AUTUMN
2 015
TECHNOLOGY
& Ireland’s Future
Managing the risks of
SOCIAL &
DIGITAL MEDIA
in schools
Rebirth of Irish
Apprenticeship
MOMENTUM:
A REVIEW
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ETBI  AUTUMN 2015
Contents
Section 1 – National and European events
02
ETB and DSP Working Well Together: The Kilkenny
Experience
Editorial
03
Technology and Ireland's Future
06
Rebirth of Irish Apprenticeship Gathers Pace
with Announcement of 25 New Apprenticeships
47
49 ETBs Part of New Regional Skills Fora Network
52
Hope Guatemala, Children of the Finca Florencia
Team Ireland Brings Home Gold from Skills Olympics
Section 2 – News
14
54
12
Ros Wynne wins Gold Medal in Aircraft Maintenance at WorldSkills in Brazil
15
Managing the risks of social and digital media in schools
20
Building Leadership Capacity in our Schools – An Authentic Leadership Programme for Aspiring Leaders in Cork ETB
55
Apprenticeship Course in Stone Cutting and Stone Masonry Launched at Kerry ETB Training Centre by Ministers Harris and English
Minister Visits Dunboyne College in recognition of Independent Status
56
DDLETB taking a bite of the Apple with iTunes U!
58
Waterford and Wexford ETB working collaboratively in Tramore
Response to ESRI Research – Wellbeing and School Experiences among 9- and 13-Year-Olds: Insights from the Growing Up in Ireland Study
60
School Focus: Portlaoise College
26
Momentum: Running its Course or Gathering Pace?
61
Limerick College of Further Education (LCFE) opens door to third-level education for its graduates
24
35
The Weighty Problem in our Education System
62
Centre Profile: Portlaoise Further Education Centre
Scoil Oscair CNS – Leading the Smart School Revolution
63
Summer Schools Initiative in Donegal ETB
41
Addressing Intergenerational Educational Disadvantage through Family Learning
64
Galway City Youthreach leads way in Innovative Instructional Leadership Programme
Equal Access for People with Intellectual Disabilities to Further Education and Training – What is the problem?
64 38
45 Sod Turning Ceremony at Comeragh College, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary
The information contained in ETBI Magazine is, to the best of our knowledge, accurate at the time of publication. The views expressed in this magazine
do not necessarily reflect those of ETBI. Design by: Design Farm www.designfarm.ie. Printed by: Doyle Print, Church Lane, Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow.
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Editorial
S
eptember 2015 marks the
occasion of the first annual
conference of ETBI under
our revised Constitution which was
adopted at the AGM in November
2014. Delegates, representing board
members and staff from all sixteen
ETBs are attending a programme
of relevant presentations and
discussions under a new-format twoday event.
September also marks the start of a
new year in the education calendar.
From a policy perspective, Minister
O’Sullivan will want to drive for ward a
number of initiatives before the next
general election. An immediate priority
will be the implementation of the
proposed reform of the Junior Cycle,
if or when the teacher unions endorse
the outcome of recent negotiations.
From a school management
perspective, such reforms must be
adequately resourced; ETBI and other
management bodies have insisted
that this must be a sine qua non
if the reform programme is to be
successfully implemented.
Two retrograde legacies stemming
from the recent economic recession
continue to impact negatively on
schools and colleges, and must,
now that the economy is on the rise
again, be urgently addressed. Firstly,
the increases in pupil-teacher ratio
imposed on second-level schools
in recent years have only resulted
in further inequity in the education
system, and steps must be taken
to restore the PTR to pre-recession
levels as soon as possible. Secondly,
the stripping of middle-management
posts in second-level schools over
recent years has ser ved to undermine
the capacity of school management
to deliver supports for students,
parents and teachers. ETBI and other
management bodies have proposed
new fit-for-purpose middle-management
structures to the Department of
Education and Skills. ETBI wants
to see this serious concern of
management addressed. The acute
deficiency in schools’ administrative
capacity is unsustainable and finding
a solution must not be “long-fingered”
or remain unresolved any longer than
necessar y.
"The community national
Recently the focus of media attention
has again been directed at the
availability, and lack thereof, of multidenominational schools at primar y
level. This was a priority of former
education minister Ruairí Quinn,
whose recent press article has reignited this debate which has seemed
to focus on the transfer of schools
from church patronage to such multidenominational patrons as Educate
Together. The community national
schools managed by ETBs need to
be much more widely promoted as a
viable alternative multi-denominational
The start of each school year brings
its own challenges. Some have been
touched on here. The ETBI Conference
in Galway on September 23rd and
24th provides a further opportunity
to highlight the priority strategic
concerns and policies of the sector.
We look for ward to a successful and
rewarding event with full participation
by delegates, and beyond, to a
successful, though challenging, new
educational year.
schools managed by ETBs
need to be much more widely
promoted as aviable alternative
multi-demoninational primary
school option."
primar y school option. Despite several
years of piloting and development,
community national schools have
still not been transferred to the
patronage of their ETBs. While ETBI
welcomes the recent announcement
of the establishment of a further two
community national schools under ETB
management, ETBI sees no reason
why all community national schools
cannot be immediately placed under
the patronage of the ETBs.
Michael Moriarty,
General Secretary.
"Two retrograde legacies stemming from the recent economic
recession continue to impact negatively on schools and
colleges, and must, now that the economy is on the rise again,
be urgently addressed."
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Technology and
Ireland's Future
Paul Sweetman, Director, Technology Sectors, Ibec
O
ver the past decade, the
technology sector has bucked
the trend, becoming an engine
for growth. Ireland is now home to 9 of
the top 10 global software companies,
9 of the top 10 US technology
companies and all of the top 10 born
on the internet companies. When I say
home, I mean that these companies
employ tens of thousands of people
in Ireland. In some cases – Google
being a perfect example – the Irish
office is second only in size to their
global corporate headquarters.The
list of companies in Ireland is a who’s
who of the sector: Apple, SAP, Intel,
IBM, HP, Uber, Cisco, Ericsson, Analog
Devices, Oracle, EMC, Dell, LinkedIn,
Twitter, Yahoo, and Microsoft. This is
an impressive list and is by no means
exhaustive. The sector employs over
105,000 people, up 40% from 2010.
Recently, it has often been the case
that where one company finishes a
recruiting round, another has a major
jobs announcement. It is an incredibly
positive story.
We also have a scaling indigenous
technology sector that employs close
to 12,000 people and has total
sales revenue of more €2 billion per
annum. Many of these companies are
leading exporters and becoming tech
multinationals in their own right.
It is true to say that Ireland is a global
tech hub. Core to this success is the
availability of talent and ideas. Ireland
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is ranked first in the world for the
availability of skilled labour and first
for the adaptability of our workforce.
David Marcus, President of PayPal
summed it up best when he said about
Ireland, “There is really nowhere else
in Europe where we can get such a
talented pool of candidates that we
can hire at this scale, and it has truly
been a great experience for PayPal from
the beginning”. To back all this up, in
2014, Forbes Magazine ranked Ireland
as the best country in the world for
business. Not the best small country –
the best country.
This final ranking is important in what it
means for our potential. We should not
limit ourselves in terms of size, but only
be limited by the extent of our ambition.
We have a track record of delivering, a
confidence from investors that we will
do the job and an entrepreneurial spirit,
recognised as one of the strongest in
Europe.
To some the list of names and figures
I have quoted on the strength of the
tech sector may read like we are
coming to the peak of what Ireland can
achieve. I see it from a much different
perspective. I see that we are at the
beginning of an exponential curve and
with the right action we can continue
this upward trajectory.
What then must be done to achieve
this? The first step is to recognise what
are the global issues facing the sector
and then turn those challenges on their
head, making Ireland the standard
bearer for their solutions.
By far the single biggest challenge for
the global tech sector is access to the
right talent, talent that matches the
creativity and boldness needed by tech
companies. This is not simply about
science, technology, engineering and
maths abilities, but business acumen
and savvy, critical communications
skills, teamwork and the ability to
embrace and be comfortable with
ambiguity. A country that can address
these needs best will lead the
technology revolution.
To give Ireland its due, we are turning
this global demand for talent into a
competitive advantage. As the issue
emerged, Ireland moved first and fast.
Record levels of students are sitting
higher level maths. More students
are undertaking third- level courses
in engineering, science and software
development. A new generation of
coders are growing up through Coder
Dojo. Tech professionals globally are
now seeking experience in Ireland to
enhance their careers. We also have a
new apprenticeship programme – the ICT
Associate Professional – for the digital
sector. This will be a game changer.
We have the base, we have the
reputation and we are immersed in
addressing the solution. But, if we want
to begin our rise on the exponential
curve there are two areas on the talent
agenda to address. Both are areas
that every tech economy is struggling
with – and therein lies the opportunity.
If we are ambitious and find solutions
to these two issues, we will become a
world leader for start-ups, for foreign
direct investment and a centre where
multinationals and indigenous tech
companies work hand-in-hand in a spirit
of real collaboration.
First, let us become the world leader
for promoting women in technology,
creating a real gender balance in the
"In 2014, Forbes Magazine ranked Ireland as the best country
in the world for business. Not the best small country – the best
country ... this final ranking is important in what it means for our
potential. We should not limit ourselves in terms of size, but
only be limited by the extent of our ambition"
4
technology sector and second, let
us be known around the globe for an
education establishment that flexes
rapidly with the sector’s needs.
In the US, 1 in 4 workers in the
technology sector are women. Eighteen
percent of the candidates for computer
science degrees are women. Only 7%
of funding from VCs goes to companies
run by women and just 20% of software
developers are female. In Israel,
women represent less than 10% of tech
company founders and in Silicon Valley
only 11% of executive positions are
held by women.
At a time when the industry in
expressing major concern over the
skills and talent demand, it is obvious
that if we can improve these numbers,
the talent demand will abate and we
can focus more efforts on the job of
innovation and turning ideas into real
assets, products and services.
Right now in Ireland we have a plethora
of great activities focused on promoting
women in technology: Silicon Republic,
Athena Swan, the group Women in
Technology & Science Ireland and the
many initiatives of Engineers Ireland,
Smart Futures, the Dublin Start-up
Commissioner, the Irish Computer
Society, Coder Dojo and the hour of
code, but to name a few. However, like
we have done with a variety of different
issues in the past, can we make the
sum of these parts greater than each
individual effort? Can we work together
through the private and public sector,
with industry, government and NGOs to
create one national plan where together
we flip these statistics and become
the world leader for gender balance
in the technology sector? No one has
yet done this, but I know we have the
ability.
To my second point: Global recognition
for Ireland as having an education
system that flexes rapidly with the
sector’s needs. Let me begin with an
extreme – the Thiel Fellowship, started
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by Peter Theil, founder of PayPal.
The fellowship offers 20 candidates
$100,000 not to go to college but
to spend two years focusing on their
ideas, research and self-education.
The quote on the home page of the
Theil Fellowship website is Mark
Twain proclaiming that “I never let my
schooling interfere with my education”.
Again, this is an extreme and I am
in no way suggesting we all pack up
our things and follow this model, but
it does indicate an emerging debate
about what we want and need from our
formal education systems.
When I look at the many education
initiatives we have been involved with
through our Associations, those that
have derived the greatest value to
both company and student are the
programmes which were developed
in collaboration with educators
and industry. Be it ICT Associate
Professional programme or the many
masters programmes developed with
equal input from industry and third-level
institutions. Where the system could
adapt and flex with industry and vice
versa, success was achieved for all. As
with women in technology, let Ireland
be the global leader in achieving this
balance at a national level.
The technology sector in Ireland is
strong, but it is my firm belief that we
are only at the beginnings of what we
can do. We are at the start of a new
era of growth and achievement but we
must be ambitious and bold to fulfil
our potential.
Paul Sweetman is director of the
technology sectors in Ibec. This
includes running the two technology
representative associations ICT Ireland
and the Irish Software Association.
NEW ETBI SNAPSHOPTS OF PRACTICE SEMINAR SERIES
ETBI, in partnership with the Further Education Support Service (FESS) team are planning a series of seminars on
a variety of themes and topics that will enable colleagues involved in FET provision, to share practices, experiences,
ideas and ways of doing things under specific topics/work areas. The objective of the seminars is to provide a
mechanism for colleagues to collaborate and use one another as sounding boards to explore solutions to common
challenges, issues and problems arising. The seminars will be supported by the FESS team and co-ordinated through
the ETBI QQI Forum.
To facilitate discussion the seminars will be small workshop style with up to two colleagues from each ETB attending.
They will be held in ETBI offices in Pipers Hill, Naas. Please contact the ETBI QQI representative in your ETB for more
information. Two seminars are scheduled for the autumn:
1. INTERIM GOVERNANCE PROCESS FOR PROGRAMME
MANAGEMENT – 22 OCTOBER 10.30–1.00PM
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Teams from Cork ETB and Limerick and Clare ETB will
share their practices and experience in:
New programme proposals
Programme Design and Development
Programme Evaluation and Approval
Programme Administration (Centres and Versions)
Programme Review
2. ENSURING CONSISTENCY OF ASSESSMENT IN MULTICENTRES – 25 NOVEMBER 10.30–3.30PM (TBC):
Teams from Dublin and Dun Laoghaire LETB and Kildare
Wicklow ETB will share their practices and experience in:
 Methodologies and processes used to ensure consistency
in Assessment across multiple centres
 The FESS team will present models arising from their
research and experience
 The FESS team will present Process Exemplars for
Programme Management.
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Rebirth of Irish
Apprenticeship Gathers
Pace with Announcement
of 25 New Apprenticeships
Pat O’Mahony, ETBI Education Research Officer
While this article draws substantially
on the text of the June 2015
Apprenticeship Council Report on New
Apprenticeship Programme Proposals,
all errors or omissions are entirely
the responsibility of the author. A
full copy of the Council’s report may
be accessed at: www.education.ie/
en/Publications/Policy-Reports/
Apprenticeship-Council-Report-onNew-Apprenticeship-ProgrammeProposals.pdf
REVIEW OF APPRENTICESHIP
– MAY 2013
In May 2013, the Minister for Education
and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, announced a
Review of Apprenticeship in Ireland to:
determine whether the current model
of apprenticeship should be retained,
adapted or replaced by an alternative
model of vocational education and
training for apprentices – taking into
account the needs of learners, the
needs of employers, the needs of
the economy and the need for cost
effectiveness into the future.
The findings from the Review were
published the following December and
the Review Report included a number
of very specific recommendations,
including the establishment of an
enterprise-led Apprenticeship Council.
Subsequently, in June 2014, the
6
Department of Education and Skills
published a time-bound Apprenticeship
Implementation Plan for reviewing
existing apprenticeships and expanding
apprenticeships into new sectors.
A priority item on the Implementation
Plan was the establishment of the
Apprenticeship Council and this
was officially launched by Minister
O'Sullivan in November 2014. On
being established, the Council, which
is chaired by Pat Doherty, the Chief
Executive Officer of the ESB, and
includes Cavan and Monaghan ETB
Chief Executive, Martin O’Brien, was
tasked with expanding the Cavan and
Monaghan Apprenticeship system
into new sectors of the economy,
across a range of qualification levels
and mapping out the sectors where
new apprenticeships can make a real
difference to both employers and
employees. "The council was tasked
with expanding the
Apprenticeship system
into new sectors of
the economy, across a range
of qualification levels ..."
CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR
NEW APPRENTICESHIPS –
JANUARY 2015
In January 2015 the Council invited
consortia of industries, professional
bodies and education and training
providers to carefully consider how
different types of apprenticeships
could operate in their sectors in line
with the recommendations of the
Apprenticeship Review Group and,
on this basis, to submit proposals
for new apprenticeships by 31 March
2015. In inviting proposals for new
apprenticeships, the Council stressed
the need for strong partnerships
between industry bodies and education
and training providers, and advised
that the proposals would be evaluated
against a specific set of criteria
that would include the viability and
sustainability tests recommended by
the Apprenticeship Review Group. This
meant that successful proposals would
need to be explicit about the following:
 The numbers to be trained
 The extent to which proposers are
representative of the industry
 The continuing demand for
apprenticeships into the future
 The occupational, academic and/
or successive apprenticeship
progression opportunities
for apprentices; indeed, the
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Photographed at the Announcement of the Approval of New Apprenticeship Proposals were Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O'Sullivan
TD, Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, Damien English TD, Pat O’Doherty, Chairman of the Apprenticeship Council, and Marian
Kittler, Chef at Fallon & Byrne.
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opportunities for apprentices to
progress to the next occupation and
learning level
Evidence of labour market needs
and future strategic economic
priorities, supported by evidence
based studies
The capacity to support quality
training facilities, participation in
training of trainers, capacity to
provide the required range of work
experience, co-ordination with other
employers, etc.
The willingness of employers to
recruit and meet the relevant costs
associated with Apprenticeships
The willingness of employers and
education and training providers
to engage collaboratively in the
development and delivery of
Apprenticeships
A marketing plan to promote
Apprenticeships
Furthermore, proposers were asked
to outline the format and structure of
the apprenticeship programme being
proposed, the main occupational
needs to be addressed, the depth
and transferability of the skills to be
acquired and the entry levels proposed.
While it was difficult to predict the
likely response to the call for new
apprenticeship proposals, the actual
response (a total of 86 proposals from
48 different organisations) was well
beyond what was expected.
APPRENTICESHIP
COUNCIL RECOMMENDS
ESTABLISHMENT OF
25 NEW APPRENTICESHIPS –
JUNE 2015
The Apprenticeship Council examined
and analysed the 86 proposals and
reported its conclusion to Minister
O’Sullivan in June 2015. This report,
which essentially announced that
work would commence immediately
on the development of 25 new
apprenticeships (we currently have
27 apprenticeships), the vast majority
of which are expected to be ready
for new entrants sometime in 2016.
Furthermore, the report confirmed that
another 35 apprenticeship programme
proposals, while not as advanced in
their design, planning and industr y/
education collaboration, had strong
merit and are worthy of support and
development funding. The Council also
reported that 25 of the remaining 26
new apprenticeship proposals require
significant additional planning, design
and collaboration before qualifying for
development funding.
By any standards this amounts to
hugely impressive progress when one
has regard for the short timeframe
that was provided to those considering
proposing new apprenticeships.
Indeed, the whole move towards
reforming and expanding Irish
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apprenticeships could well turn out to
be the most significant development
on the Irish Education and Training
landscape since free post-primar y
education became available in the late
1960s.
For generations, Ireland’s schoolleavers, their parents and their
teachers have been seduced into
believing that the key to social and
economic success lies in ‘going to
college’. In racing parlance, we have
bet the house on the third-level horse,
and this has left significant numbers
of disillusioned third-level graduates
either unemployed or employed in
semi-skilled or low-skilled jobs.
On 26 July, in a piece in the Business
Newsletter on Independent.ie, Karl
Deeter of Irish Mortgage Brokers,
captured, admittedly with a touch of
hyperbole, the essence of the situation
that a significant number of young
people find themselves in – see Box 1
below.
As studies right across the world
have concluded, for the foreseeable
future, even in high tech economies,
some 50% of the workforce will require
medium-level skills and a further
15% will require low-level skills. In
many sectors, all of these skills can
be provided through apprenticeship
programmes. Then, if the qualified
apprentice wishes to proceed to thirdlevel education when he/she is more
mature, there will be attractive and
flexible educational pathways available
to facilitate this. The educational
landscape is changing and it is
important that young people, their
parents and teachers are aware of
these developments.
25 NEW APPRENTICESHIPS
ENTERING DETAILED
DEVELOPMENT PHASE
Details of the 25 proposals that the
Apprenticeship Council deems ready
to enter a detailed development phase
are set out in Box 2 opposite.
If these new apprenticeships come
on stream over the course of the
next few years, it will effectively
increase the numbers entering
apprenticeship (based on a total
rolling recruitment of apprentices for
the 12 months to 30 June 2015 of
2,900) by some 54%. While this is
not entirely earthshattering given the
low base from which we are taking
off, it nevertheless constitutes a ver y
significant beginning even though it
is accepted that there will be some
slippage and all proposed new
apprenticeships will not materialise as
envisaged.
There are a few aspects of the
proposed new 25 apprenticeships that
merit particular mention.
Firstly, while until now all
apprenticeships were placed at level 6
on the NFQ, the new apprenticeships
are for a variety of levels on the
NFQ – 19% at Level 5, 33%at Level
6 (Advanced Certificate), 19% at
Level 6 (Higher Certificate), 7% at
Level 8 and 3% at Level 9. Until now
apprenticeship was confined to level
BOX 1
„„ There is a national obsession with attending college straight after school – and for many that is a huge financial error
because the parents can't afford it. Then there are the rump of kids who go because they feel compelled to -and yet
they don't know what they want to do, or they don't use the education bought and paid for, and some even drop out (I
did the latter myself).
„„ This isn't an endorsement of not getting an education, but one of knowing what does and doesn't pay.
„„ A study in the USA (we didn't do one here, so we can't say for sure) showed that half of graduates were unemployed
or underemployed and in debt. About 42pc have jobs that don't require a four-year degree.
„„ The number of third-level students in Ireland is roughly 150,000 so it's a large group to consider - in particular as youth
unemployment here is over 20.2pc (thankfully it's actually down about a third from a high of over 31pc in 2012).
„„ Not every child is going to be academically gifted or an academic, and even within academia there are frustrations at
things like grade inflation, something recently brought up by UCD economist Morgan Kelly.
„„ Outcomes matter, and education for the sake of it is pointless. Take a near 'unemployment proof' profession like
accountancy: you don't have to go to university to become qualified in it. Nor perhaps should you have to.
„„ Third-level students are not earning for years at a time; they are also not gaining work experience; and guess what
one of the most common reasons for not getting a job at an interview? A lack of experience.
„„ Most of what the world needs to know in practice is not held in universities, it is held in places that do create the actual
things we use. Of course education is key to these things because you need educated people to work in a business - but
we underestimate the value of more 'apprenticeship-like' paths to success.
„„ There are other trade-offs, do you take years of not earning in return for years of higher earnings (because having a
degree does mean you are likely to be higher paid)?
