Work Group Report:

EMPLOYMENT NEEDS

Critical Issues Menu

One of the most critical issues facing both employers and educators at the postsecondary level is creating a balance between the supply and demand in the myriad career fields that support our national economy. Forecasting future workforce numbers in these career fields or clusters has traditionally been an elusive and difficult task. In the environmental technology field this is even more problematic, because we lack a clear definition of what constitutes the environmental workforce.

In 1993, Environmental Business International (EBI) Inc. identified a need for over one million jobs in more than a dozen different environmental industry segments, nearly one out of every twelve jobs for the economy as a whole. But even that number does not account for everyone employed in the environmental technology field. "EBI estimates that another one-half million environmental workers are employed in the public sector." (Green, p. 3)

Until recently, public support for environmental issues drove the creation and implementation of legislation and regulations that ultimately resulted in the funding allocated to the environmental field. Thus, environmental jobs were created primarily as a result of enforcement to protect public health, workers' health, and the overall environment. Now, however, there is a new growth in environmental jobs because many environmental practices such as pollution prevention strategies increase business profits. Almost all experts in the industry believe continued economic growth will result in additional job creation.

Kevin Doyle, Director of Research and Publication for the Environmental Careers Organization in Boston, predicts that both the kinds of workers needed and the education required of them will change. Doyle says "Workforce training needs are changing all the time. The trend is going in both directions, toward the person with a master's and the person with a two-year degree. The one who's going to get left out is the person with a general bachelor's degree." (Green, p. 3).

Frequently, two-year colleges fill the void between a high school diploma and a bachelor's degree as well as meet the retraining needs of the displaced workforce. Many believe these schools will provide most of the career-oriented education and training for the next century. That forecast is most realistic in the environmental technology field.

An in-depth examination of the public and private sector marketplace is essential for the development and implementation of environmental education programs that will provide graduates with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to obtain jobs, perform successfully, and advance in their career fields. Following are issues and recommendations that address current and future employment needs.

ISSUE: Because there is no common, agreed-upon definition for the terms "environmental technician" and "environmental technology," two-year colleges are lacking clear-cut parameters for preparing learners for occupations in this field.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Define/clarify what is meant by the "environmental technology" field. In order to define this field, two-year colleges should work collaboratively with business and industry, government, and professional organizations to:

• Develop common language and terms to be used in the environmental technology field;
• Define "environmental technician" and the job categories and/or skills it would include; and
• Identify specialty areas for environmental technicians (e.g., hazardous waste management, pollution prevention, air quality, soil, water quality, water supply, solid waste, bioremediation, biohazardous wastes, and radiation).

ISSUE: Forecasting workforce needs has been an elusive and difficult task because of, in part, the lack of a clear definition of what constitutes the "environmental technology" career field.

RECOMMENDATIONS: To identify existing and emerging jobs within the environmental technology career field, two-year colleges should:

• Conduct ongoing needs assessments of the private and public sector both prior to and during the development and implementation of a program;
• Seek input from federal and state environmental agencies on potential needs as a result of proposed regulations; and
• Seek input from senior executive/strategic planners regarding their view of future employment trends (including number of future jobs as well as knowledge, skills, and abilities required); and
• Identify career ladders within the environmental career field.

ISSUE: Academia, business and industry, professional societies, and government have often worked in isolation from each other.

RECOMMENDATIONS: To develop and maintain a qualified workforce in environmental technologies requires that all stakeholders work cooperatively; therefore, two-year colleges should:

• Become customer-driven and respond to employers' needs. This includes providing for continuing education and/or retraining of current employees;
• Include small, medium, and large employers through organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce; for example, form an environmental roundtable sub-workgroup;
• Determine local employers who are at risk environmentally and who need the two-year college to help them with problem solving;
• Seek to become brokers who bring two cultures (employer and educator) together, serving as translators of terminology, and creating a sense of common ownership among all players;
• Foster win-win situations among the partners;
• Promote colleges and universities as resource centers for employers and community;
• Develop modular and portable curricula to meet and exceed employer and community needs; and
• Share resources with other schools, including secondary, two-year, and four-year institutions.
• Ensure commitment to employers by guaranteeing results and performance after placement of graduates. This may be achieved by developing learning contracts with partners and offering assurances on meeting established performance objectives. Student internships, mentorships, and co-ops with employers should be created as well as memoranda of understanding (M.O.U.) and/or contracting mechanisms to "partner" with employers;

ISSUE: The United States remains the only industrialized nation without standards to define skills required for industrial occupations. Therefore, schools and colleges are preparing learners for occupations without any clear-cut guidelines.

RECOMMENDATIONS: To identify and standardize core proficiencies in environmental technology curricula, two-year colleges, in cooperation with industry and professional societies, should:

• Provide a basic environmental technology curriculum that creates a long-term educational foundation, while satisfying the immediate needs of the rapidly changing workforce. Such a curriculum should:

• Establish a general education component, including mathematics and science, written and oral communication, computer skills, as well as prerequisites to technical and discipline-specific courses;
• Develop a core technical component encompassing discipline-specific courses and training skills that are fundamental to the field of environmental science technology, including instruction in values and business ethics for the environmental technician; and
• Create a job-specific component to include standard job skills developed for a specific environmental science technology (i.e., hazardous waste technician, air quality technician) as well as retraining skills for local needs and technology changes.

• Determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities that should be taught at each educational level;
• Identify current certifications;
• Explore and define future certifications;
• Design/adapt curricula and teaching methodology for training and retraining of existing workforce;
• Establish subject matter expert teams;
• Establish dissemination methodologies;
• Ensure continuous improvement of curricula; and
• Review the above-listed products and processes on a regular basis to validate that curricula are meeting employment needs.

ISSUE: "Environmental technicians" have not been clearly defined and differentiated from engineers, scientists, and other professionals in the environmental field.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Market "environmental technicians" to business and industry, government, and the community. Two-year colleges should:

• Develop a consensus view of what environmental technician means locally, regionally, and nationally;
• Develop an awareness of the value of the associate degree and establish the two-year degree as the criterion for the "environmental technician" title;
• Seek accreditation from appropriate agencies;
• Identify client base such as local, state, and federal governments and business and industry;
• Develop and implement a formal marketing plan that includes goals, measurable objectives, concrete tasks, and specifications that define responsibilities;
• Develop marketing pieces (e.g., brochures, pamphlets, and other advertisements);
• Develop the ability to meet short-term environmental training needs in the workforce; and
• Articulate short-term training programs with associate degree programs.

ISSUE: Until recently, employers often believed that environmental practices and staff cut into profits. Now, however, employers are beginning to see the benefits of environmental efforts.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Promote the improved quality of life and economic benefit to the employer and the community as a result of environmental technology efforts. To promote benefits, two-year colleges should:

• Educate the public on global "green" economics/workforce and the international quality standards for environmental issues;
• Educate employees about the global and cultural context in which they work;
• Educate employees on the Total Environmental Quality Management (TEQM) process: that environmental compliance/performance can have a positive economic effect on business;
• Market environmental services as a front-end component of business (rather than back-end compliance) emphasizing pollution prevention and cost savings;
• Establish a public speaking bureau in which environmental technicians become spokespersons/advocates for the nonscience community; and
• Track graduates' employment histories to demonstrate sustained value of investment for education.

ISSUE: Legislation has an impact upon the workplace as well as the community.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Review current and proposed legislation and determine its impact on the workplace and the community as a whole. Two-year colleges should:

• Provide a methodology to review current and proposed legislation;
• Determine the impact on current and future workforce needs;
• Seek opportunities to influence proposed legislation;
• Educate employers and students on legislation and regulations; and
• Position themselves as clearinghouses of information on existing legislation and regulations; for example, disseminating "user friendly" interpretations of legislation and regulations to the community.