New Government Funded National 2 Year Craft Butcher Apprenticeship

There's now a National Craft Butcher Apprenticeship, the first government-funded programme for Butchers in Ireland. The two-year "earn and learn" programme is designed for those who wish to learn the craft of butchery through both off-the-job training and on-the-job practical experience.

Upon successful completion of the programme, apprentices will be awarded the QQI Level 5 Certificate in Craft Butchery Major Award.  Apprentices will, by then, have gained the knowledge and skills to cut, prepare, package and present meat and meat products to the standards required to the business and specialist needs of customers. 

The off-the-job training for the Craft Butcher Apprenticeship takes place in Teagasc Ashford Food Research Centre, Co. Dublin. The centre has state of the art cooking, manufacturing and packaging facilities, and boasts its own fully-functioning abbatoir.

The apprentices will spend the rest of their programme hours with their approved employer.

This is the first government-funded butchery apprenticeship for the Irish Food Industry and has been designed to train butchers for the 21st century in order to secure and protect the future of Irish butchery.

Additionally, the course has been structured to expand the skillset of new and existing butchers, so that the future skills needs of the industry can be met.

The training curriculum itself incorporates modules essential for the developing core skills required of the modern butcher, including  Food Safety and Hygience, Food Prepartion, and Animal Welfare.

The course expands into a number of business areas to encourage apprentice butchers to build up a more versatile skillset, with an emphasis on entrepreneurship central to the course. Marketing Practice, Customer Service and Sales, and Entrepreneurial Skills are some of the other elements of the programme.

Here's some butchers that are currently recruiting Apprentices;

FxBuckley

http://www.fxbuckleybutchers.ie/apprentice

Cork

https://www.wallacemyers.ie/job/368-apprentice-butcher-cork?utm_source=https://jobalert.ie

Waterford

https://www.jobsireland.ie/en-US/job-Details?id=2084083

If you're interested in a career as a Butcher, maybe contact your local butchers or supermarkets and ask them if they're interested in taking on an Apprentice - you might just be lucky!

Best of Luck