„„ In university it depends on what you do. Maths, engineering and computer science all pay off highly. Art history and
sociology, not so much. Some subjects may nourish the soul, but that's subjective. In finance we look at the bottom line
- and what it tells us is that for many kids college is a waste of time
8
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BOX 2: 25 NEW APPRENTICESHIP PROPOSALS
PROPOSER
APPRENTICESHIP
TITLE
NFQ
LEVEL
ANNUAL
REGISTERATIONS
DURATION
YEARS
Accountant
Technician Ireland
Higher Apprenticeship
in Accountancy
6
80
<2
Association of Craft
Butchers of Ireland
Butchery and Fresh
Food Retail
6
60
<2
Combilift
OEM Technician
6
50
<3
Dawson Travel
Travel Professional
6
24
<3
Donegal ETB
Advanced Craft
Welder
6
150
<4
Donegal ETB
Craft Welder
5
150
<3
Eircom
Telecommunications
Field Technician
6
80
<2
Fasttrack to IT
Network Engineering
5&6
100
<2
Fasttrack to IT
Software Developer
5&6
100
<2
Financial Services
Ireland
IFS Generalist
6
120
<2
Financial Services
Ireland
IFS Advanced
Specialist
8
30
<2
Financial Services
Ireland
IFS Specialist
7
60
<2
Flour Confectionary
and Bakers
Association
Baker
6
50
<2
Irish Hotels
Federation &
Restaurants
Association of
Ireland
Commis Chef
7
70
<2
Irish Medical Device
Association
Manufacturing
Engineer
7
40
<4
Irish Medical Device
Association
Manufacturing
Technician
5&6
64
<3
3Irish Road Haulage
Association
HGV Driver
5
70
<3
IT Tralee
Sous Chef
8
16
<2
IT Tralee
Chef de Partie
7
16
<2
IT Tralee
Commis Chef
6
16
<2
IT Tralee
Executive Chef
9
16
<2
Limerick IOT
Field Service
Engineer – Electrical
Technology
7
16
<2
National Institute
of Transport and
Logistics
Warehouse and
Distribution Operative
XXX
50
<2
Plastics Ireland
Polymer Processing
Technician
6
40
<3
Zurich Insurance
General Insurance
Practitioner
7
100
<3
TOTAL
1,568
6 for all apprenticeships, irrespective
of the volume or depth of learning
involved in completing a particular
apprenticeship. This inevitably
resulted in the achievements of some
completing an apprenticeship being
under valued while the achievements of
other were over valued.
This writer always found it difficult to
reconcile the fact that a school leaver
with 400 plus points in the Leaving
Certificate who then qualified as an
electrician or an aircraft mechanic
could have his/her education and
training achievement equated with that
of somebody completing a wet trades
apprenticeship having left school
with five ordinar y Ds in the Junior
Certificate. The establishment of
apprenticeships at different NFQ levels
removes this inequity. It also sends
a clear message to young people and
those who influence their study and
career paths (parents and teachers)
that vocational skills are in no way
second class skills or achievements.
Secondly, the duration of all current
Irish apprenticeships is four years,
irrespective of the volume or depth of
learning involved in completing them.
The duration of the proposed new 25
apprenticeship var y depending on the
degree of difficulty involved in meeting
the learning outcomes set for the
apprenticeship.
Sixty-four per cent of the proposed
new apprenticeships have a duration
of between two and three years.
Twenty-eight percent have a duration
of between three and four years while
8% of the 25 apprenticeships have a
duration of four years.
EMPLOYER SUPPORT
FOR EXPANDING
APPRENTICESHIPS?
At the time the Apprenticeship
Council invited proposals for new
apprenticeships, there was some
apprehension about the extent to
which employers would be willing to
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practically support the expansion of
apprenticeship. Clearly, employers
have reser vations about the degree to
which those leaving education and/or
training have acquired the skills and
dispositions required in the workplace
but would they be prepared to host
apprentices, most particularly given
that they (employers) would now be
required to pay the apprentices while
undertaking their off-the-job training.
It was therefore very reassuring to see
that employer / industry associations
were responsible for nearly half (41) of
the proposals for new apprenticeships,
with education and training providers
accounting for the remaining 45
submissions. Of course, in order to
pass the sustainability test, all of the
25 new apprenticeship proposals that
the Council considers ready to enter
the detailed development phase,
had to demonstrate that there was
sufficient employer support to warrant
the apprenticeship being established.
So the apprehension about employer
support seems to have been illfounded. Indeed, the Apprenticeship
Council’s report to the Minister records
that: ‘there is strong support for many
of the proposals made by education
and training providers’ and ‘there is
strong demand for apprenticeship
training across a range of sectors and
across a range of qualifications levels’
- with a ‘particularly strong interest
from the manufacturing and engineering
sector, representing nearly 28% of
submissions received’.
While Apprenticeship has a long and
respected history in Ireland, it has
historically been very much confined
to construction and mechanics of
one kind or another. It is therefore
encouraging to note submissions for
new apprenticeships from areas of the
economy that would not previously be
seen as amenable to apprenticeship
– business administration and
management (4) manufacturing and
engineering (24), tourism and sport
(10), financial services (10), arts, craft
and media (8), transport distribution and
logistics (6), and so on. If this first wave
of proposals is reflective of what is to
come, then Ireland is well on the road
to reforming its education and training
system along the lines of what operates
so effectively in the strong economies
of northern Europe. Of course, Ireland
is not Germany, and we must avoid
slavishly importing education and
training solutions that have developed
over many years to meet the needs of
other cultures and economies. That
said, our open economy lives and dies
by the universal economic realities of
innovation and competition.
CRITICAL ELEMENTS
IN DEVELOPING NEW
APPRENTICESHIPS
Firstly, the Apprenticeship Council is
committed to:
 Apprenticeship standards being
adopted at a national level for all
apprenticeships
 Only one apprenticeship
programme being adopted
nationally for any given occupation
 All apprentices being registered on
a national register
 All employers hosting apprentices
being approved and nationally
registered, and
 A national apprenticeship contract,
covering all apprenticeships
The Council has also indicated
that, where proposals for new
apprenticeships ‘have identified
outcomes at progressively higher levels
on the framework, it is intended these
programmes will be developed in the
"While Apprenticeship has a long and respected history in Ireland,
it has historically been very much confined to construction and
mechanics of one kind or another."
10
next phase as a single apprenticeship
with clearly defined progression options’.
The Council acknowledges that for each
of the new apprenticeships a significant
amount of work remains to be done
before apprentices can be registered.
For example, there will need to be
absolute clarity around each of the
items listed in Box 3 below.
BOX 3
 Clear definition of the occupation
concerned
 Occupational standards to be met
 Curriculum
 Awarding Body and NFQ Level
 Agreed number of apprentices
 Structure of apprenticeship (on and off the job)
 Employer eligibility criteria
 Apprentice eligibility criteria
 Process for registering apprentices
 Codes of practice for employers
and apprentices
 Means of scheduling apprentices
to off-the-job training
 Development of assessment,
including results capture and
appeals process
 Form of apprenticeship contract
 Quality assurance of on-the-job
and off-the-job elements, including
monitoring of employers
 Development or adoption of award
 IT support systems
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
Once the Minister has allocated the
resources necessary to progressing the
25 proposals for new apprenticeships,
the Apprenticeship Council will request
the proposers to establish steering
groups representative of the industry
and the education and training partners
to progress the required development
work, with the assistance of the
Council. At this point, proposers will be
required to submit a project plan for
the development of the apprenticeship
and, in the case of a proposer with
more than one successful proposal
and obvious connections between the
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"... For each of the new apprenticeships, a significant amount of
work remains to be done before apprentices can be registered"
proposals, a single steering group and
single project plan may be deemed
appropriate. The project plan will
address each of the elements set out
in Box 3, left.
The Council will give proposers some
six weeks to form a steering group
and to develop a project plan. The
project plan will have to be approved
by the Council before funds are
released to the proposer to develop all
elements of the new apprenticeship.
While the time for developing the new
apprenticeship will vary depending on
the apprenticeship, it is envisaged that
most new apprenticeships will become
operational in the course of 2016.
While the Council has responsibility
for overseeing the development of
individual apprenticeships, it also
needs, in consultation with the
relevant stakeholders, to develop
an overall governance structure and
process for the new apprenticeship
system as it is being developed. This
work will be done in parallel with the
new apprenticeship development
process. In developing the new
governance model, the Council will
have to consider the following:
 How will standards be adopted,
revised and consistently applied
under a more distributed system
than currently exists?
 How will new apprenticeships be
governed, both individually and
nationally?
 How will new education and
training providers and employers
access the new apprenticeships
once they are in operation?
 How will the apprentice
registration process work?
 How will the quality assurance
process work, covering training
both on and off the job?
 What are the roles and
responsibilities of the
various players involved in
apprenticeships?
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Clearly a lot has been achieved in
a very short period of time and this
progress exemplifies what can done
when there is real commitment
from all stakeholders (government,
business, the trade union movement
and the education and training sector)
to respond to the needs of both the
economy and learners. For decades
the focus has been on preparing people
for the world of work in the classroom
rather than in the workplace, where
for centuries workers learned the
skills of their ‘trade’ in some kind of
apprenticeship. One of the most high
profile moves from the apprenticeship
model to the classroom model was
the relatively recent transfer of nurse
training from the hospitals to the thirdlevel education colleges.
Over the course of the last decade or
so, however, there has been a growing
realisation, that it is difficult, indeed
impossible in many instances, to totally
replicate the work environment in the
classroom. Employer dissatisfaction with
the extent to which those graduating
from our educational institutions are
work ready has been on the rise.
Furthermore, there are serious concerns
about the level of real engagement in
the classroom where the focus tends
to be on acquiring a qualification rather
than on acquiring skills, competences
and dispositions relevant to the future
skill requirements of the economy.
All of this has led to a rediscover y of
what is termed work-based learning
– a form of learning that is integral
to the whole apprenticeship process.
Indeed, a stated objective of the
2013 Review of Apprenticeship in
Ireland was to ‘examine the future of
apprenticeship training in Ireland with
a greater focus on work-based learning
and a closer alignment of the current
needs of the Irish labour market’.
None of this is to deny the need for
those acquiring further education and
training qualifications to participate in
off-the-job learning in the classroom, it
merely highlights the need to alternate
the classroom experience with the
on-the-job experience and this is the
essence of apprenticeship.
The move from mainly class-based
education and training programmes to
more apprenticeship type programmes
will certainly pose challenges for
ETBs but it also presents them with
opportunities to lead a revitalisation
of further education and training – a
revitalisation capable of contributing
hugely towards the empowerment of the
individual and the building of both social
cohesion and economic prosperity.
Across Europe, further education and
training is seen more and more as the
engine for human progress in the 21st
centur y and it is heartening to see
ETBs embracing the apprenticeship
challenge. Here, it is worth noting
that Irish apprenticeship is currently
ver y much on an upward cur ve
with apprentice registrations for
the existing 27 trades up 40% on
what they were at the same point
in 2013 and the forecast for future
apprenticeship registrations looking
ver y promising.
The experience across the strongest
economies of northern Europe is
that apprenticeships can address the
diverse needs of industr y and of male
and female entrants to the workforce.
The expansion of Irish apprenticeship
will, over time, result in new entrants
to the workforce having a structured
pathway into new economic sectors
and, indeed, a pathway to obtaining
quality-assured qualifications capable
of providing them with a launchpad to
personal and economic progress.
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Team Ireland
Brings Home Gold
from Skills Olympics
Nikki Gallagher, Director of Communications and Secretariat, SOLAS
I
t was an enormous privilege to
be standing in the arrivals area
at Dublin Airport on 16th August
waiting for the triumphant Irish
WorldSkills Team to be reunited with
the proudest group of parents, siblings,
aunts, uncles, friends and other loved
ones I have ever encountered. The
Team returned home from four days of
competition in São Paulo, Brazil, having
won two gold medals, eight Medallions
of Excellence and an overall 11th place
world ranking, but it was the honour of
having been chosen to represent their
country that most resonated with their
friends and relations.
To say the atmosphere in the
Arrivals Hall was electric would be an
understatement. The excitement was
palpable and the roars and cheers that
rang out as the team emerged could
rival anything heard in Croke Park on
match day. Hugs, kisses, tears and
camera flashes met the 14-strong
team and their dedicated coaches and
mentors.
Team Ireland 2015 was made up
of 14 young apprentices, trainees
and students who had proven their
expertise in their chosen field by
competing against their peers to secure
their places on the Irish team. They
were selected from the winners of
the National Skills Competition Finals
which were held in Cork Institute of
Technology in December 2014.
The team comprised:
 Andrew Bushe from Meath,
employed by G Bushe Motors;
 Andrea Donoghue from Wexford,
employed by Tranquility Spa;
 David Morgan from Meath,
employed by P & L Carpentry Ltd;
 Shane McGee from Cavan, employed
by Kieran Callaghan;
 Martin Tully from Galway, employed
by ESB Networks;
 Daniel Murphy from Monaghan,
employed by Norry Constructions;
 Dean McSweeny from Cork,
employed by Bowens Forge;
 John Murray from Cork, employed by
Hurley & White Builders;
 Donal Logan from Leitrim, employed
by Tool & Gauge;
 Owen Murphy from Cork, employed
by BCD;
 Ros Wynne from Dublin, employed
by TransAero Engineering Irl;
 Cian Mulligan from Dublin;
 Jonathan Flynn from Mayo,
employed by the Tim Kelly Group;
 Alína Síle from Latvia who is
studying at the Shannon College of
Hotel Management.
They showcased their skills and talents
in the areas of Aircraft Maintenance,
Automobile Technology, Beauty Therapy,
Cabinet Making, Carpentry, Construction
Metal Work, Electrical Installations,
Industrial Control, Joinery, Plastering
and Dry Wall Systems, Plastic Die
Engineering, Plumbing and Heating,
Restaurant Service and Welding.
The Team was in fulltime training for
8 weeks under the direction of their
coaches prior to travelling to Brazil. The
Team was trained in the Institutes of
Technology (CIT, DIT, DKIT and WIT) and
Education and Training Boards (Kerry
ETB, Clare Limerick ETB, Waterford
Wexford ETB and Dún Laoghaire Further
Education Institute).
Minister of State for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English photographed with
Team Ireland.
12
The gold medals were won by Alina Síle
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in Hotel Management and Ros Wynne
in Aircraft Maintenance. This is the
fourth consecutive Aircraft Maintenance
competition in which Ireland has won
gold. The Medallions of Excellence
were awarded in Beauty Therapy,
Electrical Installation, Joinery, Cabinet
Making, Automobile Technology,
Plumbing, Plastering and Dry Wall, and
Construction Metal Work. The team’s
individual scores all contributed to the
collective 11th place for Ireland.
Prior to joining SOLAS earlier this year,
I had never heard of the WorldSkills
Competition. As we set about promoting
the 2015 Irish Team, I realised that
I was not alone in this. Most of the
Irish population had not heard of the
WorldSkills Competition. This is despite
Ireland taking part in 37 Competitions
since 1957 and winning 61 gold medals,
53 silver medals, 79 bronze medals
and 160 diplomas and Medallions. In
the previous competition in Leipzig,
Germany, Ireland achieved 11th place
out of 53 countries. In this year’s
competition Ireland was once again
ranked 11th place out of 60.
The WorldSkills Competition is the
Skills Olympics. It is a global biennial
competition that sees young people
under the age of 25 compete in their
chosen category. It is the world’s
largest professional education
event. This year approximately 1,200
competitors from 70 countries and
regions competed in almost 50
different skills and disciplines in Brazil.
Almost 200,000 visitors and school
groups attended. The IrelandSkills
Council coordinate the Irish Worldskills
Team. It runs 26 national competitions
in Ireland each year and the Irish
Worldskills Team is selected from
these competitions. The Irish team was
funded by SOLAS, HEA, IOTI, Institutes
of Technology(CIT, DIT, DKIT, LIT, WIT &
IT Sligo) and ETBI.
It is very important that the
WorldSkills Competition and Ireland’s
achievements are recognised and
celebrated, not just by proud parents at
airport arrival halls, but by all of us who
have an interest in spreading the word
about the huge contribution that further
education and training can make to the
lives of individuals, communities, the
economy and Ireland’s reputation at
home and abroad.
Nikki Gallagher is Director of
Communications and Secretariat at
SOLAS. Nikki joined SOLAS from the
Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO)
where she spent ten years as Head of
Communication. As part of her role at
the OCO, Nikki was responsible for the
Education and Participation function
of the Office. Prior to this, Nikki spent
several years in Leinster House as a
National Press Officer. Nikki commenced
her career at BBC Radio, London.
43RD WORLDSKILLS COMPETITION
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL / 11-16 AUGUST 2015
14 Apprentices, Trainees & Students
represent Ireland by Showcasing
Skills that Shape our World.
what is worldskills?
Worldskills is a unique global biennial competition
where young people from across the world compete
to become the best of the best at their chosen skill
– the Olympics for Apprentices.
• 1,200 competitors
• 60 countries
• over 50 skills
• 684 competitors have
represented ireland
•
ireland has participated in
all of the 36 competitions
held since 1957
The Irish team is funded by SOLAS, HEA, IOTI, Institutes of
Technology (CIT, DIT, DKIT, LIT, WIT & IT Sligo) and ETBI.
how many competitors
are there from ireland?
This year we have 14 competitors, all of whom have
proven expertise in their chosen field having competed
against their peers to secure their places at the
Competition.
who are the irish competitors
and how were they selected?
The Irish young people, all under 25 years, are
1. Andrew Bushe
8. John Murray
2. Andrea Donoghue
9. Donal Logan
3. David Morgan
10. Owen Murphy
4. Shane Magee
11. Ros Wynne
5. Martin Tully
12. Cian Mulligan
6. Daniel Murphy
13. Jonathan Flynn
7. Dean McSweeney
14. Alína Síle
They come from: Meath, Wexford, Dublin, Cork, Cavan,
Galway, Monaghan, Cork, Leitrim, Mayo and Latvia.
Competitors have been in fulltime training for the
past 8 weeks under the direction of their coaches.
The Team has been trained in: Institutes of Technology
(CIT, DIT, DKIT, WIT, AIT, Sligo IT, GMIT) and Education
and Training Boards (Kerry ETB, Clare Limerick ETB,
Waterford Wexford ETB, Dún Laoghaire Further
Education Institute and Waterford College of Further
Education) and Shannon College of Hotel Management.
has ireland had any
previous winners?
Ireland has won :
• 59 gold medals
• 53 silver medals
• 79 bronze medals
• 152 diploma/medallions
In the last competition in Leipzig, Germany, Ireland
achieved 11th place out of 53 countries. This continues
the trend of Irish craft people consistently achieving
outstanding results at the World Skills Competition.
what crafts are the apprentices,
trainees & students showcasing?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Aircraft Maintenance
Automobile Technology
Beauty Therapy
Cabinet Making
Carpentry
Construction Metal Work
Electrical Installation
Industrial Control
Joinery
Plastering & Drywall Systems
Plastic Die Engineering
Plumbing & Heating
Restaurant Services
Welding
why is worldskills important?
The competitions are an excellent promotional
event for apprenticeships/traineeships in Ireland
and this encourages school leavers to consider a
trade/skill as a career.
They showcase the existing crafts and skills in the
country and encourage industrialists and others
to consider Ireland as a location for investment.
They also benchmark the quality of the further
education and training in Ireland against the best
in the world. Visiting educators and industrialists
can see evidence of the high standard of further
education and training that is taking place in Ireland.
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Ros Wynne wins Gold Medal
in Aircraft Maintenance
at WorldSkills in Brazil
R
Ros Wynne representing Ireland
was awarded the Gold Medal
in Aircraft Maintenance at the
WorldSkills 2015 closing ceremony in
São Paulo, Brazil on Sunday August
16th 2015.
The 43rd WorldSkills Competition took
place at Anhembi Parque, São Paulo
from 11 to 16 August.The WorldSkills
Competition occurs every two years
and is the biggest vocational education
and skills excellence event in the
world that truly reflects global industry.
The competitors represent the best
of their peers and are selected from
skills competitions in WorldSkills
member countries and regions. They
demonstrate technical abilities both
individually and collectively to execute
specific tasks for which they study and/
or perform in their workplace.
Ros has now made it four gold medals
in a row in Aircraft Maintenance for
Ireland following the footsteps of Joe
Kelly (2013), Colin Callaghan (2011)
and Andy Burke (2009).
Ros has completed a four-year
apprenticeship with the Atlantic Aviation
Group in Shannon and completed
the off-the-job training phases of his
apprenticeship in the Shannon Training
Centre, Limerick and Clare ETB (LCETB)
and in DIT.
Prior to the competition Ros completed
a 10-week intensive training/
preparation course under the guidance
of Michael Hayes, senior aircraft
maintenance Instructor at the Shannon
Training Centre, LCETB.
14
Ros Wynne, Gold Medalist for Aircraft Maintenance.
"Ros has now made it 4 Gold medals in a row in Aircraft
Maintenance for Ireland."
Michael travelled to Brazil with Ros as
the Irish Aviation Skills Expert. This is
Michael’s second time representing
Ireland at this level: in 2013 he was
also successful in coaching Joe Kelly
to achieving gold at the Leipzig Games.
The competition was 22 hours long
and tested the competitors in seven
modules:
1. 2. 3. 4. Sheet Metal Repair
Flight Control Rigging
Daily Inspection of an Aircraft
Gas Turbine Engine borescope
inspection and Hot Section
Inspection
5. Gas Turbine Compressor Inspection
and Blade Blending and Polishing
6. Powered Flying Control Unit
removal, inspection, reassembly
and rigging.
7. Fabrication and installation of an
Electrical wiring loom and fault
finding.
This is a wonderful personal
achievement for Ros and it is also proof
that Shannon Airport as a location has
the training and aircraft maintenance
facilities that can compete and win on
the world stage.
It is also a great achievement for
Shannon Training Centre, LCETB, its
manager, Des Murphy, and all staff.
Well done to all.
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Managing the risks
of social and digital
media in schools
By Bernadette John, Lead Consultant at DigitalProfessionalism.com
M
any young people and
students are so social media
confident and technologically
fluent that teachers and parents
struggle to keep up with them, let alone
safeguard, supervise and support them
or act as effective role models.
BEST LEFT TO THE DESIGNATED
EXPERTS?
It's a challenge for teachers and
parents to get up to speed and stay in
touch with the evolving functionality,
emerging trends and issues on the
range of current Apps and platforms
popular with students from Ask.fm to
WhatsApp and Instagram, AudioTube
and The Pirate Bay and it can feel
as though the array of dangers is
overwhelming – from bullying to
grooming, publishing self- generated
sexual images to plagiarism, illegally
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downloading games, music and
films. However, we must all rise to
this challenge and lead by example.
If our teaching is to be relevant to
today’s learners, the potential for
negative consequences from poor
online behavior is not something we
can afford to ignore. It is an essential
element when considering reputational
risk, eSafety, future employment and
the exploitation of life chances in the
longer term.
Many educators are ignoring briefings
on social media, digital citizenship
and digital professionalism in the
misguided belief that online and offline
lives are totally separate, ignoring the
fact that their own online behavior can
have serious consequences for their
personal and professional reputations,
the reputation of the school itself
and employability – yes, the future
employability of pupils but also for
the teachers themselves. Digital
Professionalism, which can be defined
as “the competence or skill expected
of a professional when engaged in
digital and social communication”
is an essential for all professionals
working in today’s digital landscape
and teachers must ser ve as advocates
and role models in context for
students in ever y single subject that
they teach.
It is a given that schools must have
appropriate use of social media
and Internet policies and a code of
conduct so that staff and students
have a clear understanding of their
school’s expectations around their
behavior online, when accessing
institutional Wi-Fi, technology and
social media platforms, both on and
off site, but is it clear to the staff
that there are expectations and
potential consequences for them
personally also? The issues covered
in these policy documents must not
be the concern for one particular
expert teacher and students only,
and are not to be parked in a box file
on a dusty shelf: all teachers must
16
"It is a given that schools must have Appropriate use of Social
Media and internet Policies and a Code of Conduct ... is it clear
to the staff that there are expectations and potential consequences
for them personally also?"
integrate the principles of these
policies into ever ything that they do. It
is wrong to sanction staff or students
if expectations have not been clarified
– a policy or code of conduct cannot
be violated if a school does not have
one! The negative consequences of
social and digital media abuse cannot
be mitigated unless policy, training and
plans for critical incident management
are in place.
