Further Education and Training
Context
Education opens doors for us. It helps us to achieve our potential. It has huge benefits for the individual and for society too as it leads us to new horizons of scientific innovation, social progress and the creative arts. In Ireland, we are a society which places a huge value on education. We have the highest proportion of school leavers progressing to higher education in the EU. This represents our ambition to advance as a society, and importantly, how we provide access to education for most people in society.
However, 15% of first-year students will drop-out of college. The cost-of-living, housing shortage and mental health are all making it difficult to stay in college. The average age of school graduation has fallen across OECD countries, meaning that students are beginning their degrees at a younger age. In Ireland, students typically choose their degree course at around 17 years of age; and understandably, this can put a lot of pressure on students to make big decisions about their futures.
Further Education and Training
Third level education may be seen as an automatic choice but may not be the right option for many students; that’s where Further Education and Training (FET) comes in.
Further Education and Training covers a range of educational options for individuals over 16 years of age. It covers programmes such as Post Leaving-Certificate (PLC) courses. apprenticeships and traineeships. These courses offer a more hands-on training approach to education, preparing students for the world of work. Some provide learning on the job while being paid a wage, and many courses also provide an alternative route to third level education, if students feel they aren’t ready for higher-education or are unsure of what career path they want to follow.
Challenges
In 2019 Language was commissioned to create a new campaign to raise awareness and reposition FET to a new generation of students. Research pointed to a number of challenges facing the sector. There was an entrenched cultural narrative that these ‘alternative’ forms of education were inferior to a university education, and that they were only an option when you had ‘failed’ in some way to ascend to higher level. Language conducted qualitative research among Leaving Certificate students and their parents, as well as unemployed and employed adults looking to upskill and found that awareness of FET was low, especially among students and parents. Our campaign would have to raise awareness about the opportunities FET could open up, and positively influence the inertia surrounding the sector.
Our research revealed that when the benefits of FET were explained, many would consider it a viable alternative to a university education. Our goal would be to build on this potential positive sentiment and grow the conversation.
Creating Ambition
Our audiences for FET are all at different life stages, with different touchpoints, views and experiences to consider. But what they all share is the desire to learn and follow their passion. Our campaign wouldn’t just be about providing information, it would be about tapping into this sense of ambition and creating an inspirational narrative. The message we wanted to express was that FET is an opportunity to choose the path that’s right for you, and that it gives you the tools to succeed in the real world. This is the fundamental role of FET, we just had to frame it in a way that would strike a chord with prospective learners.
In 2019, we launched our campaign with a bright, contemporary and dynamic visual framework to make FET stand out. The voice of our students has always been central to our message, including imagery and the voices of real students and graduates we interviewed around Ireland. We also created a ThisisFET.ie which not only provides practical information on FET, but also features news and stories to support and inspire prospective learners.
Impactful Results
There has been steady growth since 2019, with a record 400,000 Further Education & Training placements in 2024. To ensure we continue the forward momentum and reach today’s school leavers, we launched a refreshed campaign in 2025. Keeping learners at the heart of our messaging, we introduced brighter and bolder graphics to take FET to the next level of success.
