Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. Members of the committee have been circulated with the information note prepared by the Department on the agenda for the next Council of Education Ministers meeting on 25 November 2013. I will represent Ireland at the Council meeting, the only one being held under the Lithuanian Presidency.

The Council, which is part of the education, youth culture and sports configuration, is normally held three times per year, with Ministers for each of the areas other than education attending for their respective segments.

At the meeting Ministers will adopt two sets of Council conclusions on the topics of, first, effective leadership in education and, second, the global dimension of European higher education. The incoming Greek Presidency of the EU will also update the Council on its plans in the area of education and training for its Presidency in the first half of next year. The meeting will close with the policy debate on open educational resources and digital learning.

I would like to provide some context as to the overall architecture of EU co-operation in education and training. The intent of all texts is to progress the overall agenda set by the EU 2020 strategy for growth and development agreed by the European Council Heads of State and Government in June 2010. They will also progress the agenda of Education and Training 2020, referred to as ET2020, which is the strategic framework for European co-operation in education and training up to 2020 agreed by Ministers for Education in May 2009. The education committee, which is the working group of officials who prepare the agenda for the Council, has negotiated and agreed the content of these texts. The Department's officials present have actively contributed to this process.

Following on from Ireland's successful Presidency in the area of education and training, where we succeeded in reaching agreement between the member states, the European Parliament and the European Commission on what is now known as Erasmus+, the European Union's new Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport 2014-2020, I am delighted to see that the current Lithuanian Presidency is continuing an initiative we introduced in regard to policy debates which we found worked very well. This involves the continuing use of the inner table of the Council chamber to facilitate more open debate, inviting two external experts to participate in the policy debate and requesting delegations to contribute to a free-flowing, unscripted debate accompanied by limited speaking time for each intervention. By way of illustration, members should imagine a configuration approximately ten times the size of this room where the Ministers alone sit in the inner circle without two or three officials on either side. The debate is much more about face contact and eye-to-eye engagement. There is greater engagement because people are making speeches, one cannot see the person at the far end of the room and when the speech is made, they leave. It reintroduces a sense of discussion and dialogue similar to the physical spatial relationship we have in this room.

I will provide more detailed information on each of the agenda items for discussion. The Council conclusions on effective leadership in education proposed for agreement by the Lithuanian Presidency are a response to proposals within the European Commission's Rethinking Education communication in which member states were invited to revise and strengthen the professional profile of the teaching professions, including school leaders. Member states were asked to enhance support to educational leaders, make educational leadership more attractive and promote innovative approaches to effective educational leadership. The Commission and member states are jointly asked to promote co-operation and innovation in educational leadership, make best use of EU programmes, support educational leadership and strengthen support for national and regional networks of stakeholders dealing with that leadership.

Ireland supported the conclusions and updated the education committee on developments in the area in Ireland, most notably the work of networks of school principals and deputy principals in Ireland, known as NAPD, the Irish Primary Principals' Network, and the range of professional development programmes for school leaders provided by the professional development service for teachers, PDST, within the Department. These are as follows: Misneach is a programme of induction for newly appointed principals; Spreagach is for principals or deputy principals delivered in collaboration with the NAPD and designed primarily for school leaders who have not had the opportunity to engage in a structured CPD programme; Forbairt is a capacity building programme for experienced school leaders; Toraoícht is a postgraduate diploma in educational leadership; and Tánaiste is an induction programme for recently appointed deputy principals and acting principals. There are more than 1,100 participants in these programmes annually. The programmes are delivered by a combination of serving principals who are either associates or local facilitators and retired principals and deputy principals.

Ministers will adopt Council conclusions on the global dimension of European higher education. The conclusions are a response to the recent Commission communication, entitled European higher education in the world, and take note of the recent Commission communication, entitled Opening up Education: innovative teaching and learning for all through new technologies and open educational resources. The conclusions ask member states and the Commission to take a number of actions to increase internationalisation among staff and students of member states' higher education institutions.

Member states are specifically asked to pursue comprehensive strategic approaches towards internationalisation; promote international degree and credit mobility for students and mobility of staff; promote digital learning; and promote the creation of partnerships among institutions as a means of reinforcing institutional capacity in education. The Commission is asked, first, to support members states' efforts through their programmes such as Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020; second, to promote the attractiveness and the diversity of European higher education institutions; and third, to promote higher education co-operation and development between the EU and its global partners.

Ireland is very active in this area, and at working group meetings in Brussels, officials from the Department provided information on Ireland's international education strategy, entitled Investing in Global Relationships: Ireland's International Education Strategy 2010-15. This strategy is being reviewed, the outcome of which will be a revised Government action plan for the promotion of international education.

As the Chairman will be aware, international education is an issue I have prioritised during my time as Minister. A global economy such as ours requires an internationally oriented education system which benefits both Irish and international learners. In the past year I have visited China and Brazil, leading missions to promote Ireland as a centre of international education. We are making significant progress in these and other markets. Brazil is a major success story for Ireland and more than 1,200 Brazilian students are in Ireland on Brazilian Government scholarships under its Science Without Borders programme. Last week we also got positive news from the United States where we have seen a 9% growth in American students coming to Ireland to study in this year. It is vital we build on this momentum, and that is the motivating force behind the review the Department is undertaking.

The Greek Minister for Education will deliver a presentation on the priorities of the upcoming Greek Presidency of the EU in education and training. Greece has not yet finalised its programme but it has indicated that it expects to focus on quality assurance, social cohesion and innovative education, with Council conclusions on innovative higher education and on quality assurance at all levels of education and teacher training.

It is customary for the ministerial debate to take place as the last item on the agenda. My Lithuanian counterpart, Minister Dainius Pavalkis, has informed us that discussion will continue through lunch as well. The debate will build on the European Commission's recent communication, entitled On Opening up Education: Innovative teaching and learning for all through new Technologies and Open Educational Resources. It is an opportunity for us, as Ministers for Education, to consider the challenges and opportunities posed by digital distance learning tools such as open educational resources and massive open online courses known as MOOCs. This is an important issue as it is considered that the EU is in danger of falling behind other regions of the world in this regard.

The Lithuanian Presidency has invited two external experts to introduce and respond to the debate. This is in line with a format we introduced during Ireland's Presidency. The first is a man called Uschi Schreiber, a global government and public sector leader with the international consultancy firm Ernst & Young. The second is Professor Giovanni Azzone, rector of the Politecnico di Milano in Italy. This illustrates the cross-sectoral nature of the debate. We will be joined also by Commissioner Vice President Neelie Kroes, responsible for the digital agenda for Europe, and the Commissioner for education, training and youth, Androulla Vassiliou, will participate.

As Ministers we will be invited to outline the overall approach being adopted at national level towards open educational resources and, in particular, to share ideas on how issues such as quality assessment and the recognition of competences acquired by these means may be addressed. Ministers will also be invited to indicate how action at EU level might provide added value in this process.

To encourage an interactive and free-flowing debate, Ministers are asked to make unscripted interventions and to speak for no longer than two minutes during each intervention. This was the approach I initiated when I chaired the Education Council in February of this year.

It resulted in some very open, informative and free-flowing discussion. I was pleased to note that several of my Irish ministerial colleagues emulated this practice at Council meetings held during Ireland's Presidency.

As stated, the Presidency intends that the debate will continue over lunch and a Norwegian minister - obviously, Norway is not part of the European Union but it is part of the extended European family - has been invited to contribute another perspective at that stage. I look forward to a productive meeting of the Council of Education Ministers. I am happy to answer any questions which members may wish to pose.