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
AND PLAGIARISM
There is a common misconception
that the re-use of images and other
material found online is legal as
the material is already in the public
domain. The prolific popularity of sites
such as The Pirate Bay and AudioTube
with young people enable easy illegal
access to copyright material including
music, films and games. It is important
that teachers model good practice and
take ever y opportunity to ensure that
today’s digital-savvy learners are clear
about their responsibilities when it
comes to accessing and downloading
materials from the internet, providing
clear context, both for course work
and also for material downloaded for
recreational use. No student should
leave school with a fine or a criminal
record under their belt concerning
this issue if we are all clear about the
laws around ownership and access to
copyright material. There are a number
of online repositories of free-to-use
online resources and teachers should
be signposting students to these.
Even if the material that a teacher
downloads from the Internet is to be
used for educational purposes only,
its use could violate the originator’s
copyright and result in sanctions
including substantial fines.
Misuse of copyright material in the
workplace raises the additional issue
of liability – if material being accessed
and downloaded within the workplace
is for private or recreational use by
staff – clearly, the employee should
be liable. Virtually every action online
is traceable. If staff are choosing to
download copyright material at work
for personal and private use, they
could additionally find themselves
sanctioned by their employer for
misuse of a workplace resource. If
staff are accessing copyright material
to repurpose for educational use, it
could be that the employer is liable to
cover the fine and, again, that could be
perceived as a serious misdemeanor
by an employer who could seek to
sanction the teacher. Ever y teacher
should be well versed in the detail
of Copyright and Creative Commons
Licenses.
Teachers are all aware of the issue
of plagiarism and they must clear
with students that copying the work
of others in order to integrate,
repurpose or pass off as our own
is never acceptable either, in any
context. There are a growing number of
websites springing up on the Internet
where students can commission
ever ything from a first-year essay
for Junior Cert to a PhD thesis, but
there is also a growing range of
corresponding technology to detect
plagiarism and cheating. Evidence
of cheating would, of course, reflect
poorly on any student requiring a
reference for an employer or university.
A POSITION OF TRUST
UNDERMINED?
Using work email/Wi-Fi to access
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material not for work purposes, for
anything from ecommerce sites to
Facebook, to inappropriate material
(for example, pornography) or sites
such as the controversial, recently
hacked, Ashley Madison dating
website (for people who are already
married or in a committed relationship
– with the slogan “life is short. Have
an affair”) could bring the good name
of a school or teacher into disrepute,
and could cause the teacher’s position
of trust to be undermined. It could
even leave the teacher open to the
threat of manipulation or blackmail –
even if the site is accessed outside
work hours. Access to such sites
could be violating a workplace policy.
Policy in this area should cover such
issues as when and where technology
and social media sites can be
accessed, regardless of who owns the
technology used to access it. BT allow
all staff to use the Internet from their
official desk-based PCs, issue laptops
and phones at any time. HMRC allow
staff to do so only whilst on lunch or
on other official breaks. Both of these
organisations have limits on what
staff can view – ie. no pornography,
and the limits they place on streaming
relate to using too much bandwidth
and slowing the ser vice for colleagues.
Other wise they can access social
media, shop and search. A policy is
required in order to set limits and
make expectations clear.
Once a teacher’s profile is exposed
or discovered by a parent or student
on dating apps such as Tinder, it can
be screen grabbed and circulated
widely between students and the
information can’t be easily taken back.
Even a poorly considered comment
on an anonymous online forum or
blog, written by a teacher, describing
a struggle with alcohol abuse or
domestic violence, if exposed, can
undermine a position of authority,
leaving a teacher a figure of gossip
or ridicule – and as professional
and private lives are increasingly
impossible to keep separate on social
"Using work email/Wi-Fi to access material not for work purposes,
for anything from ecommerce sites to Facebook, ... could bring the
good name of the school or teacher into disrepute, and could
cause the teacher's positions of trust to be undermined ... even
if the site is accessed outside of work hours."
media, it is essential that we start to
consider ever ything we do online as
potentially public – nothing can really
remain anonymous on the internet.
A LONG-TERM VIEW
Bebo, at one point Ireland’s most
popular website, claiming to have over
one million Irish users, was relaunched
earlier this year, having been shelved
in 2010, after five prolific years. Once
the ‘go-to’ communications site for
young teenagers, when it relaunched
in 2015, it had changed ownership
several times, and evolved from a
social network into a communications
App, but the original content - dialogue
and images – it possessed, were
still as fresh as the day that the by
now post-graduate twenty-something
year olds had originally published
it all online. Evidence of youthful,
emotionally charged hormonal dialogue
and behavior – from experimental
drug use to sexual awakening, casual
misogynistic, homophobic and racist
chit chat was all there, along with the
images to evidence it. Previous Bebo
members were assured by the new
owners that they could simply log-in to
access and remove their old material,
with their original email and password
– but bear in mind here that Yahoo and
Google have been recycling unused
and abandoned email addresses for a
while now and who can remember old
passwords anyway? Some of the most
incriminating photos will have been
posted online by long lost friends and
could come back to haunt members in
the future. With increasing awareness
of the capabilities of facial recognition
software and even of the skills of a
determined hacker, who knows what
material could sur face about old Bebo
members in the future? Who of us at
sixteen years of age honestly knew
where life would take us? Who knew
they would be Taoiseach, a high court
judge, a high ranking police officer, a
teacher or a member of the clergy?
As Alain de Botton (@alaindebotton)
said on Twitter, “Anyone who isn’t
embarrassed of who they were last
year probably isn’t learning enough”
(March 2015). This is probably advice
any past member of Bebo would like to
pass on to current teenage members
of Ask.fm, regarding the material they
parked on Bebo seven years ago.
WILL THESE TEENAGE
RAMBLINGS AND RANTS
ENHANCE OR INHIBIT ANY
FUTURE CAREER PATHS?
Several members of the recently
hacked Ashley Madison website reside
in strictly conser vative countries
where infidelity is punishable by death
and, so, the repercussions of their
online behavior and profiles could be
catastrophic for them. Although the
laws in Uganda currently criminalises
same-sex relationships with a potential
penalty of 14 years incarceration, a life
sentence, there are moves to make
same-sex relationships punishable
there with the death penalty. Apps
such as Grindr, which enable gay
people to network, could potentially be
hacked of data that costs members
their liberty and lives in the future.
Take a superficial look through the
current conversations had by young
Irish people on Ask.fm and you will see
lots of unwise immature admissions
around sex and drugs – some of
it no doubt bravado and youthful
bragging – but proving how essential
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it is that that they understand the
importance of always taking a longterm view of all of our online actions.
On Ask.fm the person who poses
the questions is anonymous but the
person who answers the question is
not. We should all exercise discretion
when communicating online – we
may not always reside in a countr y
where freedom of religious and
sexual expression is our right. An
immature teenager today may be a
foreign aid worker, a professional
or a medical student on a gap year
or elective training experience in a
more conser vative countr y in the
future. Consider the consequences of
their Ask.fm admissions if someone
Googles them when they are working
abroad in the future.
One of the most critical current issues
with Ask.fm is the linking of social
media accounts. People are invited
to sign up using their Facebook
credentials. It’s easy and readily
links new members up to all of their
Facebook friends who are using the
Ask.fm site – the problem is that it
also links the content they post. Last
year a 16-year-old posting intimate
answers on Ask.fm didn’t realise
that her answers were also visible
on her linked Facebook account. She
ended up taking her own life. Indirect
consequences of linking accounts is
critically important, as you can think
yourself anonymous on one, but give
away your identify on the other.
PERSONAL SAFETY
The constantly evolving functionality
within popular established platforms
can expose staff and students to new
risks such as stalking. For example,
circulating a teacher’s mobile phone
number to students when the class
are away on a school trip could share
more private information than the
teacher had bargained for. If her
smart phone has map data enabled,
it is possible for any of the students
to track her movements using her
phone number. If the teacher has
18
"The golden rule must be to think twice before sharing words or
images about oursleves or anyone else. Anything you say or do
can and will be taken out of context."
WhatsApp, it is possible for the
students to see her WhatsApp avatar
or photo. One teacher I worked with
used a ver y intimate photo for his
WhatsApp avatar, as he did not
realise that the image was so easily
accessible to students who had his
phone number. He thought it was only
accessible to a group of “intimate”
friends. Smart phone numbers are
commonly circulated between parents
of younger students on PDF lists and
spreadsheets at the beginning of term.
It is a good idea to advise anyone
who has their mobile phone number
circulated widely in this way to disable
map data on their devices unless
they are using maps and Apps for
navigation. If you use a phone number
to validate a social media account or
as a means to recover a password,
you can often be found by searching
for the phone number online. In
Facebook, for example, if you have
linked your phone number, you can be
found when someone puts it in the
search bar.
The one simple constant that keeps
recurring in this area is the fact that
we all should exercise discretion
around what we share about ourselves
and others on social and digital media
– from dialogue to photos, it is not
only the students who misjudge and
over-share. The golden rule must be
to think twice before sharing words
or images about ourselves or anyone
else. Anything you say or do can and
will be taken out of context. In my
experience, a certain level of paranoia
is healthy and to be encouraged!
Risk assessments should be carried
out before any public and commercial
social networking sites such as
YouTube, Pinterest or Facebook are
used by teachers as learning tools in
order to identify any potential harm and
determine what protective measures
can be taken. The functionality in these
platforms is evolving at such a pace
that the risk assessments should be
repeated regularly!
ACTION PLAN
Facebook’s relatively new instant
messaging App, now allows “friends”
to voice and video call anyone they are
connected to. Facebook Messenger
have only recently removed the ability
to see the exact geographical location
of anyone who messages you. The
functionality is evolving and exposing
new issues all of the time. It is
therefore not a good idea for anyone to
accept friend’s requests from anyone
they are not entirely familiar with. This
functionality is presenting particular
issues around grooming. A level of
technical fluency is required of all of
us if we are to achieve any level of
personal privacy at all.
WHAT YOU SAY, AND HOW YOU
SAY IT…
At the beginning of this new school
year, let’s all make sure that we
strive to take the time to educate and
update ourselves in this area of digital
and social communication so that we
can ensure that what is found about
us online will enhance our professional
profiles and not inhibit our work or
careers. We need to strive to ser ve as
informed role models in this evolving
digital landscape – it is a mistake to
think it can be avoided or ignored.
Digital Professionalism requires a level
of technical fluency and is essential for
the world in which we teach today.
WHERE TO START?
Create an online profile for yourself
that you are happy with. If you don’t
purposefully create your online image,
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look to Planning for Emergencies with
social media.
It is essential that we take steps
to regularly update and educate
ourselves, plan for and manage the
risks associated with the use of
social media for our schools, their
staff and students.
you can be sure that some of your
students might be creating one for you
already!
A current, well-informed,
comprehensive Social Media Policy
with which ever yone is familiar is
essential. If there is not such policy
in place already, look into acting as
the driver to initiate one – along with
a Code of Conduct for Staff and
Students. Take a course or attend
training to inform the content.
Perhaps attend a Safer Social
Networking Workshop to get yourself
up to speed with current issues and
Bernadette John is the Lead
Consultant at DigitalProfessionalism.
com and former lead for Digital
Professionalism at Kings College
London. She has over 25 years'
experience in various professional
roles from midwife to Senior Tutor
at a medical school. She is an
accomplished blogger, social media
super user and thought leader in the
area of Digital Professionalism - the
competence or values expected of
a professional when engaged in
social and digital communications.
Bernadette provides training and
support to a wide range of employers,
educational and professional
organisations internationally on the
issues outlined above.
PICTURED ARE
THE PRESENTERS
AT THE RECENT
"BOARD OF
MANAGEMENT
TRAINING –
TRAINING THE
TRAINERS"
SEMINAR IN ETBI,
PIPER'S HILL.
Left to right: Jacqueline
Dillon, Principal of Magh
Éne College, Bundoran, Co
Donegal, Harry Freeman,
then Regional Advisor to the
Professional Development
Service for Teachers (PDST),
Seán Ó Longáin, former CEO
of Co. Donegal VEC and
Clodagh Geraghty, lecturer
in Law and Human Resource
Management at GMIT.
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Building Leadership
Capacity in our Schools An Authentic Leadership
Programme for Aspiring
Leaders in Cork ETB
By Bill Reidy, Pat Kinsella and John Fitzgibbons of Cork ETB
OVERVIEW
Cork ETB’s Authentic Leadership
Course emerged from discussions
between the Education Officer,
John Fitzgibbons and two former
20
school principals, Bill Reidy and Pat
Kinsella, in the autumn of 2014. The
focus of these discussions, and the
programme that emerged from them,
was providing a forum and oppor tunity
for leaders and aspiring leaders
within Cork ETB schools to develop
their leadership capacities, for the
benefit of their schools and the wider
scheme.
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There was an unprecedented
response to the announcement of the
pilot course scheduled for star t-up
Januar y 2015 and run over ten weeks
with a cohor t of twenty par ticipants,
so much so that it was restructured
to provide for two groups operating
on alternate Wednesday evenings
from Januar y to May 2015. Fifty-eight
par ticipants enrolled for the Course
and the 93% attendance speaks
volumes of the engagement and
satisfaction of the par ticipants.
A similar course, scheduled to
commence in September 2015 is
once again fully subscribed.
CONCEPT, COURSE
STRUCTURE AND DELIVERY
The need for an accessible leadership
course for those, other than Principals
or Deputy Principals, had been selfevident for some time, so we set
about developing a program which
2. Share experiences of Leadership
3. Provide tool-kits and reference
points as a resource
4. Present the most recent thinking
on Leadership applied in an Irish
educational context
would seek to develop authentic,
values-driven leaders in schools.
Following a long series of
meetings and discussions along
with researching the content and
methodology of Leadership programs
internationally, not just within
the Education sector but in other
sectors as well, the outline structure
of our course emerged. The 20
hours of course deliver y would be
accompanied by a series of personal,
reflective exercises which would
require another 15 hours commitment
from course par ticipants. Later in
this ar ticle we will outline the content
of the sessions delivered along with
some of the reflective exercises.
The course was adver tised on the
Cork ETB website in December with
a closing date for applications. The
program was to run for 10 weeks. The
volume of applicants necessitated
splitting the group into two and
scheduling each group on alternate
weeks. We also changed the duration
of the sessions from ten two-hour
sessions to eight two-and-a-half-hour
sessions. The course began on Jan
14th in Coláiste Choilm, Ballincollig
with the final session on May 13th.
As par t of the application process
applicants were asked to state their
reasons for applying for this course.
A selection of their responses is
shown in table 1, below.
Our overall aim was a facilitated
exploration of Leadership to:
1. Enable individuals reflect on
educational leadership and their
own suitability for it
"Focusing on my Pastoral role and the effective school."
"Enhancing my L. skills
at a time when one
could become “JADED”."
"Enhancing my existing MIDDLE MANAGEMENT function."
"Enhancing my own professional growth".
"My present role as AP and the T&L agenda."
"Contributing more effectively in
my present role and developing
skills for Senior Management."
"Team building, delegating
tasks and dealing with conflict."
"Enhancing my capacity
to assist in school
improvement."
"Specific knowledge and skills needed"
"Moving beyond the classroom and using
L. skills in whole school context."
"Acquiring and using
skills in a COHERENT
and STRATEGIC way."
"Learning from the experiences of the participants
and presenters of this programme."
"Unpacking my BELIEF
SYSTEMS and invigorating my
LEADERSHIP STYLE"
"Appreciating that
leadership must be
rooted in 'who you
are and what matters
most to you.'"
"Leadership of
Teaching and
Learning."
"Focusing on
self-awareness."
"Strong personal motivation to contribute further to my context."
"The thought of giving something back
energises me
at this stage in my career."
"Enhancing a collaborative approach to
DECISION MAKING"
"As a leader with no formal
training and considerable
responsibilities DEVELOPING the
NECESSARY SKILLS."
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These are just some of the
responses and they indicated
the wide range of experience and
expectation of the par ticipants.
The sessions involved a mixture
of presentation, group work, and
facilitated discussion.
Between sessions par ticipants
were presented with a variety of
instruments to facilitate their own
reflection and clarification of values
along with their motivation to lead.
Some of the exercises are listed,
right.
THE EIGHT SESSIONS
WERE STRUCTURED AS FOLLOWS:
Session 1:
Session 2: Session 3: Session 4: Session 5: Session 6: Session 7: Session 8: General introduction to Applied Leadership Theory
Authentic Leadership
Turning Around the Failing School/A Study of The Effective School
School Ethos and Governance
Legislation and Procedures
Management of Change/SEN.
Meetings/Difficult Conversations/Conflict
Leadership in the 21st Century
Address by CE of Cork ETB
Presentation of Certificates
It was stressed to the par ticipants
that these were essential exercises
if they were to maximise their return
from the program. These exercises
were private and confidential
but it was suggested that if the
par ticipants felt comfor table they
might like to share their responses
with a trusted confidant who might
offer constructive comment. Many
candidates indicated that they found
immense benefit from this element
of the program. The recommended
time allocation for each of these
was 2.5 hours but many par ticipants
indicated they spent longer than that
on some of them.
SOME OF THE REFLECTIVE
EXERCISES
My Motivation to Lead
My Leadership Style
Identifying my Values
Analysing changes I have been
involved in
 How I function in Conflict
 Construction of my own
Leadership Plan




The Authentic Leadership in action
PARTICIPATION AND
EVALUATION
A nightly roll was kept and the overall
attendance rate was 93% which we
consider to be a reflection of the
par ticipants’ commitment to the
course given that many had to travel
long distances on winter evenings to
attend.
Travel expenses were not paid but
tea/coffee and sandwiches were
provided. A course fee was not
charged for the pilot project.
"Between sessions participants were presented with a variety of
instruments to facilitate their own reflection and clarification of
values along with their motivation to lead ... Many candidates
indicatedthat they found immense benefit from this element of
the programe."
22
When evaluating the initiative the
course par ticipants were facilitated in
a PMI exercise to identify the Pluses,
Minuses and Points of Interest of
the program. Again, the responses
were over whelmingly positive and a
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"Catering arangements were much appreciated."
"The course provide VALUABLE
INSIGHTS into Leadership
"There was
"The honesty of
and facilitated reflection on
growth in
the presenters was
LEADERSHIP STYLES."
apparent."
self-awareness."
"The presenters were well prepared
and the sessions benefited from their
research and practice."
"Different points of view were heard &
represented and everyone’s
"The insight into contrasting Leadership styles
and the reflections between sessions contributed
significantly to the process."
"The RELAXED INFORMAL approach worked."
contribution was valued."
"The FOCUS ON ENGAGEMENT with the
sessions and PERSONAL REFLECTION rather
than terminal examination was refreshing."
"Insights in to Leadership and Management
gave pause for thought on applying for
"The intimate and informal venue worked well."
senior management positions."
"Scenarios and case studies contributed to
engagement and inclusion."
"First-hand experience combined
with Leadership theory ensured
that key messages were heard and
understood."
"The content was both
and CURRENT."
"Outside our own school
RELEVANT
situation there was an
opportunity to ENGAGE in
professional dialogue and the
FREEDOM TO ARTICULATE
views and opinions."
"The alternate weeks
worked well."
"The OUTSIDE SPEAKERS
made a very important
contribution."
"Enhancing my L. skills
at a time when one
could become “JADED”."
"The opportunity to network with ETB colleagues from other settings enhanced the experience."
summar y of this exercise is contained
in table 2, above.
WHAT NOW?
For the course itself, it was decided to
investigate if there would be another
cohor t of twenty who might avail of
it in the academic year 2015/16. A
notice to that effect was placed on
the Cork ETB website in the last week
of May and within 2 days we had
42 applicants so the course will run
for at least one cohor t in the next
academic year.
From a fledgling idea we are convinced
that this initiative will bring positive
benefits to the participants and their
schools, for Cork ETB and of course
the ultimate beneficiaries of such an
endeavour must be the pupils.
Following further discussion we are in
the process of designing another such
programme for Deputy Principals as a
separate entity and we look for ward to
bring that to fruition in the near future.
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Response to ESRI Research
Wellbeing and School Experiences
among 9- and 13-Year-Olds:
Insights from the Growing
Up in Ireland Study
By Betty McLaughlin, President of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors (IGC)
T
he IGC welcomes the opportunity
to comment on yet another
piece of excellent research from
Emer Smyth “Wellbeing and School
Experiences among 9- and 13-YearOlds”, adding to the wealth of research
on education in Ireland to date from the
Economic Research & Social Institute
(ESRI). This research is particularly
welcome as it focuses specifically on
children’s wellbeing from their own
perspective – behaviour, academic selfimage, anxiety, self-reported popularity,
body image and happiness. In addition,
it analyses the individual, classroom
and school factors which shape these
aspects of self-image at 9 and 13 years
of age, highlighting implications for
educational policy at primary and postprimary level. Unlike previous research
which has focused on family influences
on child self-image, this study focuses
on the potential impact of school and
classroom experiences.
Academic achievement appears to
have a stronger influence on self-image
than either school or class, but with
better outcomes in larger schools;
and academic self-image at 13 is
significantly related to self-image at the
age of nine. However, girls appear to be
more sensitive to school and classroom
contexts than boys; and are more
self-critical when taught in multi-grade
(split) classes (usually smaller schools)
where girls appear to make negative
24
evaluations of themselves in relation to
(older) peers.
Students’ social relationships with
teachers and peers have emerged as
important protective factors in fostering
positive self-image; and students
who dislike their teacher, dislike their
school and have experienced bullying
have poorer outcomes. This has
major implication for these students
as previous research by Emer Smyth
(2010; 2011) has found that negative
interaction with teachers is strongly
predictive of early school leaving,
educational aspirations, and grades at
Junior and Leaving Certificate levels.
"Students' social relationships
with teachers and peers have
emerged as important
protective factors in fostering
positive self-image ..."
Overall, what is extremely interesting is
that schools and classrooms can make
a difference, with children in the same
class group having different experiences
of school and reacting to it in different
ways. Emer Smyth has found that a
child’s self-image is not as strongly
influenced by social background factors
as other factors, such as educational
achievement. In contrast to children
from professional and managerial
backgrounds, children from homes that
are the most disadvantaged in terms
of financial and educational resources
have the worst outcomes in terms of
behaviour, happiness and anxiety. For
9-year-olds, having a special educational
need (SEN) generates more negative
self-image; and the gap in academic
self-image between young people with
and without SEN has grown over time. Of
concern is that children from immigrant
families are more negative about
themselves across all of the dimensions
of self-image, though less than for those
children with SEN.
