highlights six key themes that demonstrate this, underscoring why FET will have an even bigger part to play in the future.

FET colleges were challenged by Covid-19 to meet all legislative, governance, and compliance requirements off-site. This involved a transformation of face-to-face FET provision to a fully remote model overnight. This article details how management and staff of Ballyfermot College of Further Education achieved a smooth transition in the crisis.

This article makes the case that adopting universal design for learning in further education and training (FET) can help us reach every learner and reduce barriers to learning in the FET classroom. By offering flexibility, accessibility, voice, and choice in mainstream teaching and learning practice, we can reduce the need for individual add-on supports and provide a rich and engaging learning experience that benefits everyone.

Research from the US venture-capital company Pitchbook has named Trinity College Dublin as Europe’s most entrepreneurial university for the past six years. This did not happen by chance: the college has been busy on many fronts to encourage students from all disciplines with an entrepreneurial bent.

Covid-19 presented unprecedented challenges to all aspects of FET provision in City of Dublin Education and Training Board (CDETB). After careful consideration, a number of procedures had to undergo almost immediate alteration. In 2018/19, CDETB adopted new corporate Quality Assurance (QA) structures. This article outlines how the new structures and systems responded to the pandemic.

This article highlights the importance of adult and community education as a pathway to further study and work. It looks at how this form of education provides flexible, lifelong learning opportunities that support social inclusion and access to work-based learning for citizens, and how this learning option has been affected by the pandemic.

A strategic objective of the new National Further Education and Training (FET) Strategy is to develop a new level 5 and level 6 proposition. This article takes the current suite of level 5 and level 6 FET programmes as a starting point and discusses what this new proposition could look like and how it might be achieved. It concludes with a proposal for charting a way forward.

Further education and training in Kerry was delivered in disparate fashion until recent years, when it was decided to integrate provision into a single college across multiple campuses. This article describes the steps involved in planning and establishing an integrated FET college in Kerry, and outlines the benefits of the transformation.

Marginalised groups have seen their disadvantages worsen during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of the supports that were in place must now be offered in a different way. A working group dedicated to mitigating educational disadvantage, set up by the author, met throughout 2020 with a singular practical focus on disadvantaged learners in Ireland. This article outlines its work.