The term “forest and timber industries” tends to disguise the wide range of activities that take place in growing trees, transporting wood from the forest to the sawmill and thereafter to the processing and manufacturing facilities that transform the basic material into finished products. The roles involved in the wood chain are many and varied and the spectrum of skills required to service an ever-more sophisticated industry is no less diverse.

Until recently, very little research had been carried out to identify the educational needs of the forestry and timber sectors, but an online survey carried out as part of the Timber Engineering Online project at the Centre for Timber Engineering (CTE) at Napier University has put the training requirements of the industry into clearer focus. More than 400 people (employers and employees) responded to the survey, with interest expressed not only in gaining new or upgraded skills in timber engineering but also in forestry-related subjects, sustainability, management, marketing and information technology. The evidence clearly indicates the need for better training at all educational levels, with employers expressing a particular requirement for practical training for technicians and machine operators.

Motivation for training

The main motivation for employees to undertake additional education and training is to improve individual career and promotion opportunities, but personal interest was also identified by the survey as a critical factor. With limited time for study it is vital that new or returning learners can make direct connections between their studies and their day-to-day work and potential career benefits. The survey showed that there was moderate interest in full academic programmes at first degree and postgraduate levels. But, with the preferred amount of study being no more than 10 hours a week, short courses hold many attractions. Preferred modes of delivery for academic programmes were a blend of distance learning and campus-based teaching or purely distance learning in paper-based and online formats. The preferred learning method for short courses was online.

The survey was mainly carried out via the internet and the high level of response indicates that the industry has a computer-literate workforce capable of making use of online education and training, and that most employees have access to the technology.

The lessons for educational establishments are clear. Courses have to be responsive to the training needs identified in the survey and providers have to examine ways of making their programmes more accessible to people who only want to study specific topics.

The CTE is uniquely placed to respond to the needs identified by the survey. With funding from the European Social Fund priority 3.2 “New Approaches for Lifelong Learning”, its existing Timber Engineering Online project had the objective of building capacity for the development of online academic programmes. The project was constructed around the online provision of Napier University’s two MSc degrees in Timber Engineering and Timber Industry Management. In the light of the survey evidence, the logical extension to this work has been to tailor key elements of these academic programmes to the specific needs of the industry in the form of online short courses for workforce development.

With funding from the European Social Fund (priority 4.A2 “Raising Skill Levels Across the Workforce”), this new initiative addresses the actual delivery of education and training with the aim of effecting real change across the forestry and timber sectors. The project, which is being piloted in Scotland with a view to rolling it out throughout the UK in the near future, initially runs for a year from mid-December 2006 and is intended to deliver 310 hours of online learning material in 10-hour blocks to more than 200 people. The self-testing, interactive courses will be available from the spring and will be continuously added to in the following months. Collectively, all of the courses intended for industry and personal development will come under a new umbrella called Timber Education Online (TEO).

Targets

The first target towards achieving these goals is the identification of partner companies and organisations for which high quality educational and training material packages can be developed. The low cost of these packages presents a financially-efficient workforce development opportunity for any company or organisation operating within the Scottish forest and timber industries. It is also a unique and valuable chance to be directly involved in developing top-quality training material specific to the individual business of the participants.

To this end, the Centre for Timber Engineering has recently appointed Peter Condon as director of the TEO project and leader of short course development, and his first task is to find partners to develop custom-designed educational material. Human resource or managing directors may get a call from him in the near future. The sooner he can engage companies and organisations in the development of their staff, the sooner material and short courses can be put in place that, ultimately, should have a positive impact on the bottom line. In the highly competitive world in which timber competes, you know it makes sense.

For more information on how your company can be involved, contact Peter Condon at the Centre for Timber Engineering on 0131 455 2511 or e-mail p.condon@napier.ac.uk