It is this diversity that poses the
challenge for school principals in
addressing both teaching practice
and guidance counselling support for
children with differing self-images, as
well as abilities. This highlights the
importance of engaging with students,
managing the transition from primary
to second level, and providing support
and feedback in ways that minimise the
potentially negative effects on students’
self-image and wellbeing.
Wellbeing is a core principle of the new
Junior Cycle curriculum and is defined
as “children being confident, happy and
healthy” (NCCA, 2009); and is seen as
“contributing directly to their physical,
mental, emotional and social wellbeing
and resilience” (DES, 2012). “Well-being
in Post Primary Schools” (DOH, 2013)
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Education Act explicitly acknowledges
this entitlement; and requires that a
guidance programme be part of a school
plan and identifies the central role of
the professionally qualified guidance
counsellor.
"What is extremely interesting is that schools and classrooms can
make a difference, with children in the same class group having
different experiences of school and reacting to it in different ways"
acknowledges that in-school guidance
is at the hub of the wheel of support
offered to students – a service providing
an internal referral system, coordinated
by professionally qualified Guidance
Counsellors.
This excellent piece of research by
Emer Smyth has further confirmed the
findings by the IGC (2013, 2014), NCGE
(2013, 2014), ASTI (2014) and RAI
(2015) on this issue, and adds to the
wealth of evidence collected to date that
the IGC’s fears that, while all students
would be affected by the removal of the
dedicated guidance service in 2012, the
disadvantaged and vulnerable students
would suffer most. Recent research by
Dr Liam Harkin also found that while
the removal impacted negatively on
the distribution of care throughout the
guidance service, this reduction was
not experienced equally by all school
types. The biggest difference was found
between fee-paying schools and schools
in the Free Education System (FES),
where a diversified service model of
guidance has developed, as a result
of guidance being viewed differently by
individual school principals. One-to-one
counselling has become a reactionary
crisis intervention service; and the
offshoot of this compromised care in
FES schools has resulted in guidance
counsellors managing greater care
demands, with less time resources,
ultimately increasing the guidance
counsellors’ own stress levels.
Since September 2012, guidance
counselling service provision in secondlevel education has experience cuts in
the order of 24%, with a catastrophic
59% reduction in one-to-one counselling
(IGC, 2013). This equates to one in five
guidance counsellors now performing
as full-time teachers or 168 guidance
counsellors being removed from the
Guidance Counselling service in Irish
schools – an unprecedented level
never before witnessed in the Irish
education system. Many students do
not now receive the essential supports
necessary to allow them to achieve
their potential and to progress their
educational goals, commensurate with
their aptitudes and abilities. According to
the IGC, it has entrenched the privilege
of those who are already privileged,
and undermined the prospects of those
from less advantaged backgrounds
in achieving their potential. Guidance
counselling is an entitlement of all,
and not a luxury for only those who
can afford it. Within our schools and
colleges, Section 9C of the 1998
Education cutbacks and the withdrawal
of in-school support services to
students have been widespread in the
Irish education system since 2009.
While all students are negatively
impacted, the more vulnerable students
are more disproportionately negatively
impacted because there is no substitute
service available. It is the role of
Government to support all children to
achieve their potential, through providing
a universal entitlement to guidance
counselling support.
That is why in its pre-budget submission
to the Minister for Education and
Skills the IGC has as one of its
recommendations “That the Minister
reviews the current guidance counselling
provision in schools … and services
to students and schools most in need
must be prioritised”. The uneven and
disjointed service provision demonstrates
that the vulnerable and disadvantaged
students are hurt most by the cuts.
This has major implications for stated
Government commitment to reduce social
and economic inequality and promote
social inclusion. The IGC believes that it is
only when access to appropriate guidance
is established as a basic human right that
all that students can fulfil their personal,
educational and vocational potential.
REFERENCES:
Smyth, E., Wellbeing and School
Experiences among 9- and 13-YearOlds (2015), ESRI. http://www.esri.ie/
publications/latest_publications/view/
index.xml?id=4234.
Byrne, D. and Smyth, E, No Way Back?
The Dynamics of Early School Leaving
(2010), ESRI NCCA and DES. http://
www.esri.ie/publications/search_for_a_
publication/search_results/view/index.
xml?id=3007.
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MOMENTUM:
Running its Course
or Gathering Pace?
By John Sweeney
A
n evaluation of the Momentum
programme was published in
December 20141. It is of the
programme’s first round only, thus, of
the 85 projects that ran during 2013
and 2014 and engaged 5,894 long-term
unemployed (LTU) people. A second
round of projects for a similar budget
(€20m) was commissioned in late 2014
and is currently underway. Every ETB
has one or more Momentum projects
running in its area and some are
involved directly as providers.
has to take people who are long-term
unemployed (LTU) and make them
into people who can find and hold
employment in expanding sectors of the
economy (including as self-employed).
Each project must, simultaneously, help
participants surmount whatever LTU
has done to them and help businesses
access skills for which they have
immediate needs. The objective, in
"A Momentum project has to
take poeple who are long-
To put the findings of the evaluation into
proper relief, this article first underlines
the exceptional ambition of what
Momentum attempts, and the novel
features of its design and administration
for the public agencies and contracted
providers that work together to deliver
it. It then summarises and comments
on the evaluation’s main findings and
principal recommendations. Finally,
the article discusses the programme’s
longer term future and articulates some
of the bigger questions that need to
be answered and which will determine
whether Momentum should have an
ongoing place in the wider FET and
activation landscapes.
RADICAL IN OBJECTIVES AND
DESIGN
HIGH AMBITION
Bluntly stated, a Momentum project
1
2
term unemployed (LTU) and
make them into people who can
find and hold employment in
expanding sectors of the
economy"
effect, is to deliver a ‘double dividend’,
help achieve a major objective in social
inclusion and ease skills shortages and
deficits in the economy. It is, clearly,
a challenging brief, hugely demanding
of providers’ pedagogies, on the one
hand, and, on the other, of their levels
of contact and collaboration with
employers. Each of these is worth a
brief elaboration.
Providers have to be able to motivate
people who have been through the
experience of LTU, match them to
courses for which they have the
requisite aptitude and ability, and
ensure they have access to whatever
supports they need to complete their
training and work placements. Ireland
is no stranger to the damage LTU
can do to people, their families and
communities. A wealth of reports
from the early 1990s and onwards
documented how it undermines
people’s self-confidence, reduces
their material resources and level
of security, erodes their soft and
hard skills, and causes their social
networks to become smaller. Some
of these effects can be extremely
long-lasting, for example, on
individuals’ earnings even when
they regain employment, on their
physical and mental health, and on
the educational per formance of their
children2. Crucially, it is not just the
unemployed person’s self-perception
and expectations that change with the
passage of time but other people’s
perceptions and expectations of them
too, including those of employers,
public officials and FET providers. An
individual who has been years ‘signing
on’ is likely to encounter as many or
more people who concur that their
situation is hopeless as people who
help raise their expectations and
ambition to change it. All this is known
from research done both in Ireland and
Momentum Programme Evaluation Report 5: Final Report (2014), Exodea Consulting. December.
A paper prepared for the Obama Administration cites longitudinal studies that have been able to track people long after their experience of LTU (note
that, in the US, the long-term unemployed are those without a job for 27 weeks or more). Executive Office of the President (2014), Addressing the
Negative Cycle of Long-Term Unemployment.
26
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other countries. The evidence further
shows that being tertiar y educated
does not protect a person from these
negative effects of LTU (except by
facilitating emigration).
As well as being adept in understanding
and responding to where individuals
are at, Momentum providers have also
to understand and respond to where
employers are at. They need to be
thoroughly familiar with the skill sets
required in any given occupation, to
consult with employers to ensure their
training curricula are up to date and to
have good relationships with a sufficient
number of employers so as to be able
to arrange relevant work placements
for their trainees. Yet employers,
too, mistrust the legacy of LTU. The
same paper prepared for the Obama
administration, for example, cites US
evidence that employers screen out job
applicants on the basis of the duration
of their joblessness, that the LTU need
to apply for 3.5 times as many jobs as
the short-term unemployed to get one
interview, and that they are only half
as likely as the short-term-unemployed
(STU) to get a call-back after an
interview. There is no comparable Irish
data of this sort but LTU themselves
and those who work with them have
argued for a long time that they do not
enjoy a level playing field in competing
for vacancies and that employers need
exceptional assurance that they are
credible candidates.
In short, coming to hold a quality
job after having been on the dole
for years is, always and everywhere,
an achievement. It reflects hugely
positively, in the first place, on
the individuals themselves but
also on employers who give them
the opportunity and time to prove
themselves and on others who, in
a variety of support roles, will have
strengthened people’s capacity to cope,
their development of new capabilities,
3
and the resilience of their self-belief
and ambition. Momentum seeks to
mobilise and coordinate precisely this
blend of effort and support.
BOLD DESIGN
If the challenge of LTU is not new
in Ireland neither is the search for
programmes that address it. The LES,
the CE programme and much else
were new responses in the mid-1990s
to the predicament of the LTU. But, by
2012 (and to cut short a stor y that
has yet to be fully written), the profile
of the LTU was different to that of
the early 1990s (principally in terms
of work experience and educational
attainment), the challenges and
opportunities they faced in the Irish
labour market were different (e.g.
immigration was playing a major role),
thinking about the causes and cures
of LTU had shifted among academics
and in influential policy fora (e.g., the
European Commission and OECD), and
there was a much stronger expectation
that the use of public funds to alleviate
LTU should have an evidence base and
be monitored for its effectiveness.
In its design and administration,
the Momentum programme can be
considered a deliberate attempt
to introduce and test in new Irish
conditions some of the new thinking
on labour market inter ventions that
help the LTU. Each project has to
provide a combination of sectoral
skilling, employability and job-search
skills, and work experience through a
job placement, but in a manner and for
a specific occupation that is left to the
provider to determine. Providers are
"A deliberate attempt to
introduce and test in new Irish
conditions some of the new
thinking on labour market
interventions that help the LTU."
encouraged to come for ward from the
public, private and not-for-profit sectors
and are treated the same, for example,
in their access to and interaction
with public agencies. They are paid in
accordance with an outcomes-based
model that releases funds to them
only as specific stages in recruitment
and training are passed and as
providers’ own pre-agreed targets for
outcomes are progressively realised.
They have to provide verifiable data of
a clearly specified type to trigger each
"They are paid in accordance
with an outcomes-based
model that releases funds to
them only as specific stages in
recruitment and training are
passed ...."
payment in a manner that is ‘beyond
comparison with other programmes’
and, generally, to liaise closely and
flexibly with SOLAS, who administer
the programme, and the DSP who
continue paying income support to
recipients of Job-Seeker’s Allowance
who participate on the programme.
A PROMISING START
Given the formidable nature of what
Momentum attempts to achieve, and
the challenges its novel design and
administration presented to public
agencies and contracted providers
alike, some of what is established
about the programme’s first round
of projects should, in all fairness,
be considered impressive. There are
important questions the evaluation
was too early to address, (e.g., about
participants’ lives two months after
they completed their courses), did
not have the data to do so (e.g.,
only a small and potentially biased
window could be provided onto the
quality of jobs accessed3) or seems
Only five providers provided data on earnings, covering 150 participants. That suggests a median hourly wage of €11.76, well above NMW
(€8.16), but no provider targeting Healthcare and Social Services answered, or for the under 25s. It is also evident that self-employment (esp. for
web-designers) and temporary employment (esp. in healthcare and social services) figured prominently.
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"Momentum achieved good outcomes for a disadvantaged clientele
and was cost-effective."
to have chosen to steer clear of (e.g.,
about whether there were systematic
differences in performance across
types of provider – public, private
and not-for-profit). However, in what
the evaluation has examined and the
findings it advances, there is enough
to ground the overall conclusion that
Momentum achieved good outcomes
for a disadvantaged clientele and was
cost-effective.
having been unemployed for 3 years
or more, whereas the corresponding
national figure (for 2012) was 17%4.
This is a major difference. It suggests
the recruitment process reached and
motivated many individuals who were
particularly likely to be sceptical about
trying for employment again. Only
10% of participants, in fact, could be
described as reluctant participants
"Over 50% of participants
GOOD OUTCOMES
Some 5,900 engaged with
Momentum training in round one and
60%completed their courses. Of the
approximately 3,500 who finished, 832
got full-time jobs (24%) and 219 (6%)
part-time jobs that lasted at least two
months, while 282 (8%) progressed
into FET. Overall, therefore, 40% of
finishers had positive outcomes. This
might be as high as 50% if allowance
is made for further jobs likely to have
been achieved by participants but not
captured by the rigorous verification
process that underpins the outcomesbased payments. Wider DSP records
confirm that over 50% of those who
started on the first round of Momentum
projects had signed off the Live
Register at the end of the Programme
in December 2014.
A GENUINELY DISADVANTAGED
CLIENTELE
On most characteristics, the participant
profile mirrored the profile of the
long-term unemployed nationally. A
larger proportion of under 25s simply
reflected the existence of a special
programme stream exclusive to the
young but in gender, educational
attainment and family composition,
participants were broadly typical of the
LTU nationally. A prominent exception
was their LTU history – over 50% of
participants reported themselves as
4
28
reported themselves as having
been unemployed for 3 years
or more."
(who engaged simply because they
were referred, or not to lose social
welfare, or had nothing else to do –
p.57), whereas the motivation of all
the others was clearly work focused.
But the participants were setting out to
climb a steep hill. The report notes that
there was an exceptionally large need
for in-programme and post-programme
supports to participants, a level of
need that was underestimated and
that providers in particular are credited
as having demonstrated particular
resourcefulness in compensating
for. Finally, the bleak LTU history of
participants also compounded the
challenge of securing them quality
employment. As the report notes, it
should not surprise that ‘entry-level
employment suitable for the long-term
unemployed is going to attract relatively
low rates of pay’ and that tenure in
some of the jobs will be short (‘a file
review suggests that 10% of reviewed
jobs might be at risk’, p. 91)
A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE FOR THE
LARGE MAJORITY
While a positive outcome was recorded
for 40% of participants two months
after they completed their courses,
it is also important to enquire into
how participation on its own was
experienced to get some idea as to
whether the 60% for whom no positive
outcomes were recorded may yet
have benefited. Generally, participants
rated their training positively – large
majorities expressed satisfaction with
such aspects as its confidence building
(considered a critical success factor in
the achievement of positive outcomes),
group interaction, enjoyment, quality
and with new skills they acquired.
In general, participants considered
their skill levels to have increased on
average by 20%. The positive appraisal
of some of these features, however,
as has been noted when evaluations
of activation measures allow the
experience of the very long-term
unemployed to be distinguished, is
partly because of the bleakness of the
lives that participation enabled people
to escape from, even if only temporarily.
The authors of the Momentum
evaluation are alive to this: ‘the
routine of the training course, and the
subsequent work placement for people
on long-term unemployment, helped
many to put a structure and focus on
their lives’ (p. 58). It is also interesting,
"The subsequent work
placement for people on longterm unemployment, helped
many to put a structure and
focus on their lives."
and in keeping with the clear, workfocused motivation of most participants
adverted to, that significant minorities
recorded disappointment with the
potential of their training to get them
a job (33%) and with the relevance of
their training to work (21%).
COST-EFFECTIVE
The evaluation estimates that the
first round of Momentum saved €9m
The characteristics of participants come from an online participant survey, undertaken as part of the evaluation in late 2013, which received
1,000 responses. It is interesting that the major finding on duration of unemployment was not available directly from the DSP.
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on an annual basis in social welfare
spending alone. This is solely on
the basis of the 832 who got fulltime employment and plausible
assumptions about the level of welfare
payments to which they would be
entitled (e.g., that 30% would have a
dependent spouse or partner). The full
extent of fiscal savings is likely to be
larger still as no estimate is made of
additional tax revenue or of savings to
the State under other headings (e.g.,
health). The evaluation also estimates
that €3.5m of the €20m committed
is likely to be recovered for preagreed outcomes that were not met.
It obser ves that Momentum ‘stands
alone among training initiatives in
Ireland in recovering committed funds’.
THE KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
The main recommendations in the
evaluation were made on the basis
that the programme would continue
for at least another round and some
were anticipated, at least partially, in
how the second round of projects was
commissioned in September 2014.
The principal recommendations in
the published evaluation (December
2014) and the extent to which their
influence can be seen in changes that
were made for Momentum II can be
explored under four headings.
1.Recruitment: while the ver y longterm unemployed were effectively
reached, Momentum I providers
had significant issues with the
adequacy, promptness, eligibility
and appropriateness of the supply
of candidates generated by the
DSP. The recruitment process,
in fact, was their single greatest
cause of concern. Quite a major
simplification of the recruitment
process was recommended, viz.,
that training providers should
promote their courses and be
responsible for assessing and
recruiting participants from among
those whom the DSP confirms
as having the requisite benefit
entitlement. No such simplification,
"A major simplification of the recruitment process was recommended ...
no such simplification however, has taken place."
however, has taken place. A
novel requirement in Momentum
II is that 30% of each course’s
intake should be aged under 25
(in place of the separate stream
exclusive to under 25s that
featured in Momentum I) and this
has, generally, been welcomed
by providers but the main causes
of their dissatisfaction with the
recruitment process have not been
addressed.
2.Training: it was recommended
that travel and accommodation
allowances should be provided
for participants, commensurate
with those available to the LTU
when they engage with other
programmes. In strong terms, the
evaluation noted: ‘It is illogical for
such a positive response to an
identified national policy imperative
to be subsequently undermined by
the creation of a ver y real barrier
to participation for the long-term
unemployed’– There has been no
increased provision for costs that
participants incur directly; the LTU
engaged in VTOS or specific skills
training, for example, continue
to have supports that are not
available to those participating in
Momentum. The most significant
change affecting training was
confined to updating the thematic
or sector-specific areas for which
people should be prepared in line
with the most recent labour market
intelligence
3.Placement: work placement
emerged in Momentum I as key
in bringing training providers and
employers together and enabling
participants who had just acquired
a skill make the transition to
employment but it was a particular
challenge to many providers. The
evaluation noted: ‘Preliminar y
analysis suggests that success
attached particularly where the
training was job-specific and
placement was properly resourced.
Less successful outcomes
generally attached to third-party
work placement arrangements’.
It recommended that placement
should be appropriately organised
and resourced by the providers,
not left to participants themselves.
Momentum II has seen significant
change here. The requirement
for providers to arrange work
placements has been formalised
and a norm of approximate parity
in the allocation of time between
training and work placement has
been set – i.e., ca 12 weeks
directed training and 10-12 weeks
work placement (with an additional
4 weeks for under 25s). In some
respects, this is a good example
of how good practice becomes
identified and disseminated
(discussed below); the better
providers under Momentum I
were already doing this and other
providers are being invited under
Momentum II either to learn or exit
the market.
4. Data and outcomes: the 2014
evaluation was well aware of
some major data shortcomings,
e.g., that it lacked longitudinal
data to track outcomes for
participants beyond two months
after course-completion, that the
level of participants’ earnings
needed to be established
more reliably and that some
employment outcomes were not
being captured by the verification
process. It was also aware that
the programme was exacting in
its data demands on providers
(a threshold of administrative
capacity and competence that may
have deterred some other wise
high quality training providers,
particularly in the not-for-profit
sector, from tendering – an
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issue that was not part of the
evaluation). Several changes in
reporting requirements and in the
staging of payments were made for
Momentum II in a bid to be fairer
to providers – e.g., there are more
payment milestones (smoothing
their cash inflow) and the weighting
(or reward) attaching to a full-time
employment outcome has increased
and been reduced for progression
to education. Overall, the 2014
evaluation has, indeed, been
‘formative’ (p.27) and some of what
was learned on Momentum I has
influenced the design of Momentum
II, offering solid grounds for
anticipating that the programme’s
performance has been enhanced.
An iterative process by which
design features can be successively
"An iterative process by which
design features can be
successively tweaked in
between rounds can be
considered to be under way."
tweaked in between successive
rounds can be considered to be
under way. However, there are
bigger questions that need to be
articulated and addressed if what
can be learned from successive
rounds of Momentum is to be
fully exploited and allowed to
be formative, not just of the
programme itself but of the wider
FET and activation landscapes.
The next section formulates and
discusses what some of these
bigger questions are.
BIG QUESTIONS STILL NEEDING
AN ANSWER
IS THERE AN ONGOING PLACE, POSTCRISIS AND EVEN IN THE ABSENCE
OF EU FUNDING, FOR A TRAINING
PROGRAMME OF THIS SORT THAT IS
EXCLUSIVE TO THE LTU?
Momentum was designed and
introduced in the dual context of a
surge in long-term unemployment
and of a crisis in the public finances.
Both are beginning to recede.
The evaluation under review is an
important step in the process of
determining whether Momentum
should be phased out in the coming
years in line with the reduction in LTU
or whether it has a long-term future
CHART 1. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AND LTU RATE: Q1 2012 TO Q2 2015.
16.0
14.0
12.0
Unemployment rate
LTU rate
10.0
%
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
1
1Q 11Q 11Q 11Q 12Q 12Q 12Q 12Q 13Q 13Q 13Q 13Q 14Q 14Q 14Q 14Q 15Q 15Q
1
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
30
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as a programme integral to Ireland’s
skills and social inclusion strategies.
During the crisis, overall
unemployment and long-term
unemployment peaked at rates of
15.1% and 9.6% respectively at
the beginning of 2012. Since then,
these have fallen to 9.6% and 5.5%
(Q2 2015) (see Chart 1). This is a
commendable rate of progress, by
historical and international standards.
It might even suggest that the urgency
of tackling LTU can now fade but the
rate was as low as 1.5% in 2001
when only 21,800 people were LTU as
against the 118,600 who remain so
in mid-2015. Given that the current
throughput of Momentum is 6,000
but over an approximately two-year
cycle of commissioning, tendering
and implementation, it is clear that
it remains a relatively small scale
inter vention.
Two Departments are essentially
involved in deciding whether
Momentum should have an ongoing
role – and, if so, on what scale – in the
fight against long-term unemployment,
viz., the Department of Social
Protection and the Department of
Education & Skills. The DSP because
it identifies the LTU who are eligible
for the programme and continues to
pay Job Seeker’s Allowance when
recipients participate, and the DES
because it sources the training
through SOLAS and pays for it (jointly
with the EU).
While the interests of the two
Departments are hugely aligned,
they are not identical. The DSP is
concerned to secure lasting exits for
those on the Live Register for over
12 months, and in the best possible
way – viz. having them acquire skills
that enable them to get and remain in
5
employment. It values Momentum as
harnessing VET providers to this task,
overcoming any reluctance or resort
to ‘creaming’ on their part. The DES is
concerned to identify and increase the
capacity of VET providers who have the
training pedagogies and familiarity with
employers that ensure the LTU acquire
skills for which there is a real demand.
It values Momentum as improving the
responsiveness and flexibility of the FET
sector, and for channelling resources
to where there is a particularly
demonstrable social and economic
impact. In the order in which things
happen, the principal objective that the
DSP seeks, i.e., exits without re-entry
of LTU from the Live Register, can
only be met if the principal objective
of the DES is first met, i.e., a supply
of training providers with the requisite
capabilities and capacity.
