As Wales moves towards a cleaner, more sustainable economy, vocational training needs to keep pace. To help lead this change, Inspiring Skills Excellence in Wales (ISE) has been working behind the scenes to ensure green skills are at the heart of everything we do in order to drive sustainability across the entire project.
Our mission is simple but not easy: make sustainability a standard part of training and competitions rather than an afterthought.
How We Are Embedding Green Skills:
Launching New Green Competitions: We have introduced new focus areas to address emerging industry needs, including new competitions such as Net Zero and Sustainable Agriculture.
Layering Sustainability into Existing Competitions: Green techniques are now built directly into our standard competition tasks. For example, our plumbing competitions now include practical challenges around fitting air source heat pumps and our Fashion competitions require learners to create projects with sustainable materials.
Connecting Students with Green Employers: Delivering interactive green skills events across Wales, bringing together eco-minded companies with school and college students, helping young people discover real-world green career paths.
Paul Evans, Project Director at Inspiring Skills Excellence in Wales, said:
"Over the last few years, our goal has been to make sustainability a core part of vocational training, not just an add-on. By introducing new green competitions and weaving eco-friendly practices into our competitions, we are helping young people build the practical expertise Wales needs for a cleaner, greener future."
Looking Ahead
As we look to the future, ISE will continue expanding sustainability across all areas of our work. Our priority is to ensure every competition we run, regardless of sector, reflects the latest environmental standards, waste-reduction principles, and energy-efficient practices used across industry.
Moving forwards, we plan to broaden our reach by creating even more opportunities for students, schools, and colleges to engage with green employers. By continuing to build strong partnerships with industry experts, we will adapt our competitions as new technologies emerge.
Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that every participant who takes part in one of our competitions steps into the workforce with the knowledge, confidence, and mindset needed to thrive in a rapidly developing green economy and contribute to Wales’ sustainable future
Success Story: Adam Davis's Pivot to Retrofit
A standout example of this approach in action is apprentice Adam Davis. After winning gold in our Electrical Installation competition, Adam returned the following year to compete in our newly introduced Retrofit competition. His transition highlighted how technical expertise can be effectively adapted and applied to green technologies, resulting in outstanding success and demonstrating the growing opportunities within Wales's sustainable building sector.
For information on upcoming events and initiatives, contact: Melissa.thomas@colegsirgar.ac.uk