"The principal objective that
the DSP seek ... can only be met
if the principal objective of the
DES is first met"
Because it features payment-byoutcomes, it is possible for the
DSP – and the large number of other
government departments that also
have an interest in the programme’s
efficiency and effectiveness (Jobs,
Enterprise & Innovation, Public
Expenditure & Reform, Finance and
the Taoiseach’s) – to be content with
high-level confirmation that it is value
for money. They do not need to know
how contracted providers achieve
their results. It is only necessar y
that providers get a proportion of
participants to cease claiming UA
for a sufficient period of time for the
programme to generate clear and
significant net saving in public funds.
The programme is, then, successful.
It is reducing both the LTU count and
social welfare spending, so why ask
more? The DES, however, and SOLAS
and the ETBs, have a professional
interest in getting inside the black
box for verification that outcomes
are being achieved in the manner
the programme intends. They need
evidence, for example, of participants’
and employers’ satisfaction and
of the quality of the jobs or other
ET programmes participants have
entered on before they can declare the
programme a success.
The evaluation, in fairness, supplies
data of interest to both approaches
to answering whether the programme
works, that from the top-down and
that from the bottom-up. But it is
more convincing in addressing the
top-down perspective and much less
so in analysing the actual practice
of providers. The evaluators may
have had little option, given the
composition of the Steering Group
and the concentration on short-term
savings and preference for methods
of cost control that could be wielded
from the centre that grew strong in
government during the crisis. This
might explain why the UK’s Work
Programme (WP) was adopted as
a comparator programme for the
purposes of the evaluation. The WP
is funded on a payment-by-outcomes
basis and concentrated on the
long-term unemployed but there the
similarities with Momentum end. It is
not just neutral on the contribution of
training in returning the LTU to work
but has steered particularly wide of
it and confined its meaning to CV
preparation, job-searching techniques,
personal presentation strategies and
the like5. For a programme so focused
on the challenge of upskilling, the UK
Work Programme was a particularly
poor comparator.
A comparator crying out to be chosen in evaluating Momentum was the LES, the programme specifically designed in the early-1990s to address
the plight of the LTU. Its design was marked by how their predicament was conceptualised and understood at that time but this would only add
interest to the comparison. It is true there are no rigorous evaluations of the LES (another telling insight into what is different now compared to
the early 1990). However, a messy comparison with an appropriate programme that made the most of what data is available would, arguably, have
illuminated more of what is good or bad about Momentum than a neat comparison with an inappropriate o
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"For a programme so focused on the challenge of upskilling, the
UK Work Programme was a particularly poor comparator."
WHAT ARE THE CORE INGREDIENTS OF
BEST PRACTICE THAT CHARACTERISE
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS
AND THEIR PROVIDERS?
This, surely, is a question of central
importance to the ETBs and SOLAS,
yet the evaluation is particularly
limited in its ability to advance our
understanding of how some providers
and projects proved particularly adept
at matching long-term unemployed and
employers to the satisfaction of both.
‘Anecdotal evidence’, it says, ‘suggests
that specific skilling programmes,
linking to identified labour market
opportunities, enjoyed significant
outcomes success. It is recommended
that further research and practice
should be implemented to establish
links’ (25). This is, really, a surprisingly
thin observation in an evaluation that
has drawn on the operating experience
of 85 projects that were specifically
supposed to include some element of
specific sectoral skills training. When
the report enquires into what made a
particular provider or project innovative,
it does so in an exceptionally anecdotal
way and without analysis (p. 66).
Examples of the type of data ETBs
and SOLAS need to extract from
the differential per formance of
Momentum projects and providers is
well illustrated in the US where the
standards and practice of programme
evaluations are at a high level. The
report produced for the Obama
administration and cited earlier
identifies four characteristics of
training programmes that are found to
be successful in routing the LTU into
sustained employment:
 Intermediaries that liaise between
employers and providers, helping
providers to understand the skills
employers are looking for and
employers to find people who meet
their requirements after training;
 Work-based learning in the form
of hands-on technical training,
internships or other paid work
experiences; and
 Wrap-around services, for example,
access to childcare, transportation,
mentorship and financial
counselling, that made completing
participation in training possible.
2.
"Examples of the type of data
ETBs and SOLAS need to extract
from the differential
performance of Momentum
... is well illustrated in the US
3.
where the standards and
practice of programme
evaluations are at a high level."
A set of six characteristics are
specified in greater detail to guide a
specific approach or model (termed
‘WorkAdvance’) for programmes
particularly similar to Momentum, i.e.,
intended to help ‘low income adults
without jobs gain and hold quality
jobs in emerging sectors such as IT,
transportation and health care’6. When
drawn up in 2012, the characteristics
were regarded as embodying the best
of what was known on the basis of
research and practitioners’ experience.
The characteristics are:
4.
5.
 Deep employer engagement that
ensures local employers guarantee
the relevance of the training
curricula;
6
1. Offer sector-specific occupational
training. Providers need to be
familiar with employers and their
requirements in the specific
sector each course is targeting,
and typically offer training for
occupations in only one or a
few sectors. It is not enough
that they should have a general
understanding of jobs and training
only. Providers, therefore, should
clarify with employers the types
of courses to offer, the content of
those courses, and the skill sets
that completers should possess.
Actively select participants
(‘intensive screening’). People
should be matched to courses on
their ability to complete the training
in question and the potential to
meet employers’ needs. This
is not to ‘cream’ but to avoid
disappointing both jobseekers and
employers, fuelling disillusionment
with training and scepticism about
the LTU respectively. Applicants
need to be interested in a sector as
a longer-term career path and have
the basic aptitudes and capabilities
for it.
Integrate placement with the
provision of training. Providers need
to have strong relationships with
employers so that they can procure
placements for their participants in
relevant work positions. This helps
to bridge the gap that completers
often face between acquiring new
skills and landing jobs that make
use of those skills.
Imbue even services promoting
employability with a clear sectorspecific orientation. Help in
preparing résumés, mock job
interviews, development of career
plans, and instruction in “soft
skills” (for example, how to dress
for the job and the importance
of being punctual) should aim
at specific sectors of the labour
market.
Address barriers that endanger
courses completion. Additionally,
providers must be in a position to
offer support to participants as
barriers arise to their completing
Tessler, B., et al. (2014), Meeting the Needs of Workers and Employers. Implementation of a Sector-FocusedCareer Advancement Model for
Low-SkilledAdults. MDRC.
32
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their courses, such as transport
and other costs, need for specific
equipment, childcare, etc.
6. Continue relationships with
participants and their employers
for a period after the first match
has taken place (‘retention and
advancement services’). Getting
into a job is one thing, holding it
and being able to increase earnings
are also essential. Early challenges
and difficulties in the first job can
jeopardise everything that has been
achieved but which are relatively
fixable if quickly identified and
addressed.
CHART 2. DISTRIBUTION OF THE LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED
PARTICIPATING IN FULL-TIME FET IN 2015 BY PROGRAMME
PLC916031%
Momentum600020%
SSt521317%
Youthreach291910%
VTOS25098%
LTIs16906%
Traineeships13254%
Other10854%
Hopefully, there are many Momentum
providers who, on reading these lists,
will say ‘exactly’ and regard some
items, at least, as confirming their own
practice. The opportunity and need,
however, is still there for what is being
learned through Momentum about
‘what works’ in Irish conditions to be
identified and made transparent.
CAN BEST PRACTICE IN MOMENTUM
PROJECTS BE TRANSFERRED TO,
AND EMBEDDED IN, OTHER FET
PROGRAMMES ON WHICH LTU ARE
PRESENT AND, IF SO, HOW?
While 6,000 LTU are participating on
Momentum II projects in 2015, almost
a further 90,000 LTU participate on
other DES and SOLAS programmes
(they self-report as LTU when they
enrol but that is the nature of the
data). Overall, in fact, a formidable
level of participation by people who
are LTU in FET appears to have been
reached. While a total of 123,400
people were long-term unemployed at
the end of 2014 (QNHS, Q1, 2015),
just over 69,000 of the learners who
started FET courses in 2015 reported
themselves as LTU (2015 Ser vices
Plan, Table 3.10), suggesting that a
high entr y rate on their part into FET
has now been achieved.
Over one-half of the LTU in FET,
however, are pursuing part-time
PLC
Momentum
SST
Youthreach
VTOS
LTIs
Traineeships
Other
"The opportunity and need ... is still there for what is being learned.
... about 'what works' in Irish conditions to be identified and made
transparant."
courses whereas Momentum’s
provision is full-time. In 2015,
Momentum is accounting for 20% of all
the LTU for whom full-time participation
in FET is being provided, a share
significantly behind that of the PLC
programme (over 9,000 LTU, or 31%
of all LTU full-time learners), and just
above that of Specific Skills Training
(5,200 LTU7).
Chart 2 usefully depicts the chief
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"Momentum is accounting for 20% of all the LTU for whom
full-time participation in FET is being provided ..."
alternatives by way of full-time FET that
the DES and SOLAS provided prior to
Momentum, and still do, to the LTU. It
also suggests the evident desirability,
at some stage, of a focused evaluation
that would compare and contrast the
outcomes for LTU individuals across
this suite of programmes. For example,
would there be clear gains if more LTU
were to participate on Momentum rather
than on some of the other programmes?
Are there ways in which providers of the
other programmes can learn from best
practice in Momentum as to how to
improve what they are accomplishing for
their LTU participants?
CONCLUSION
There is, currently, no clarity as to
whether there will be a Momentum
III or whether and how the expertise
providers have acquired and the
relationships they have developed
with SOLAS and the ETBs on the
programme’s first two rounds are to
be built on. Because of the experience
providers and SOLAS gained on the
first round and the changes made in
commissioning the second round, and
because the economic recovery is
further advanced, it is reasonable to
expect that Momentum II will record
even better outcomes than Momentum
I. But the decision to go ahead or
not will have to be made before the
outcomes of round two are known and
well before any of the more definitive
types of research that establish any
programme’s effectiveness, and not
just that of Momentum, are carried out
(e.g., longitudinal research; research
that has a clear counterfactual,
i.e., shows what people similar to
a programme’s participants would
have achieved anyway without the
programme; etc.). As a ‘new kid
on the block’, it is easy, in fact, to
ask much more rigorous proof of
Momentum’s effectiveness than of
longer established programmes also
serving the LTU.
This would be unwise. A judgement
call must soon be made as to whether
Momentum should continue and the
case for doing so is strong.
It is an ambitious programme
exclusive to hugely disadvantaged
job-seekers yet it attained impressive
outcomes on its first outing. It has
occasioned learning on the part of
providers and administrators and is
rewarding providers in step with their
effectiveness. It offers significant
scope for the ingredients of best
practice to be made more apparent and
disseminated to other programmes.
It is not expensive (its cost per
participant of €2,017 compares
favourably with other full-time FET
provision). It is a national programme,
directly administered by SOLAS, adding
a capacity to the FET sector that is
equivalent in its full-time provision
to that of a mid-ranking ETB. Though
the long-term unemployment rate has
been reduced by 40% from its peak in
2012, further reductions are likely to
require more intensive rather than less
intensive supports as the relatively
more employment-ready have already
been helped. Committing to a further
two rounds of Momentum now would
encourage providers, SOLAS, ETBs
and the DSP to invest fully in learning
from the programme and leveraging
step-changes across the FET and
activation landscapes in how people
are supported to escape LTU on a
lasting basis.
John Sweeney first began studying
the internationalisation of the Irish
economy and the consequences for
employment and unemployment in the
1970s. He has worked, variously, as a
lecturer, researcher, writer and policy
adviser during the hugely different
periods in which young people have
had to prepare for and seek jobs. He
was awarded a PhD in labour market
economics from Leuven University
in 1998 for his study of low skilled
workers in EU economies. He worked
for the National Economic and Social
Council (NESC) between 2002 and
2015 writing, among other reports, The
Developmental Welfare State (2005)
and The Irish Economy in the Early 21st
Century (2008), and was the national
expert in producing the OECD report,
Employment and Skills Strategies in
Ireland (2014). He is now a freelance
writer and labour market consultant. "A judgement call must be made as to whether Momentum
should continue and the case for doing so is so strong."
7
34
Skillnets, which has also increased its intake of LTU in response to the crisis, is not included as its courses – when fulltime – are particularly short.
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The Weighty Problem
in our Education System
By Aileen O’Brien, O’Brien PR, Marketing and Communications
W
ith childhood obesity on
the rise in Ireland can
education providers do
anything to beat the bulge? In many
developed countries, children's diets
have seriously deteriorated in recent
decades resulting in significant
increases in child obesity and
deficiencies in those nutrients that
play an essential role in cognitive
development. Statistics show that 1 in
4 Irish children are overweight or obese
with Ireland ranking fifth highest among
27 European Union countries in terms
of the incidence of childhood obesity.
Frighteningly, 70% of obese children
become obese adults. What are the
implications of these developments?
According to Professor Niall Moyna,
Exercise Physiologist in DCU and one
of Ireland’s leading experts in exercise
and heart disease, “There is a common
misconception that only adults get
heart disease. This is completely
untrue.
Children as young as 10 who are
inactive and overweight have high
levels of bad cholesterol, high blood
pressure and damage to the blood
vessels supplying the heart and the
brain. Children who are overweight
usually have one or more risk factors
for heart disease and diabetes and
if it’s not tackled at a young age it
will prove to be a problem right into
adulthood. It is recommended that
children and adolescents should spend
a minimum of 60 minutes a day doing
some kind of physical activity. Currently
1 in 5 primary school children and 1 in
8 secondary school pupils meet this
recommendation. Professor Moyna
taught daily from primary school level
by a dedicated teacher. As a matter
of fact, the very term, ‘PE’ is in itself
outdated,” he said. “At secondary
school level ‘PE should be rebranded
as ‘Health Science’ and it should be a
combination of human biology, physical
education and home economics. There
is an urgent need to contextualise the
curriculum to the immediate and longterm health needs of children.
Students need to be aware of the effect
that alcohol consumption, smoking,
poor diet, stress and sedentary
lifestyles have on their organ systems
and overall health and well-being. We
need to educate children so that they
understand the importance of adopting
healthy lifestyle choices. Indeed, it is
much easier to adopt a behaviour than
to change a behaviour.”
"Statistics show that 1 in 4 Irish
children are overweight or
obese with Ireland ranking fifth
highest among 27 European
Union countries in terms of the
incidence of childhood obesity"
believes that education can make a
real difference in tackling childhood
obesity and other chronic lifestyle
mediated diseases. “PE should be
a compulsory subject and should be
He went on to say that there is a huge
disconnect between learning for ‘life’
and learning for exams. “What’s the
point in a student studying biology
and learning things off by heart just
to pass an examination? There is
an urgent need to contextualise the
curriculum to children’s immediate and
long-term health. That’s why I firmly
believe that teaching ‘Health Science’
would be much more beneficial to
our society than the current broad
biology curriculum. We need to plan
for the future. There is no quick fix.
Diabetes and heart disease will be
huge problems for us in the next 1020 years. The cost to our healthcare
system will be enormous. Why not
deal with the underlying issues now
and reap the awards when the current
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generation of children reach adulthood?
Current and future governments have to
stop thinking in 5-year cycles. Many of
the current healthcare problems will not
be fixed in the lifetime of a government.
However, by taking a long-term view
and investing in preventive medicine,
particularly up to the age of 18 years,
the potential health care savings could
be substantial.”
According to an Oireachtas Report on
childhood obesity in June of 2014, the
cost of adult obesity to the state is in
excess of €1 billion per annum, and
will continue to rise unless childhood
obesity is addressed. The report also
showed that the average child who is
obese, of whom there are 100,000 in
Ireland, will cost the taxpayer in the
region of €5,000 per year.
In Ireland, this problem is now reaching
what many leading obesity experts call
a real crisis point. Professor Donal
O'Shea, Consultant Endocrinologist and
Director of the Weight Management
Clinic at St. Columcille’s Hospital in
Loughlinstown, warned that "radical"
action is needed. In an article in the
Irish Independent he argued that foods
which are fuelling young people's
weight need to be removed as a source
of daily temptation and said that
vending machines with fizzy drinks and
sugary products should not be available
at all in schools.
Schools have a real opportunity to
influence and guide young people's
food decisions. At primary school level
a campaign, called 'Food Dudes' was
introduced in conjunction with An Bord
Bia, the Department of Education
and Skills and the Department of
Agriculture. The campaign supported
participating schools to encourage the
students to eat fruit and vegetables
daily as part of their dietary routine.
Lunch boxes branded with the 'Food
Dudes’ characters were given out to
the schools free of charge with a visit
by 'the Food Dudes' as part of the
programme. The campaign was quite
36
"School's have a real opportunity to influence and guide young
peoples food decisions. At primary school level a campaign, called
'Food Dudes' was introduced in conjunction with An Bord Bia,
the Department of Education and Skills and the Department
of Argiculture. The Campaign supported participating schools
to encourage the students to eat fruit and vegetables daily as
part of their dietary routine."
successful and got children of primary
school age into the habit of eating fruit
and vegetables on a daily basis. The
participating schools had a 'fruit break'
in the morning where the children were
given ten minutes to play and eat their
piece of fruit. Later in the morning the
children had a second break where
they were encouraged to eat vegetables
such as baby tomatoes, some sliced
cucumber or carrot sticks. For their 'big
break' the children ate their full lunch
which included something like a brown
bread sandwich, wrap or rye bread. This
initiative was excellent as it started to
change behaviour and attitudes from
an early age. But what of second-level
school students?
In 2004, Jamie Oliver, the celebrity
chef, embarked on a large campaign
aiming at improving school meals in
the UK. The Jamie Oliver campaign
introduced drastic changes in the
meals offered in the schools of one
borough (Kidbrooke in Greenwich),
shifting from low-budget processed
meals, and high in saturated fat, salt,
and sugar towards healthier options.
At Kidbrooke, the children were eating
what Jamie described as ‘a quarter of
a tonne of chips every week’. The food
budget was 37p per meal and the team
of dinner ladies had become, “totally
unmotivated by the food they served”.
Jamie created a set of menus that
could be served to the 15,000 school
children across Greenwich, within
the 37p per meal budget, to set an
example for the whole country and
show the government that it could be
done. With help from the army, they
got all fifty head dinner ladies together
and trained them to peel and chop
vegetables, and to make their own
fresh meals again. Afterwards, each
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school had a chef working behind the
scenes for a week to help them get up
and running with the new menus. To get
the students to accept the new food,
Jamie had all of the junk food removed
so there was no alternative. So, the
‘Feed Me Better Campaign’ was born
in the UK. It was based on five main
points; guarantee that children receive
a proper, nutritionally balanced meal
on their plates; introduce nutritional
standards and ban junk food from
school meals; invest in dinner ladies,
give them better kitchens, more hours
and support with training; teach
students about food, get cookery back
on the curriculum and commit long-term
funding to improve school food.
The campaign was so successful
that Tony Blair announced he was
taking immediate action to set up a
School Food Trust and pledged £280
million to improve school meals. Since
then, the School Meals Review Panel
recommended a set of tough new
standards for school food which the
government accepted. Meanwhile, an
independent study conducted by Oxford
University and the University of Essex
noted several cognitive positive effects
of the ‘Feed Me Better’ campaign on
Key Stage 2 test scores in English and
Science.
The researchers assessed the impact
of the campaign by comparing pupils'
scores in the national curriculum tests
at the end of primary school between
2002 and 2007 with those of their
peers in similar boroughs and also
looked at attendance records for the
same period. In science, the proportion
of children doing better than the
expected level increased by up to 6
percentage points while in Greenwich,
the proportion of children reaching the
required standard at the end of primary
school rose by 4.5 percentage points in
English. They also found that authorised
absences (which were more likely to
be linked to sickness) dropped by 15%
on average. The report said, “These
effects are particularly noteworthy since
"There could be additional benefits in particular in terms of health,
beyond the improvements in educational achievements such as
an elevation in positive mood, motivation and protection of longterm health ... 'there are well documented correlations between
diet, excercise and mood elevation. Children and adolescents who
excercise regularly and eat healthy food are far more likely to
maintain body weight.
they only capture direct and immediate
effects of improvement in children’s
diet on educational achievements. One
could have expected that changing diet
habits is a long and difficult process,
which would possibly only have effects
after a long time, effects that would
be hard to measure.The fact that we
do find short-term effects directly on
educational achievements shows that
improving school meals can make an
immediate difference to educational
achievements.”
There could be additional benefits in
particular in terms of health, beyond
the improvements in educational
achievements such as an elevation
in positive mood, motivation and
protection of long-term health.
Professor Niall Moyna said, “There are
well documented correlations between
diet, exercise and mood elevation.
Children and adolescents who exercise
regularly and eat healthy food are far
more likely to maintain body weight.
These people are also more likely to
get better jobs and to lead happier
lives. Essentially this is about making
really important life choices from an
early age.”
WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
 Introduce juice bars in schools; ‘bring your own fruit and we will blitz it’. Fresh
smoothies made for free and served to students at their morning break time.
 Lobby for a ban on fast food restaurants within one square mile of schools.
 Make PE a compulsory subject at both primary and second-level.
 Create a new ‘examinable’ subject called Health Science combining Home
Economics, Biology and Physical Education, Nutrition and Cooking. Points to be
awarded for same.
 Have Breakfast Clubs in all primary and second-level schools.
 Provide proper training to canteen staff on creating healthy, balanced and
nutritious food.
 Vending machines to only stock bottled water, cartons of milk, granola bars.
Fruit can be dried if there is a concern about wastage and fruit being thrown
out.
 Hot meals served in canteens must include at least two vegetables.
 No fried food chips, deep-fried batter sausages etc. to be offered in the
canteens.
 Engage with the parents to advise them about healthy lunch box items.
 The ‘Replacement Campaign’ – replace white bread with brown, crisps with a
packet of dried fruit etc. Complete ban on all junk food and junk food brought
into schools in lunch boxes to be confiscated.
A piece of cake? Time to make the change.
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Scoil Oscair CNS –
Leading the Smart
School Revolution
By Nichola Spokes, Principal of Scoil Oscair Community National School (CNS), Lucan, Co. Dublin
H
aving opened only two years
ago, Scoil Oscair CNS has
established itself as a unique
digital primary school. It emerged from
a vision: A vision where technology
would be integrated throughout every
aspect of the curriculum and school
environment for teachers, children
and parents alike. Children would be
immersed in the fundamental learning
38
methods around the 3R’s of reading,
writing and arithmetic. Augmenting this,
our e-learning platform would provide
our pupils with the opportunity to
foster their own individual techniques
and allow them space for personal
independence in their own learning.
Initiatives like ours would provide our
children with the opportunity to create
an awareness of individual differences,
multiple ‘intelligences’ or intellectual
strengths, curiosity, cultural diversity
and a passion for life. These traits
would be enhanced, not restricted by
a traditional curriculum. Staying true
to the notion of a community national
school, maintaining close links with
parents – in partnership with the school
– would provide our children with a
brilliant platform for learning.
That vision is finally a daily reality for
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our community of children, teachers
and parents. Every day, our parents
can remotely check in on their
children’s schoolwork or follow their
child’s class through web and social
media as they work collaboratively on
classwork. The children of Scoil Oscair
are doing basic programming, coding
and Robotics where they are engaging
in critical thinking around concepts
involving engineering, electronics and
construction. The key focus here is
to develop their early skills in logical
thinking. Additionally, parents too are
participating in coding classes once a
month. However, it’s not always taught
by the class teacher, but often by their
own children, who have developed
new skills essential to a digital future.
These young children are but four and
five years of age.
The skills our children are equipped
with span all the curricular areas. A
child presents to parents each month,
prepares and conducts scratch coding
classes with them. Each child takes
their turn at teaching a lesson to a
room of 20 parents at a time. Although
these children are young in age, they
can hold the attention of their parent
students (reiterating typical teacher
phrases such as, “Are we all on task?”
or “I’m only going to repeat this once,
so listen carefully!” much to the
amusement of parents and secret glee
of teachers), deliver their lesson and
assess at the end how their lesson
went and what the next child should be
mindful of for his/her lesson with the
parents. Each child is confident and
eager to take the stage, empowered to
lead, innovate and create.
The skills in this one area alone
develop many areas of the primary
English and Maths curriculum –
developing competence and confidence
in using language, sharpening their
own skills of logic, of sequencing,
ordering and problem solving. From
a digital citizen standpoint, these
children experience with and teach to
our parents the importance of building
on previous skills already learned
using technology. While bonding with
Excited 2015 .Conference at Dublin Castle - Senator David Noris is captivated by a five-year
old's coding skills
"The children of Scoil Oscair are doing basic programming, coding
and Robotics where they are engaging in critical thinking around
concepts involving engineering, electronics and construction. The
key focus here is to develop their early skills in logical thinking"
parents and fostering these important
links with our community, they are
also developing a passion for lifelong
learning and experiencing purposeful
use of technological tools, which is
seen as the norm, not the exception in
our school.
The past year has been one of
tremendous success for our learning
community. Having already achieved
recognition as a Digital School of
Distinction, we also recently received
an invite from Apple to apply for
recognition as one of their global
distinguished schools. This is a
reflection on how our school has
seamlessly integrated technology with
the best traditional methods of teaching
and learning in the school. Whilst
fostering innovation, ensuring that we
share our expertise is essential. As
a staff we share our skills with one
another, foster peer collaborative review
for planning, assessing and observing
one another teaching.
As a leader of education, teaching
lessons for my staff and welcoming
their feedback is vital to ensuring that
we are all open to different ways of
teaching a lesson and benefiting from
one another’s strengths. In enabling me
to focus on the teaching and learning
in our school, the added benefit of IT
support and administrative services
from Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB
can be seen in the elimination of tasks
that would usually take up a principal’s
time. This allows for a core focus
on education and I think this is best
reflected in the tremendous buzz of
wonderful teaching and learning in our
school.
As part of the CESI conference this
year, sharing our work on infants
programming and coding was both
affirming and uplifting – knowing that
educators in all sectors of Education in
Ireland and the UK were empowered,
inspired by and motivated by the skills
learned so quickly by children so young.
Following a feature in the Sunday
Business Post on our innovative
approach to Primary Education, our
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children were the youngest pupils
to be invited to the national digital
conference at Dublin Castle – Excited
2015. Here our children showcased
their 2-year accumulation of skills in
Scratch, Bee-Bot programming and
Lego Robotics. Their area was a hub
of excitement with pupils aged 9-19,
with leaders and educators from
Universities, both here and globally,
from sectors of education to those of
pharmaceuticals and technology. It
was a day of celebration for our entire
school community – parents looked on
in awe and pride at how their children
explained and guided onlookers through
their creations of programming robotic
animals to move and assembling in
sequence Lego Robotics with ease and
excitement.
As an educator, it was wonderful
affirmation of the long hours that
were spent putting plans into action
in ensuring this vision would succeed.
More importantly, it highlighted the
importance of our roles as teachers
and leaders of education in our
schools. The importance of guiding,
questioning, filtering information and
providing our children with opportunities
to enhance their learning and develop
their creativity is key to success.
Preparing them to embrace the
challenges and possibilities of being
a successful member in our society
for the future is equally important. Our
close links fostered with our parents,
ensure that all our children reach their
fullest potential. The result is a body
of children who are exceeding both our
own and national expectations in not
only literacy and numeracy but in their
acquisition of skills through innovative
learning and teaching approaches.
In my mind our approach is best
summed up with an image of three
pillars supporting a platform of learning
within our school, where each pillar
represents the letter “I”. These three
I’s stand for Integration within our
community, Inclusion of a diverse
school population acknowledging all
40
Above: Engineering: Children construct merry-go-round using motors and gears. Below:
Integrating technology and Maths: Capturing and Presenting shapes in the environment to
the class.
"Whilst fostering innovation, ensuring that we share our expertise is
essential. As a staff we share our skills with one another, foster peer
collaborative review for planning, assessing and observing one
another teaching."
faiths and none, and Innovation –
taking world-class teaching methods
and using modern tools to enhance
learning. This is crucial to ensuring our
vision is the reality it is today and that
every teacher, pupil and parent within
our community will continue to lead,
innovate and create!
Nichola Spokes is Principal of Scoil
Oscair CNS. As well as a Masters in ICT
in Education, she is a recognised global
Apple Distinguished Educator, creating
educational content in technology for
pupils and teachers on a global platform.
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Addressing Intergenerational
Educational Disadvantage
through Family Learning
Mary Flanagan, M.Ed., Coordinator, Clare Family Learning Project.
Why would people return to something which at best they felt was irrelevant
and at worst humiliating? The answer is they do it for their kids.’
(Juliette Collier 2008 Campaign for Learning, UK)
SETTING THE CONTEXT
Harris and Goodall (2007) provide
evidence that parental involvement
in their children’s education raises
their achievement, with the biggest
impact when parents are involved in
their children’s learning in the home
environment. The earlier parents
become involved in their children’s
literacy practices, the more profound the
results and the longer lasting the effects
(Mullis, Mullis, Cornille et al., 2004).
The Irish Government has invested
strongly through their very successful
Delivering Equality of Opportunity in
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Schools (DEIS) scheme (Weir et al.
2011 and 2014.), providing increased
resources to schools. A cornerstone
of this scheme is the Home School
Community Liaison Coordinator, whose
work includes encouraging parental
involvement (Conaty, 2002). Parallel to
this initiative, Family Learning courses
through the adult literacy service within
ETBs across Ireland support the needs
of parents who may not have completed
their own primary or second-level
education. Both services support each
other and maximise the benefits to
families.
John Sweeney, in his Strategic Review of
Further Education and Training (2013),
states that the European Union’s FET
Strategy has ‘… both economic and
social objectives: to enable people
to remain in the workforce or to be
employable throughout their working
lives, to address social inclusion
needs, to strengthen the foundations
for active citizenship and contribute to
social cohesion.’ The SOLAS Further
Education and Training Strategy (2014)
acknowledges that benefits from
investment in skills at all levels are
numerous and span both the economy
and society.
The Family Learning approach to
education has had real success in
engaging people with poor educational
attainment, the long term unemployed
and those in low paid, casual
employment. There are many aspects
to education e.g. learning something
new and useful while also gaining
personal, social and future economic
skills (NIACE 2008). Friendships are
made and participants become more
active citizens as they gain confidence
in their ability to learn and can
contribute to their local communities.
Family Learning helps parents support
their children while at the same time
parents are learning for themselves.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF FAMILY
LEARNING IN CO. CLARE
Clare Family Learning Project was
42
"The earlier parents become involved in their children's literacy
practices, the more profound the results and the longer lasting
the effects."
established in 1994 in response to
local parents’ requests for literacy
support to help with their children’s
homework. Around this time the Adult
Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ABLSU)
in the United Kingdom published a
special issue of their journal on the
topic of Family Literacy. This included
articles by Sharon Darling, Keith
Topping, Peter Hannon and others.
Moira Greene, the Adult Literacy
Organiser in Clare, linked the research
with the practical needs of parents
in Clare. A two-year grant from the
European Union Horizon Fund provided
funding.
The Family Learning concept adopts
a broad and holistic approach to
learning, looking at positive learning
experiences that build on success,
rather than just the narrower focus of
literacy skills only. In Clare the project
works within the adult literacy service
and uses an inter-agency approach to
reach the most disadvantaged families
e.g. working with social services,
Public Health Nurses, Home School
Community Liaison Coordinators in
primary and second-level schools,
community preschools, libraries, Family
Resource Centres and other community
organisations. Key times to reach
parents are when children are infants,
starting pre-school, starting primary
school or moving to second level.
A wide variety of courses are on offer
for parents and carers who may need
a stepping stone to more formal
accredited education. Needs are
identified both by agencies close to
parents and by Family Learning staff
who meet the parents in advance.
These taster courses are short, two
hours once a week for six to eight
weeks, and provide a friendly, positive
and stimulating learning environment.
It is a step-by-step approach, each
successful class encouraging
participants to return the following
week. Classes such as My Baby and
Me, Helping with Homework, Fun
Science Experiments, Cooking for the
Family, Gardening Together, Settling
your Child into Second Level and
Understanding Project Maths are some
examples of our informal, relaxed
sessions where parents are active
participants. In some cases, children
attend with parents to increase the
positive aspects of education across
the generations.
Training for facilitators on how to
deliver courses to parents began
in 1999, and to date Clare Family
Learning Project has held 48 training
workshops/sessions, providing training
to 767 tutors nationally. Training is
provided on request and usually there
are two training sessions per year.
In 2003, in conjunction with the
National Adult Literacy Agency and
Water ford Institute of Technology,
Level 6 and Level 7 Family Literacy
Modules were developed. Contributions
and advice from Moira Greene (Adult
Literacy Organiser at LCETB) and
Janet Webb (then Coordinator of Clare
Family Learning Project) supported
this work. These elective modules
have been delivered by Coordinators
of Clare Family Learning Project as
part of the Higher Certificate of Arts in
Adult Education and Bachelor of Arts
(Ordinary) in Adult Education.
In addition to this work, Clare Family
Learning Project continues to grow in
strength and engage priority parents
locally. In 1998, 64 parents attended
family learning courses in Clare. In
2014, 400 parents attended 52
courses in 26 venues countywide.
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RESOURCES DEVELOPED
Following a series of pilot projects in
the late 1990s, the Family Learning
Resource Pack was developed and
published in 2000. This includes a
facilitator’s guide, a set of 6 parent
booklets and a 50-piece photo pack.
www.clarefamilylearning.org: Clare
Family Learning Project website (2000)
has been used as an online resource for
tutors both nationally and internationally.
A quarterly e-newsletter is sent to
all subscribers. The website has a
wide international readership and has
resulted in a number of study visits. A
group of 20 Norwegians, representing a
broad section of their education sector,
visited Family Learning classes in
action across Clare in April 2014. More
recently, through the website contact,
seven Luxembourgers from their Adult
Education sector visited Clare in May
2015 to meet stakeholders and attend
Family Learning training as they plan to
set up a similar project at national level
in Luxembourg.
Other resources have been developed
over the years in response to requests
both locally and nationally:
Clare Family Learning Project DVD,
launched in 2009, gives an overview of
Family Learning work. This has been used
internationally to promote Family Learning.
Family Learning in Action (2010)
is a handbook for family literacy
practitioners with course outlines and
sample lesson plans.
How to help children do well in school,
information booklets for Roma parents
living in Ennis, published in Czech/
English, Slovak/English and an English
only version. This was a product of
the Project’s involvement in the EU
Comenius Project Roma Families
Learning 2010-2012.
All three resources above are available
free online; www.clarefamilylearning.org
ONGOING RESEARCH
Clare Family Learning Project staff and
Luxembourg group that visited Clare Family Learning Project, Ennis in May 2015, on an EU
learning visit.
"Seven Luxembourgers from their Adult Education sector visited
Clare in May 2015 to meet stakeholders and attend Family
Learning training as they plan to set up a similar project at
national level in Luxembourg."
others have used the project as part of
their graduate and post graduate studies
with five pieces of research conducted
to date. In many cases the success
of the Project is visible longitudinally;
with several children identified as at
‘high risk’ of not making the transfer to
second level, whose parents attended
classes, now having completed secondlevel education. Many parents got
hooked into learning and continued on
to formal classes after a number of
taster classes. One such example is a
Traveller mother who completed a Level
6 National Certificate in Childcare and
is now working, the first person in her
family to be in formal employment.
VIEWED BY OTHERS
In addition, articles and reflections on
successful methods of working, topics
of interest and sharing good practice
within the project have been published
over the years: a list of these can be
found on the project website www.
clarefamilylearning.org.
The Comenius project Roma Families
Learning – The importance of parental
involvement in children’s education,
has been used as an example of best
practice by Pavee Point in an EU Roma
project in 2013.
Clare Family Learning Project was used
as a case study in the EU Commission
report on Family Literacy in Europe '…
Clare Family Learning Project holds
a key position in Ireland for the
development of family literacy and
numeracy provision. (p62.)
'The programme is clearly successful in
reaching parents not already engaged
in learning and where the children need
extra support (p223).' 2011 NRDC.
The National Economic and Social
Forum (2009), Child Literacy and
Social Inclusion report focused on
the implementation of the Delivering
Equality of Opportunity in Schools
(DEIS) programme. The report cites
'One striking example of good practice
in family literacy work is that of the
Clare Family Learning Project… (p136).'
SHARING BEST PRACTICE IN
FAMILY LEARNING
Staff from Clare Family Learning Project
have presented at events in University
of Limerick, Barnardos, National Adult
Literacy Agency, Vincentian Partnership
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for Social Justice, Leargas, Education
conferences in Clare and Limerick, RaPal
Conference in Galway and Department
of Education and Skills, Dublin.
The project has been invited to
share experiences and knowledge at
international level through a number
of EU projects and other events. A
number of international groups have
visited the project since it began. Some
attended the facilitator training to learn
how to set up and run courses, while
other educationalists from Australia,
Germany, Spain, England, Estonia, Italy,
Romania, France, Slovenia, Sweden,
Norway and most recently Luxembourg
have found this approach a very useful
way to reach people who find it difficult
to engage in learning. The project was
invited to present its work in March
2015 at the National Families Learning
Summit in Houston, Texas.
CONCLUSION
It is recommended by the EU High
Level Group of Experts on Literacy
final report (2012) that all parents
have ready access to family literacy
programmes which teach them how
to support their children’s speaking,
listening, reading and writing skills
while they are still very young, and
to encourage reading for pleasure. In
doing this, parents (re)discover learning
for themselves. SOLAS can support
this work by designating funding to
support this valuable work, promoting
the notion of Family Learning as a best
practice methodology to specifically
reach harder-to-engage groups. Family
Learning has been shown to provide
a bridge not only between home and
school but between home and adult
education and it can make a huge
difference to the lives of the most
educationally disadvantaged. It is vital
to reach those who may find it difficult
to engage with the education system;
not only should no child be left behind,
no adult should be left behind either.
REFERENCES
ALBSU (Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit). 1993. Viewpoints 15: Family Literacy. London.
Carpentieri, J., Fairfax-Cholmeley, K., Litster, J., Vorhaus, J. (2011) Family literacy in Europe: using parental support initiatives to
enhance early literacy development. © NRDC, Institute Of Education, London. http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/school/doc/familyliteracy_en.pdf
Clare Family Learning Project 2015 Published resources link http://www.clarefamilylearning.org/tutors/published-resources/
Collier, J. (2008). The F Factor Report. Campaign for Learning, UK.
Conaty C. (2002). Including All – Home, School and Community United In Education. Veritas Publications
European Commission. (2012). Final Report. EU High Level Group of Experts on Literacy. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the
European Union. http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/school/doc/literacy-report_en.pdf
Harris, A., Goodall, J. (2007) Engaging Parents in Raising Achievement – Do Parents Know They Matter? In Research Report
DCSF-RW004 University of Warwick. Department of children, schools and families, UK. http://library.bsl.org.au/jspui/
bitstream/1/3469/1/Engaging%20parents%20and%20raising%20achievement_Alma%20Harris_2007%20.pdf
Mullis, R.L., Mullis, A.K., Cornille, T.A., Ritchson, A.D. & Sullender, M.S. (2004). Early literacy outcomes and parent involvement.
Tallahassee, Fl: Florida State University. http://www.chs.fsu.edu/content/download/68056/753830/file/hubs_study_final_
report_5_28_04.pdf
The Basic Skills Agency UK. (1993). Viewpoints 15. Family Literacy. Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit: London.
The National Economic and Social Forum.(2009). Child Literacy and Social Inclusion: Implementation Issues, Report 39. National
Economic and Social Forum. http://files.nesc.ie/nesf_archive/nesf_research_series/nesf_rs_06.pdf
SOLAS (2014). Further Education and Training Strategy 2014-2019. p4-5. https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Policy-Reports/
Further-Education-and-Training-Strategy-2014-2019.pdf
Sweeney, J. (2013). A Strategic Review of Further Education and Training and the Unemployed. Department of Education and Skills.
P11,12. https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Education-Reports/A-Strategic-Review-of-Further-Education-and-Training-and-theUnemployed.pdf
Weir, S., Archer, P., O’Flaherty, A., and Gilleece, L. (2011) A Report on the First Phase of the Evaluation of DEIS Report to the
Department of Education and Skills.
Educational Research Centre: Dublin. http://www.erc.ie/documents/deis_p1_main.pdf
Weir, S. Denner, S. (2013). The evaluation of the School Support Programme under DEIS: Changes in pupil achievement in urban
primary schools between 2007 and 2013. Educational Research Centre: Dublin. http://www.erc.ie/documents/deis2013_
bulletinreport.pdf
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Equal Access for People with
Intellectual Disabilities to
Further Education and Training
– What is the problem?
Des Henry
Des has coordinated the Walkways project in Ireland since April 2011 and developed the WALK
PEER Programme, an early inter vention, suppor ting young people with disabilities to transition
from school into fur ther education, training and employment. His vision is to facilitate individuals
to overcome barriers and challenges, by opening doors to employment oppor tunities and give
people more informed choices in life. www.walk.ie
A
recent study on “Accessing
Mainstream Training: Barriers
for People with Intellectual
Disabilities” commissioned by WALK, a
progressive rights based organisation
offering person-centred ser vices to
people in Leinster, and funded by the
Equality Mainstreaming Unit, examined
the barriers to accessing mainstream
further education and training
experienced by people with intellectual
disabilities who are ser vice users of
WALK.
The right to education is enshrined
in Irish and international law and a
specific requirement is made in Irish
equality legislation for the reasonable
accommodation of people with
disabilities in accessing services such
as training and education. Despite this,
people with intellectual disabilities
experience significant barriers in
accessing mainstream further education
and training. This is borne out by
national statistics which demonstrate
low participation in higher and further
education by people with disabilities.
As the old Irish proverb goes, ‘Is tús
maith, leath na hoibre’ – a good start
is half the work. Without equality of
access to further education and training
for people with intellectual disabilities,
there is no start, hence no progression.
The study identified the following
barriers to persons with intellectual
disabilities accessing further education
and training.
BARRIERS ARISING FROM
ATTITUDES
There is evidence of prejudice and
negative attitudes or behaviours
towards people with disabilities. Lack
of knowledge and familiarity with people
with intellectual difficulties contributed
significantly to this. Barriers are also
created through negative attitudes
about educating people with intellectual
disabilities. This was compounded by
subjective judgments being made about
whether a student with an intellectual
disability could secure a placement
and/or subsequently get a job.
BARRIERS ARISING FROM
STIGMA
The expression of these attitudes
contributes to the significant stigma
attached to intellectual disability. This
clearly has an impact on capacity
and willingness to engage not just in
education and training but in the social
and community activities that go along
with being a student. It all adds to the
“chill factor” for people with intellectual
disabilities in accessing mainstream
provision.
THERE IS A HIERARCHY OF
DISABILITIES
The existence of a hierarchy of
disabilities was identified. There were
more positive attitudes, it was felt,
toward people with physical disabilities.
Even within the category of intellectual
disability, it was widely felt, there was a
hierarchy.
LOW EXPECTATIONS
Low expectations for people with
intellectual disabilities were widely
felt to be a significant barrier. As one
person said, ‘the idea that people
cannot achieve something is a
blanket presumption.’ Risk aversion
and reluctance on the part of some
families and other carers was also felt
to be an issue.
BARRIERS ARISING FROM LACK
OF CAPACITY IN THE SECTOR
Another category of barrier is capacity,
ranging from lack of skills to limited
awareness and a dearth of appropriate
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support in the education provider.
There is a universal view that there is
a need for training for staff at all levels
and functions. However, at the moment
there are only limited opportunities to
acquire such skills and little incentive
to do so. The increasing workload for
teachers, lecturers and managers in
Further Education was also considered
to be a barrier. The absence of proper
supports was also a factor – as was
the fact that support often did not
become available until very late in
the year, even when the need for that
support had been communicated well
in advance of courses commencing.
There is also a need for support for
new and inclusive teaching approaches,
learning strategies and assessment
regimes, drawing on good practice from
elsewhere.
STRUCTURAL BARRIERS
Numerous structural barriers were
identified, chief of which was the lack
of availability in mainstream providers
of appropriate levels of courses and
qualifications. Colleges are offering
fewer courses at FETAC level 3 and
below. However, this is the level that
many prospective students with an
intellectual disability are interested in
doing. Other issues identified, included
the following:
 The lack of availability of funding for
supports for people with disabilities
on part-time and lower level FET
(Further Education and Training)
courses.
 The absence of appropriate
transitional support.
 Uncertainty about the availability of
particular programmes to people
with intellectual disabilities (e.g.
literacy programmes).
LACK OF COHERENT POLICIES –
FAILURE TO MAINSTREAM
Lack of coherent policies is a general
but significant structural problem.
In particular, the lack of clarity
in what mainstreaming equality
means for access to education and
46
"As the old Irish proverb goes, 'Is tús maith, leath na
hoibre' - a good start is half the work. Without equality
of access to further education and training for people
with intellectual disabilities, there is no start, hence
no progression."
training provision creates significant
barriers. This is despite the policy of
mainstreaming services to people with
disabilities being in operation under
successive governments since 2000. It
is given statutory effect by Section 26
of the Disability Act 2005. Education
providers are often not aware of their
obligations under the Equality Acts in
relation to the legal requirement of
providing reasonable accommodation
for people with disabilities. Reasonable
accommodation is about meeting
the needs of people with disabilities,
so that they can participate fully in
education and employment, and so
that they can access and use everyday
services. It involves putting in place
tailored supports or special facilities to
assist a person with a disability.
of learning and wanted to continue.
CONCLUSION
Without access, there is no progression.
People with disabilities have a right
to equal access to further education
and training, and equality is delivered
through the reduction of barriers. Many
of the barriers identified in this study
could be addressed through training,
better structural support and more
widespread access to financial and
other means of support. However,
proper application of existing equality
law and policy, combined with coherent
targets and plans for the greater
participation of people with intellectual
disabilities would also help.
POSITIVE EXPERIENCES
Since 2011, WALK has developed
and piloted two innovative ‘transition’
programmes aimed at supporting young
people with disabilities to successfully
transition from school into and through
further education and training and into
employment. Both programmes (WALK
PEER Programme – Providing Equal
Employment Routes, and the WALK
Real Life Training Programme) have
operated successfully in collaboration
with schools and colleges to support
individual’s ambitions to be employable
and have careers.
Whilst it is clear from the study that
many barriers exist, there are also
examples of good practice. Almost
everyone interviewed was able to point
to positive experiences where things
had worked well. However, most of
those had come about after a lot of
effort, persistence and, usually, the help
of a champion on the ‘inside’. Whilst
service users sometimes struggled
to understand that they had a right to
education, they all valued the experience
The report referred to in this article
was researched and written by Angela
Hegarty, an independent consultant
specialising in equality and human
rights. It was funded by the Equality
Mainstreaming Unit, which is jointly
funded by the European Social Fund
2007 and by the Irish Human Rights
and Equality Commission. The full
report may be accessed from the WALK
website www.walk.ie
PRACTICAL BARRIERS
A range of practical barriers were
identified – primarily the issue of
transport and logistical issues, such
as finding one’s way around a college.
Another barrier identified was an excess
of bureaucracy and administrative
errors, the impact of which is much
greater on people with intellectual
disabilities.
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ETB and DSP Working Well Together:
The Kilkenny Experience
Interim Protocol Agreement
for Co-operation between
Kilkenny and Carlow
ETB (KCETB) and DSP
Bernadette O’Rourke, Co-ordinator of Co. Kilkenny
Adult Educational Guidance Service, KCETB
T
he proposed establishment of
the National Employment and
Entitlement Services (NEES) and
SOLAS (new education and training
authority), in line with the Government’s
labour market activation policy marked
the beginning of a move towards a
more integrated provision of services
for the long term unemployed in Ireland.
The publication of the NEES proposal
in August 2011 by the Department
of Social Protection (DSP) resulted
in the establishment of a more
integrated approach within the
Department to the provision of income
and jobseeking supports. In Januar y
2012 the Employment Ser vices
Division of FÁS was transferred to
the DSP. Some ser vices from HSE
were also integrated into DSP at
this time including the Community
Welfare Ser vice (supplementar y
welfare allowance, rent allowance and
mortgage interest supplement). The
working title for this new integrated
ser vice was INTREO and this was
formally launched in Kilkenny in April
2013. This new structure set out
to support people to establish their
benefit entitlements, provide advice on
training options and assistance with
securing employment.
The move towards the provision of
a more integrated ser vice for DSP
clients was a key element in the
establishment of Interim Protocols
between VECs (ETBs) and the
DSP in late 2011 and early 2012
to enable the smooth referral of
unemployed people to Further
Education programmes funded by the
Department of Education and Skills,
all now funded through SOLAS.
The Adult Education Service of Co.
Kilkenny VEC began to operate the
Interim Protocol for Co-operation between
Co. Kilkenny Vocational Education
Committee (VEC) and the Department
of Social Protection (DSP) Kilkenny in
2012. The protocol continues to be
implemented following the amalgamation
of Carlow and Kilkenny VECs to establish
Kilkenny and Carlow ETB.
The Interim Protocol was aimed at
promoting and establishing a more
structured relationship between
Kilkenny and Carlow ETB (formerly
VEC) at a local level. A more
structured link would support the
referral of unemployed people by the
local Department of Social Protection
to further education programmes
and ser vices offered by the local
ETB. Through the establishment
of a protocol, unemployed adults
would be facilitated in accessing
relevant and worthwhile further
education opportunities, and in turn
this would support their engagement
in meaningful progression to either
education or training and improve their
employability.
The Interim Protocol sought to build
on and complement existing referral
protocols, where they existed, and to
strengthen the co-operation between
the DSP and the ETB. Recognition
was given to the valuable role of
each agency and there was an
acknowledgement that significant
numbers of unemployed people were
already accessing further education
programmes.
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In early 2015 the National Centre
in Guidance for Education (NCGE)
approached Kilkenny Adult Guidance
Ser vice with the view to promoting and
documenting best practice of guidance
in education, in par ticular the Interim
Protocol and the integration of
ser vices for adults at a local level.
The NCGE was seeking to provide
evidence of models of best practice
in a number of Adult Educational
Guidance Ser vices (AEGI).
In Kilkenny, the documentation of good
practice resulted in the production
of a short video. The video offers
perspectives from INTREO, Kilkenny
Adult Guidance Service and, most
importantly, a number of clients who
were beneficiaries of the implementation
of the Interim Protocol. It provides the
audience with a valuable opportunity
to learn how the protocol works in
practice in Kilkenny and aims to provide
an understanding of how structured
collaboration between the services
of the INTREO office and the Kilkenny
Adult Education Service results in better
support for the unemployed.
Central to operating the Interim
Protocol is the referral form; this form
was devised and agreed by both local
agencies. As part of the process, Case
Officers working in the local INTREO
office could refer a client directly to a
programme of further education or to
the Adult Educational Guidance Service.
This referral is agreed as part of the
client’s Personal Progression Plan (PPS).
The PPS is the client’s contract with
DSP to commit to certain actions around
jobseeking, training, education and
development.
Having operated the Interim Protocol
for almost three years, it is possible to
reflect on the process and to consider
its outcomes thus far. A key benefit of
the integrated approach to supporting
the unemployed is that clients of
INTREO are provided with access to
the ETB’s specialised educational
guidance counselling service. Through
the guidance counselling relationship
unemployed persons referred by the
DSP are provided with the opportunity
to identify, explore and review their
educational and career options. Support
in assisting clients to address issues
which may be blocking their progress
is an important part of this process.
Access to comprehensive, up-to-date
and impartial information on adult and
further education options and related
supports is offered as part of the
service. Ultimately the Adult Educational
Guidance Service endeavours to
enable individuals to make informed
decisions for future learning and career
progression and to continue to provide
appropriate and relevant support in
relation to career management.
Clients referred through the
Interim Protocol who meet with an
Educational Guidance Counsellor and
who progress onto a course of fur ther
education within the ETB or who were
directly referred by the Case Officer
onto an ETB fur ther education course
continue to have access to the Adult
Educational Guidance Ser vice. The
ser vice is an integral par t of the
Kilkenny Adult Education Ser vice and
is provided to learners par ticipating
on adult literacy, VTOS, BTEI and
community education programmes.
As with all new initiatives, there were
challenges, some of which arose at
the beginning of the process, that
is, during the planning phase of
implementing the Interim Protocol.
Concerns were expressed on both
sides in relation to the cultural
"A key benefit of the integrated approach to supporting the
unemployed is that clients of INTREO are provided with access
to the ETB's specialised educational guidence counselling service."
48
differences between the DSP
and VEC and how these might be
addressed. For example, issues in
relation to data protection, client
confidentiality, client agreement and
the consequences of client nonengagement with the ETB Guidance
Ser vice following referral by INTREO
were an impor tant par t of this early
discussion. Clear communication
and a robust understanding of
each agency’s requirement and
commitment in relation to these
issues was sought and acknowledged.
An agreement to work together was
established!
Ultimately, the Interim Protocol offers
an effective model of interagency
collaboration, which has allowed for the
building of trust between the agencies.
As a formal agreement it facilitates and
ensures consistency of understanding,
information, communication and
interaction between agencies. It is
person-centred in its approach to
working with clients, and at its core the
protocol sets out to support the client
with decisions and options which will
result in meaningful educational and
career progression. The operation of the
protocol seeks to develop and sustain a
relationship between the client, INTREO
and ETB programmes and services
which is transparent, supportive
and genuine, which recognises the
importance of meaningful progression
and career management.
Bernadette O’Rourke is the Coordinator of Co. Kilkenny Adult
Educational Guidance Ser vice,
Kilkenny and Carlow ETB. She has
been working as Guidance Coordinator/Counsellor with the ser vice
for the past 13 years.
www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/nees.pdf
This video may be accessed
from the NCGE website at www.
ncgeadultguidance.ie/workbook/7resources/74-toolbox-talks-intro/742toolbox-talks-2
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ETBs Part of New Regional
Skills Fora Network
Anne Forde, Department of Education and Skills
F
or many employers, it can be
hard to understand the different
types of providers, courses and
services available across the further
education and training (FET) and higher
education (HE) systems and how to
access them. With over 185,000
employers in the business economy
alone, the majority employing less than
10 people each, establishing links and
building relationships with individual
employers poses significant challenges
for ETBs and other education and
training providers. To help overcome
these challenges the Department of
Education and Skills (DES) is leading a
project to create a network of regional
skills fora. The key objectives (Figure 1)
of this initiative are:
 To provide a cohesive education and
training-led structure for employers
and the FET and HE systems to work
together in identifying and meeting
the skills needs of their regions.
 To help employers better understand
and access the full range of services
available across the education and
training system.
 To enhance links between education
For Employers
1. Gateway to
education system
in region
2. Information on
ETBs, HEIs, Skillnets,
programmes and
services, incl
innovation supports
3. Framework to
foster relationships
with providers/
contact points
and training providers in planning
and delivering programmes, and
to reduce duplication and inform
national funding decisions.
The work to create the new skills
fora is being undertaken in the
context of the strong focus on the
skills agenda as part of Government
policy to support economic recovery
and development, job creation and
tackling unemployment. This includes
the development of a new national
Skills Strategy and Enterprise Policy
statement to 2025 and the publication
of 8 Regional Action Plans for Jobs
(APJs) in 2015. Actions providing for
the establishment of the Skills fora are
being included in each of the regional
APJs
It is hoped that the new skills
structures will contribute to better
outcomes for learners and support
enterprise development and job
creation in a number of ways.
1. More robust labour market
information and analysis of
employer needs;
2. Better alignment of education and
training provision with the skills
needs of each region;
3. Greater collaboration and
utilisation of resources across the
education and training system and
enhancement of progression routes
for learners;
4. Maximisation of employment, career
progression and entrepreneurships
opportunities available to learners
in each region.
The fora will only succeed if they provide
tangible benefits for participants so the
design and operation of the Forum in
each region needs to be determined in
consultation with local employers and
other key stakeholders. The intention
is not to create additional “attendance
burdens” for either employers or public
bodies. The fora are also intended to
provide a framework to support and
facilitate, not replace or cut across, the
implementation of actions by individual
ETBs or other providers to enhance links
with enterprise and prepare learners for
the different roles they will have over the
course of their working lives.
WHAT WOULD A REGIONAL SKILLS FORUM DO?
INTREO
EI
IDA
Local Authorities
LEOs
Employers
Labour Market
Data
Regular structured
dialogue on skills
needs of region
Employer
Expertise
ETBs
Universities
IOTs
Skillnets
For Providers
1. Framework
to foster
relationships
employers
2. Forum to Build
links with other
providers, share
info, collaborate
3. Better
information to
inform programme
planning
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WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO DATE?
The DES initially sought input from
a range of education and employer
bodies at national level about the
proposal, including the HEA, SOLAS,
Institutes of Technology Ireland (IOTI),
Irish Universities Association (IUA),
Education and Training Boards Ireland
(ETBI), IBEC, ISME, Chambers Ireland
and QQI. Starting in March, a series
of joint meetings then took place
with ETBs, HEIs and Skillnets, SOLAS
and the HEA across the countr y to
outline the objectives for the fora and
to seek their views on the best way
to proceed in each region. At each
meeting an ETB or HEI undertook
to organise a follow-up meeting in
each region to further develop the
concept for the fora and to start
the process of consulting with other
local stakeholders. A series of IBEC
regional skills seminars held in Cork,
Water ford, Limerick, Galway, Sligo
and Dublin in May also provided the
opportunity to build employer support
for the proposal. Steering Groups are
now in place in six regions: the South
West, South East, Mid West, West,
North West and North East and the
process to establish Steering Groups
in the Midlands and the Mid East is
under way. All six Groups are agreed on
the need for a partnership approach
"It is hoped that the new skills structures will contribute to better
outcomes for learners and suport enterprise development and
job creation in a number of ways."
involving all key local stakeholders in
deciding how the fora will operate.
While there has been some variation in
the initial steps to establish the Fora
across the six regions some common
approaches and issues are emerging.
SKILLS FORUM MEMBERSHIP
The following forum membership is
emerging across the regions. Public
bodies: Education and Training
Providers (ETBs, IoTs, Universities and
Skillnets), Enterprise agencies (EI,
IDA, LEOs), Local Authorities, INTREO.
Private sector: Representatives of
employers in each region (individual
employers and or rep bodies such as
IBEC, Chambers/professional bodies).
Different approaches are being taken to
the appointment of chairs. For example,
in the Mid West it is proposed to rotate
the chair between the ETBs and HEIs
while in the North East an industry
figure has agreed to chair the forum.
OPERATION OF THE FORA
A key issue in all of the meetings
across the regions has been how
best to engage with the different
categories of employers from start-ups,
to SMEs and large companies across
different sectors, recognising that it is
unrealistic to expect every employer
to be a member of a Forum or to
participate in all activities. Suggested
approaches include:
The enterprise agencies and
employer organisations represented
on each forum could act as
conduit to their respective client/
member base, in promoting events,
disseminating labour market
intelligence, helping to coordinate
views on specific skills needs, etc.
A mix of opportunities to reach out
to employers is required. These
could range from an annual event
for a strategic consideration of
skills issues in the region, to
establishment of sub groups to
focus on specific sectors. In some
regions such groups already exist
e.g. IT@Cork. There also was interest
in sharing best practice across the
Fora on how these types of groups
GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS Project Advisory Group (Figure 2)
PROJECT SPONSOR: DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND SKILLS
PROJECT ADVISORY GROUP
DES-Chair, SOLAS, HEA DSP, IBEC, EI, IDA, Skillnets, ETBI, plus....
To meet quarterly, reps from RSF attend twice a year
South
West
South
East
Midlands
Mid
West
RSF
RSF
RSF
RSF
50
West
RSF
PAG to oversee process: advise on
project plans, track progress, manage
communications strategy. DES/SOLAS/
HEA will be responsible for decisions re
resources and financial accountabilit
North
West
North
East
RSF
RSF
Dublin
Mid
East
ETBI  AUTUMN 2015  SECTION 1 | NATIONAL AND EUROPEAN EVENTS
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might work for other sectors.
Common areas for actions to be taken
by the Skills fora have also emerged
across the 6 regions.
 How to better communicate with
employers about the existing
programmes, services and supports
that are available to them in each
region and about how these may be
accessed by employers.
 How to provide for regular evidencebased dialogue between employers
and education and training providers
on skills gaps and future skills
needs in order to inform programme
design and development.
 How to promote the range of
employment roles and career paths
available across different sectors
in the region and how to encourage
young people and adults to develop
the skills for these roles.
SOLAS has made presentations to
most of the Steering Groups on the
labour market intelligence for their
regions and will assist the fora with
accessing labour market intelligence
and preparing for and reporting on any
regional events to analyse skills needs.
The 8 Regional APJs when published
will also provide a very good overview
of the enterprise base in each region
and emerging opportunities.
NEXT STEPS
The DES has put in place a Project
Advisory Group (Figure 2) at national
level to oversee the project. It will also
be establishing a dedicated funding
line to support the establishment of
the network of fora from 2016. The
education and training provider group
(ETPG) in each region will continue
to be responsible for managing
local consultations to design and
establish the fora and, when the for
a are established, be responsible
for overseeing their operation and
reporting to DES. Further guidance
on the operation of the Fora from the
start of 2016, including in information
about the funding that will be available
to support the process will be provided
by DES over the coming months. The
DES will also organise a facilitated
workshop in the Autumn to enable
representatives from all of the regional
Steering Groups to come together to
share views on the process to date
and to consider some of the horizontal
issues that are emerging across the
regions.
Anne Forde is a Principal Officer in the
Department of Education and Skill. She
is currently heading up a project spanning
the Further and Higher education sectors
on the development of regional structures
for engagement with employers on
communicating and addressing skills
needs. She was previously responsible
for Higher Education Policy and
Skills in the Department including
implementation of the higher education
reform programme underway since the
publication of the National Strategy for
Higher Education in 2011. She was
also a member of the Expert Group
on Future Skills Needs and led the
development of the first joint Government
Industry ICT Action Plan in 2012 and the
Springboard programme. Prior to joining
the Department of Education and Skills
in 2007 she held a number of posts in
the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and
Innovation in enterprise policy, trade and
consumer affairs.
CREAGH COLLEGE,
GOREY
6th March saw the Official
Opening of Creagh College,
Gorey, Co. Wexford, a PPP
built school constructed
by BAM. Minister for
Public Expenditure and
Reform Brendan Howlin TD
officiated at the ceremony.
Other speakers on the
day included Jim Moore,
Chairperson Waterford and
Wexford Education and
Training Board, Senator
Michael D’Arcy and Eilis
Leddy, Chief Executive,
Acting Waterford and
Wexford Education and
Training Board.
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HOPE
GUATEMALA
The Children of
Finca Florencia
By Orna Dunlevy, Hope Guatemala, BA Mod. HDip. Ed. NT.
I
n the year 2005, socially involved
people from Dingle, founded the
small Charity HOPE GUATEMALA,
with the goal of improving the living
conditions of the impoverished Maya
people in Guatemala. During the same
year, the founder, Eddy Dieckmann,
also launched the sister organisation
Nuevo Dia in Germany.
"This book aims to give a small
insight into the life of the
poorest in Guatemala and
shows how HOPE GUATEMALA
improves the conditions of
the people."
Since then various charity events,
which suppor t selected projects in
Guatemala, have been carried out.
HOPE GUATEMALA has since 2012
provided the children of plantation
workers with oppor tunities for
education, daily meals and health
care in the nutrition centre CERNE
/ Chimaltenango. This book aims to
give a small insight into the life of
the poorest in Guatemala and shows
how HOPE GUATEMALA improves the
conditions of the people.
LIFE AT THE FINCA FLORENCIA
- HARD WORK FOR LITTLE
MONEY Fincas are huge estates, belonging to
landowners (finceros). The plantation
workers and their families live in
extreme pover ty and have next to
no rights nor do they own land.
Women and men work as poorly paid
labourers. A man earns roughly €2.00
a day. Women get only €1.50 a day
for the same work. Those wages
make it impossible for them to feed
their families and to educate their
children.
52
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"Hope Guatemala is
funding the employment of
a fulltime doctor in the Cerne
Centre. Dr Edwin Rolando Rojas
Mairena works on a daily basis
to treat all the poor of the Finca
Florencia ... the doctor visits the
seriously ill people of the
surrounding communities in
their huts and houses."
CULTURE AND EDUCATION
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE IS A
LUXURY
In Guatemala about 30% of people
can neither read nor write. Due to
pover ty and the great distance to
secondar y schools, many children
are denied access to education. Most
parents cannot afford to pay school
fees or even bus tickets. Only through
donations or other financial suppor t
is education for their children made
possible.
It is especially difficult for women
and girls. Often they are not even
permitted to attend school and
instead have to stay at home.
While parents are working at the
plantations, the older daughters of
the family look after their younger
siblings and do household chores.
Once this work is done, they also
go to the plantations. The girls are
especially in need of a better chance
for education and autonomy, because
this may be their only way of achieving
a bit of independence and living a
better life.
CERNE is especially concerned with
the welfare of the young children.
As a result of this, the children may
attend the house childcare facility
from the age of 1 year. At the age
of 7, children go to the “Primera ",
primar y school, which is also located
on the grounds of the Finca. They are
only able to attend school because
they don’t have to pay school fees.
Two female teachers teach reading,
writing and arithmetic to all age
groups. Many children cannot afford
to continue with secondar y school,
unless a scholarship is awarded.
These scholarships are funded by
Hope Guatemala.
ONE DOCTOR FOR EVERYBODY
Hope Guatemala is funding the
employment of a fulltime doctor in
the Cerne Centre. Dr Edwin Rolando
Rojas Mairena works on a daily basis
to treat all the poor of the Finca
Florencia. He attends to ill children
in a small practice room. Frequently
they and their parents have to endure
a day-long journey on foot to receive
treatment.
The doctor visits the seriously
ill people of the surrounding
communities in their huts and
houses. He is also on call, night and
day, for emergency bir ths and the
care of HIV patients.
TWO MEALS A DAY
CHILDREN SHALL NOT GO
HUNGRY
Many children in Guatemala are still
malnourished or constantly at risk
of malnourishment. This is also a
problem on the Finca Florencia. Here
50 little children are lucky and can
go for breakfast and lunch to the
nutrition centre at CERNE.
100% of the proceeds of this book
costing €10 will go to the provisions
for the children in the Health and
Nutrition Centre CERNE and for their
education. It will be launched in
Dingle in November 2015.
HOPE GUATEMALA would like to
secure and sustain the provision of
Nutrition, Education and Healthcare
for the children of the Finca Florencia
now and in the future. Due to lack
of funds the Centre has been forced
to close in the recent past and was
rescued by the inter vention of HOPE
GUATEMALA. So, if the charity’s funds
dr y up the Cerne Centre will have to
close down immediately.
We would welcome ETB Schools to
get involved with this project.
www.hopeguatemala.com
Contact Orna Dunlevy at
solamar|@iol.ie
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Apprenticeship Course
in Stone Cutting and Stone
Masonry Launched at Kerry ETB
Training Centre by
Ministers Harris and English
T
he launch of the Apprenticeship
Course in Stone Cutting and
Stone Masonry by Minister Simon
Harris TD and Minister Damien English
TD is a significant development for
Kerry ETB Training Centre. It’s the only
such complete apprenticeship course in
stone in the country.
Trainees will alternate periods of work
experience with periods of training with
their instructor who is a master stone
cutter and stone mason.
Owen O’Donnell, Manager of Kerry
ETB Training Centre said, “This is
a very important development for
Kerry ETB training centre and it came
about in consultation with Solas,
the Further Education and Training
Authority and the Office of Public
Works who have done such great work
in maintaining and renovating our
wonderful heritage sites here in Kerry
and throughout the country”. He added,
“apprenticeship courses such as this
lead to a strong and robust career
path; these apprentices will bring their
comprehensive skills with stone to the
ongoing work of conservation as well
as responding to the revival in interest
in stone for domestic, commercial and
civic buildings”.
The apprentices who will participate
in this apprenticeship programme will
become skilled in the traditional craft
skills, like stone cutting and stone
carving. According to course instructor
Tom Little, “they will develop the skills
and confidence to shape stone, but
they will also gain the knowledge of
stone linked to important areas such
as conservation of old buildings and
heritage sites as well as gaining the
skills to work with the new technologies
and changing tastes in architecture that
will influence buildings and all forms of
stone work in the future”.
Colm McEvoy CEO of Kerr y ETB
said, “This apprenticeship course in
stone work links us to our past and
recognises the conser vation needs of
the future and the career opportunities
linked to that. We can’t have important
crafts and skills dying out; the art
and craft of stone in the hands of
master craftsmen over hundreds and
thousands of years has left us a rich
legacy which must be maintained
for future generations by skilled
craftsmen”.
Instructor Tom Little with his Apprentices, Ministers Harris and English, Kerry ETB Board Members, Office of Public Works Staff,
Local Politicians, Training Centre Management and ETBI General Secretary, Michael Moriarty
54
ETBI  AUTUMN 2015  SECTION 2 | NEWS
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Minister Visits Dunboyne
College in recognition of
Independent Status
Minister O’Sullivan with ETB members and the Dunboyne College Advisory Board.
D
unboyne College of Further
Education (DCFE) opened in
2003 and has over 1,500
applications for courses each year and
runs more than 20 different courses.
DCFE is the primary PLC feeder for
Maynooth College, DCU, DIT and
Blanchardstown IT.
In March 2015 the Minister for
Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan
TD announced that Dunboyne College
of Further Education would have
independent status with its own roll
number and Principal.
In recognition of this status the
Minister visited the college, toured the
facilities and met with Louth and Meath
ETB (LMETB) Board members who were
holding their meeting in the college
at the time. Minister O’Sullivan was a
guest at a reception hosted by DCFE
in the college canteen and was joined
by ETB members and members of
Dunboyne College Advisory Board.
The Minister was welcomed by LMETB’s
CE Peter Kierans who in his remarks
outlined how grateful the ETB was to
have its first standalone PLC College
in County Meath. The Minister was
then thanked the CE and the College
for their warm welcome and said she
was delighted DCFE now had their
independent status. Minister O’Sullivan
outlined the important role Further
Education plays in the development of
links to third-level courses.
Ms. Maureen Murray, Principal
of St. Peter’s College Dunboyne,
presented the Minister with a book
commemorating the 20th anniversary
of St Peter’s College – up to now DCFE
was part of the 1,500 pupil college
of St. Peter’s. Dunboyne College
director, Denis Leonard, thanked “the
Minister and the ETB for their presence
in Dunboyne as an acknowledgement
of the role the college was playing in
the region”. The final part of the visit
brought the Minister to the college
learning support area where she met
the CE and senior members of the
ETB along with the management of
the college.
SECTION 2 | NEWS  AUTUMN 2015  ETBI
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DDLETB taking a bite of the Apple
with iTunes U
iTunes U is an Apple creation which
allows teachers to create and manage
their lessons using one easy app.
Staff in Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB
(DDLETB) have recently undertaken an
iTunes U Course Creation Project, ably
assisted by the Apple Education Team.
Now teachers can create courses
(lesson plans) in an organised and
streamlined manner.
The DDLETB Course Creation Team
has developed a six-step approach
to lesson creation. This step-by-step
approach to class planning allows
a pedagogical focus on learning,
while integrating technology into an
environment which promotes leading
learning for students.
Courses can vary in length to suit the
needs of the user and can contain any
format from multi-touch books, news
articles, documents and handouts
to dynamic apps. The step-by-step
approach of a course allows students
to work at a pace that suits their
needs, while allowing the teacher to
challenge the needs of all learners in
the classroom.
The iTunes U Course is a 24/7
approach to learning. Students can
access resources and notes at any time,
receive Course updates directly to their
iPad and even hand in assignments and
receive feedback from their teacher,
a recent and welcome addition to the
updated version of iTunes U.
The project will engage teachers of
DDLETB in a shared approach to
"The step-by-step approach of a course allows students to work
at a pace that suits their needs ..."
56
planning. Collaboration of resources
and ideas will form the core of iTunes
U Courses. These Courses can then
be shared, assessed and improved,
with up to five collaborations available
on each Course. At present there are
approximately 70 collaborating teachers
involved in the project. Teachers
participated in iTunes U workshops with
Apple Distinguished Educators in June
and ongoing training will be provided
throughout the new school year.
The DDLETB iTunes U Site will be
launched in the autumn and will be
the home to both “Courses” and
“Collections” (of resources). The site
can be accessed by the public and
courses can be freely used.
There are many opportunities available
from collaboration on resources and
ideas, to creating and designing iTunes
U Courses. Interested parties should
contact sconroy@ddletb.ie.
ETBI  AUTUMN 2015  SECTION 2 | NEWS
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ETBI
Killashee House Hotel
Further Information
Conference Cost
Includes meals but not
accommodation
Pat O’Mahony
ero@etbi.ie
€130
Tel 087 230 4539
www.etbi.ie/jmos
John Marcus O’Sullivan Conference 2015
Religion, Diversity & Publicly-Managed Schools
Governance and Practice for Diversity
Thursday 12th & Friday 13th November, 2015
ETBI, Piper’s Hill, Naas, Co Kildare
Conference Overview
The John Marcus O’Sullivan Conference aims to address issues pertaining to the
distinctive role of publicly-managed schools in relation to religion, moral
education, citizenship and belonging by providing an opportunity for debate,
discussion and learning on the distinctive contribution of publicly managed
schools within an ever more diverse Ireland.
This Conference continues a tradition established by Kerry VEC in the 1970’s,
to commemorate the memory of John Marcus O’Sullivan, at one time a
Professor of History, who was the Minister for Education from 1927 to 1932,
and the Minister who steered the Vocational Education Act, 1930, into law. The
2015 event is organised by ETBI in collaboration with the Department of
Education and Professional Studies at the University of Limerick, Kerry ETB
and Dublin & Dun Laoghaire ETB.
SECTION 2 | NEWS  AUTUMN 2015  ETBI
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Waterford and Wexford ETB working
collaboratively in Tramore
Mary Upton, BTEI Coordinator, Waterford and Wexford ETB
T
ramore has a population of
11,000 and is the highest
populated county town in Co.
Waterford. Waterford and Wexford
ETB (WWETB) has an education centre
located in the business park, which is
a multi-programme centre. Delivering
courses on a part-time basis through
Community Education, Adult Literacy
(ALCES) and Back to Education
Initiative (BTEI) it also is an 18-student
Youthreach centre.
Building links in the community
is important and the ALCES team
has been working closely with the
Community Network Forum over the
58
years on behalf of all programmes in
the centre. For BTEI and Youthreach
an important element of our academic
calendar is work placements, which in
itself can be problematic to arrange.
Making connections in business locally
is important and essential to facilitate
practical on-the-job learning and at the
same time creating an awareness of the
centre in the community.
HOW DID WE BUILD THESE
CONNECTIONS?
The year 2014 was the inaugural
Promenade Festival in Tramore Co.
Waterford. The festival was organised
by Tramore Tourism and was an
outstanding success. Thousands of
visitors arrived to the town over two
days to enjoy food, entertainment and
the magnificent natural resources the
town has to offer. Something changed
that weekend in Tramore and people
in the town knew something special
was happening. There was a coming
together of ideas and energy and a
realisation that we could all benefit
from such an event by working as a
community.
Tramore Tourism Committee
appreciated that the success of the
festival meant a new committee
structure needed to be established
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and, with the support of Waterford City
Chamber of Commerce, this would be
known as Tramore Chamber of Tourism
and Commerce. Consultation with
stakeholders from the town allowed
opportunity for discussion as to the
structure and roles in the Chamber.
Tramore Education Centre was
represented by the BTEI Coordinator,
which afforded the opportunity to inform
members of the Chamber of the work of
the centre, and explore the possibilities
of working with Tramore Chamber of
Tourism and Commerce going forward.
The centre became a member and a
connection with the 250 other members
was established.
As the programmes delivered in the
centre are for the most part flexible
and part-time the centre can respond
to developments and work coherently
within the town and with the Chamber.
An example was in the development of
the Lafcadio Hearn, Japanese inspired
gardens; the education centre offered
an introduction to Japanese language,
culture and food. This course was
delivered over 10 weeks and culminated
in a sushi demonstration and tasting.
The students were invited to attend the
official opening of the gardens in June,
thus creating further awareness of the
Tramore education centre.
In preparation for the Promenade
Festival 2015 the programme
coordinators came together to establish
how the education centre could link in
with the festival committee and play
a part in the event. Our aim was to
involve the learners in the weekend
and raise the profile of the centre in
Tramore.
Learners from all the programmes came
together to make bunting and props
as suggested by the festival Artistic
Director, Sean Corcoran, which would be
on display over the weekend. Synergy
was strong in the centre which was a
hive of activity with woodwork, painting
and bunting production occurring in the
run-up to the July weekend.
Preparation of the bunting for the Promenade Festival 2015.
Staff, learners and former learners also
offered their services and volunteered
as festival ambassadors. The
involvement of centre staff and learners
in the preparation for the festival along
with membership of Tramore Chamber
of Tourism and Commerce led to the
centre being included in the brochure.
The significance of this is that 50,000
copies were printed and distributed
throughout WWETB area. Not only will
the centre in Tramore benefit but the
raised profile of the ETB will assist in
creating awareness of the work of the
Further Education Sector. As Tramore
Chamber of Tourism and Commerce is a
new entity a 3D map of the membership
of the chamber has been developed and
Tramore Education Centre is listed and
visible as a service in the town.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The aim going forward is to build
on the work and strengthen the
connections and relationships made
over the last year. Tramore is a town
where the vision for the future is for
development of the town centre and
the tourism product with the support
of Waterford City and County Council.
According to Mary Daniels, Chairperson
of Tramore Chamber of Tourism and
Commerce, “The focus will be on
furthering the tourism product and
advancing economic development for
Tramore. I believe this group represents
the interests of the wider Tramore
community in a better and more
progressive way.”
Tramore Education Centre will continue
to work with the Chamber and its
members along with the Community
Network Forum to promote WWETB as
the lead education provider in the area.
We will continue our programme
planning and work flexibly to ensure we
can respond to initiatives, and provide
the programmes and develop the skills
of our learners, which will allow them
opportunities to attain employment in
Tramore and the surrounding area.
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School Focus:
Portlaoise College
P
ortlaoise College is a coeducational, multi-denominational
and multicultural post-primary
school under the auspices of Laois and
Offaly ETB. The school moved to a new
site on the Mountrath Road in 2006
and has developed significantly since
then. With this new starting point, new
challenges and greater opportunities
were embraced by staff to encourage
students to develop their talents and
assist them to achieve at the highest
level and fully reach their potential.
As a result, the school enrolment has
increased each year with the 2015 1st
year enrolments now in excess of 100
students. This is more than double the
figure for 2009. In 2014, Portlaoise
College had the highest percentage of
students going on to third level of local
Secondary Schools. The college also
has a large Further Education section
that has developed and grown over the
years. The combined school and further
education enrolment for 2015 has now
exceeded 750 students.
Portlaoise College staff focus on
working together, collaboratively and
innovatively. There is a strong focus
on academic achievement and every
effort is made to provide a studentcentred, holistic and inclusive education.
Students are also encouraged to
participate in extracurricular activities
and other projects which help them
to develop personally, socially and
academically. One such project resulted
in the Portlaoise College TY class
handing over a historic collection of
documents to the Local Studies section
of Laois County Council on May 19th
2015. The students took workshops
in archive preservation, handling and
description. They compiled a descriptive
list to accompany the archive, and were
praised by archivist Sinead Holland, who
told the students that their work met the
standards of the National Library and
National Archive of Ireland.
60
The students
have contributed
to local historical
knowledge, since
the documents
relate to the
building of
Portlaoise
Technical School
on Tower Hill. The
introduction to the
Ava Hearns, Amber Dalton, Kerry Carroll Talbot after winning a place
collection and the
in ‘Fighting Words' 2015 along with their teacher Siobhan Holland.
descriptive list will
organise and present findings; writing,
add enormously to the knowledge of the
proof-reading and editing; using a range
history of technical education in Laois.
of strategies and sources to find and
organise information; teamwork.
Handing over the documents will ensure
their preservation, keep them safe and,
Earlier this year, Portlaoise College
most importantly, make them available
TY students Ava Hearns and Kerry
to local people and local historians.
Carroll Talbot, and first-year student
This is the second time in two years that Amber Dalton won a place in this years
‘Fighting Words: Young Irish Writing’
Portlaoise College students completed
which was published as a supplement
a very significant history project. The
of The Irish Times on 29 April 2015. The
TY class of 2014 made a full-length
competition is a national competition
documentary entitled ‘Forgotten Famine
and the standard is very high. Students
People of the Queen’s County, 1945
at the college have been short-listed in
– 1950’. The students researched,
the past, and the school is proud to be
scripted, filmed, and edited the movie.
the only school in the country to have
They also marketed the film locally, and
more than one short story writer and a
submitted it to ‘Creative Engagement’
poet included in this year’s collection.
who sponsored the project. Copies of
the DVD were handed over to Local
All of this progress and involvement in
Studies on the same night.
student-centred activities over the last
number of years in Portlaoise College
Both projects were invaluable in terms
has created a strong platform on
of transferrable skills: gathering,
which the College can continue to grow
evaluating, organising information;
and develop into the future.
using ICT and digital media to access,
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Limerick College
of Further Education (LCFE)
opens door to third-level
for its graduates
P
rogression and transitions
Advanced Certificate Level 6 with LCFE
These discipline areas are set to grow
between the different levels of
may apply for advanced entry straight
under the collaboration agreement.
education in Ireland is a very
into second year for linked programmes.
topical issue at the moment. In April
Currently, LIT learners coming through
This collaboration agreement follows
of this year, LIT (Limerick Institute of
from LCFE are attending a diverse range
from a wider Memorandum of
Technology) and LCFE (Limerick College
of programmes across all disciplines.
Understanding between Limerick and
of Further Education)
Clare Education and
have moved in the further
Training Board (LCETB)
and higher education
and LIT that was signed
transition space by signing
in February this year.
a new and enhanced
Close collaboration
progression agreement
between LCFE and LIT is
which is ground-breaking
the cornerstone of this
and looks very beneficial
wider agreement with
for the learners involved.
LCETB.
LIT already enrols a very
significant number of
Pat Maunsell, Director
learners from LCFE every
of LCFE said: "We very
year based on course links
much welcome this
to each LIT programme.
new agreement with
This number is set to grow
LIT. Our learners will
significantly as LIT and
benefit greatly from the
LCFE have now formalised
enhanced progression
and enhanced their links
this agreement offers.
Front row: Pat Maunsell, Director LCFE, Dr Maria Hinfelaar.
across all programmes
LIT have shown great
Back row: President LIT, Margaret O’Connor, Guidance Counsellor, LCFE,
which will help to create a
leadership here, being
Terry Twomey, Registrar LIT and Ruth Macken, PR Officer, LCFE.
smoother and seamless
the first Institute of
pathway for learners. Such
Technology in the country
"In April of this year, LIT and
pathways will operate through the CAO for
offering seamless progression to Further
LCFE have moved in the further Education learners".
learners entering first year.
Learners who successfully complete
a QQI Certificate Level 5 course with
LCFE and who have applied for a Level
6 or Level 7 programme of study at
LIT through the CAO, will be offered
automatic entry to the LIT programme
based on this collaboration agreement.
Learners who successfully complete an
and higher education transition
space by signing a new and
enhanced progression
agreement which is groundbreaking and looks very beneficial
for the learners involved."
Dr Maria Hinfelaar, President, LIT said:
"I am delighted that we have developed
this agreement with LCFE which is the
foremost Further Education College in
the region. Their learners perform very
well when they progress to LIT and I am
confident that we will welcome many
more of them in future years”.
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Centre Profile:
Portlaoise Further
Education Centre
By Kathleen Dunne, Adult Literacy Organiser
P
ortlaoise Further Education
Centre opened its doors in
September 2013. When the
former Christian Brother secondary
school became available the
opportunity was there to convert it into
a one-stop shop for adult education
with the capacity to meet the needs of
many adult learners. It was refurbished
and redesigned and given a new lease
of life by Laois and Offaly Education
and Training Board.
Ideally located in the centre of
Laois’ main town, Portlaoise Further
Education Centre is home to many adult
education services: Adult Education
Guidance Information Service,
Adult Literacy Service, Community
Education Service, Skills for Work and
Contracted Training. The centre also
runs many evening courses ranging
from hobby courses to QQI Level 5.
Laois Third Level Outreach Centre in
Association with the Institute of Public
Administration offers the Bachelor of
Arts (Honours) Public Management NFQ
Level 8, accredited by UCD on a parttime basis in the centre. In September
2014 we were delighted to welcome
the Organic Horticulture LTI Programme
to the centre.
Returning to education can be a very
daunting experience for some and the
guidance service can often be the first
port of call for many learners. Having
this service located on the first floor
of the centre works extremely well.
It facilitates easy movement for the
learner from their initial guidance
meeting into adult education. In recent
62
Portaloise Further Education centre.
years the number of students being
referred from outside agencies has
also increased and, equally for these
learners, having so many options under
the one roof has made their return to
learning easier.
THE HEART OF THE MATTER
From one-to-one literacy classes and
small group tuition to BTEI funded QQI
Level 4 Employment skills courses the
centre is a hive of activity. Courses are
part-time, ranging from 2 hours a week
to more intensive full-time programmes.
The canteen, which is at the heart of
the centre, is buzzing with chat and
laughter. People from all nationalities
and educational levels mix freely
together in a relaxed atmosphere.
The evening classes moved from
Portlaoise College in September 2014
adding another dimension to the Adult
Education Centre. In the evening you
can hear the strumming of guitars,
utterings of ‘Hola, cómo estás’,
movements from the Yoga and Pilates
groups and the tapping of keyboards.
The centre is busy with many groups
availing of literacy, QQI accredited
courses, Junior and Leaving Certificate
English, Skills for Work courses and
third-level degree programmes.
LEAPS AND STRIDES
From its infancy in September 2013,
fast forward almost two years and
the centre has increased its capacity
immensely and become a thriving
educational establishment right in the
heart of the busiest town in Laois.
One of our learners, Maura Brophy,
has summed up her experience of the
centre to date: ‘I enjoy it, you feel like
you’re not the only one going back
to education. You’re meeting other
adults that are in the same boat. I look
forward to going every week”.
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Summer Schools Initiative
in Donegal ETB
Participants and Tutors on the English Language Summer Schools, Letterkenny.
D
onegal has a strong tradition
of summer schools with the
village of Glenties having just
celebrated the 35th Magill Summer
School. This year Donegal ETB’s
Adult and Further Education and
Training Service decided to follow this
example by organising its own series
of Summer Schools for adult learners.
The Schools were held from 6th-30th
July and were centered around English
Language learning, General Learning
and Information and Communications
Technology. Classes were combined
with cultural activities such as visits
to the theatre and cinema, Glenveagh
National Park and Dunfanaghy
Workhouse. These provided adults
with an opportunity to build oral, aural,
written and IT skills. The combination
of activities and lessons has attracted
over 100 participants in nine groups in
Inishowen, Letterkenny, Finn Valley and
Donegal town. Key to the success of
the programmes was the provision of
crèche facilities for parents taking part.
While the media focused on Magill and
Glenties, adult learners across Donegal
engaged in a four-week programme
of learning and activities which will
hopefully give them a solid foundation
for engaging in further education
programmes in the autumn.
Do any of the teachers in your school have
registration conditions which are about to expire?
A number of teachers have conditions attached to their Teaching Council registrations which are due to expire on 31 December 2015.
The Council is making ongoing efforts to engage directly with the teachers concerned. It is of vital importance that all teachers in this
group make contact with the Council immediately. Many teachers employed by the ETB are in state-funded positions where registration
with the Teaching Council is a requirement. If these teachers do not fulfil their conditions by 31 December, and if they have not
engaged with the Council in the interim, their registration will lapse and the payment of their salary will be stopped. There may be
a number of reasons why a condition has not been addressed, and in some cases it may be that the condition has been addressed
but the Council has not been informed. Teachers within this group should notify the Council if the condition has been addressed, or
of any genuine reasons why a condition has not been met (e.g., maternity leave, career breaks, unemployment). If you are a teacher
or employ a teacher with conditions due to expire on 31 December 2015, it is very important that contact is made with the Council to
discuss the available options. The lapsing of the registration of any teacher could have a serious impact on both the teacher and the
school. The Teaching Council can be contacted by calling 01 651 7900 or emailing conditions@teachingcouncil.ie
SECTION 2 | NEWS  AUTUMN 2015  ETBI
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Galway City Youthreach leads way
in Innovative Instructional
Leadership Programme
T
hree teachers
From Galway City
Youthreach were
among the latest Cohort
to graduate from ETBI’s
Instructional Leadership
Programme. The teachers
were part of Cohort 5 and
undertook the programme
following their colleagues’
successful completion last
September.
Galway City Youthreach
staff are among the first
in the countr y to graduate
among the 600 teachers
who have engaged
with the Instructional
Leadership Programme
since its inception in 2008,
representing 185 PostPrimar y Schools and 29
Youthreach and Further
Education centres.
Pictured are: Mary Reardon, Pat Gilmore (Chair of GRETB
and President of ETBI), Marie Cronin and Jaki Mitchell.
Sod Turning Ceremony at Comeragh
College, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary
C
omeragh College, Carrick-onSuir was the place to be on
June 19th last as Minister Alan
Kelly “turned the sod” on the site of
the new school campus. Construction
work began on in January 2015 and the
completion date for this multi-million
project is early March 2016.
Tipperary ETB Chief Executive, Ms
Fionnuala McGeever outlined the work
that went into securing the new school
and thanked all concerned for their
input. The entire school community
is eagerly awaiting the move to the
lavish new campus, which boasts every
facility possible, resting on a 16-acre
landscaped site.
In a town like Carrick-on-Suir which is
steeped in sporting history, it is only
fitting that the new school will have
all the necessary equipment and
provisions, including; full size sports
64
(L-R) Kevin Langton (Principal), Cllr. Eddie O'Meara, Cllr. John Hogan (Chairperson, Tipperary
ETB), Fionuala McGeever (Chief Executive, Tipperary ETB), Minister Alan Kelly “turning the sod”,
Senator Denis Landy, Cllr. Kieran Bourke (School Board of Management Member, Tipperary ETB
Member), Derek O'Connor (BAM), Cllr. David Dunne (School Board of Management Member,
Tipperary ETB Member).
hall, completely equipped gym, 5 ball
courts and a GAA pitch.
The full range of academic provision will be
more than catered for in terms of facilities
with numerous specialist rooms, multimedia labs, technology rooms, music room,
art room, etc. Wide corridors, generously
sized general purpose areas, and ample
provision for student lockers are just some
of the additional features of the building.
Outside the school building, students will
have the luxury of walkways and external
gym equipment. Roll on March 2016!
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Education and Training Boards (ETBs) in Ireland
Donegal
Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim
Cavan and
Monaghan
Louth and Meath
Longford and
Westmeath
Co Dublin and
Dun Laoghaire
Galway and Roscommon
City of Dublin
Laois and
Offaly
ETBI
Kildare and
Wicklow
Limerick and Clare
Kilkenny and
Carlow
Tipperary
Waterford and Wexford
Kerry
Cork
Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI)
Piper’s Hill
Kilcullen Road
Naas
Co Kildare
Ireland
ETBI Cover Autumn15 .indd 2
Phone: +353 (0)45 901 070
Fax: +353 (0)45 901 711
Email: info@etbi.ie
www.etbi.ie
etbireland
etbireland
03/09/2015 14:21