Mr. Des Murphy:

Education and Training Boards Ireland welcomes the opportunity to present its observations on the development of apprenticeships and traineeships. As the representative body for Ireland's 16 education and training boards which are the main providers of further education and training and developing interesting apprenticeships, our view is based on many years of experience and operations in the sector. I will outline our views for the committee.

In line with the national skills strategy 2025, the action plan to expand apprenticeship and traineeship and the current programme for Government aim to significantly grow work-based learning in the next five years using apprenticeship and traineeship modes of learning and skills development, the programmes formally combine alternate company-based training with centre or college-based education and training and lead to nationally recognised qualifications on successful completion. There is considerable stakeholder agreement in Ireland and throughout Europe on the benefits to society of an effective work-based learning model of training directly linked with enterprise or industry. The quality of apprenticeships is important. It is important to ensure the provision of apprentices with high levels of skills continues to be a top priority as the range of apprenticeships and traineeships grows and expands. Currently, our apprenticeship system is recognised as a world leader. It is important not to lose sight of this as we try to roll it out further.

It is critical for the future of skill-based training in Ireland to retain the work-based learning element of the current system. This will require investment in the development and maintenance of the infrastructure to ensure the quality involvement of employers in the process. There will be a need to transfer resources to support the expansion of apprenticeships and traineeships. It is essential that this reform is not seen as a means of cutting costs.

We have identified that progression routes are key. Those entering an apprenticeship or traineeship should be able to see, at whatever level they enter, exactly how they may progress to higher education. This will require close collaboration between the higher education and further education and training sectors. With the representatives of the institutes of technology, the Technological Higher Education Association and the ETBI are working to put together a policy. We also need to build progression and transfer routes between traineeships and apprenticeships. Ultimately, graduates of any education and training programme should have clear routes to higher levels in the qualifications framework without having to retrace their steps. This is critical if we are to convince the parents of Ireland and career guidance teachers that this is an alternative route that does not have stops or blockages.

Attracting, incentivising and supporting employers are all important. If Ireland is to achieve its goal of expanding the range of apprenticeships and the number of young people opting for apprenticeships, it must attract more employers, in particular, small and medium-sized enterprises, that may never have been involved in apprenticeships. Crucial supports to incentivise and support employers should include a coherent programme to promote the benefits of apprenticeships to employers, as well as incentives for employers, SMEs, in particular, to encourage involvement in apprenticeships. The potential use of the national training fund should be looked at. Start-up kits and information and administrative toolkits for prospective hosts of apprentices are important. A service to facilitate the matching of aspiring apprentices with those seeking to host apprentices is critical. Some who may not come from a craft background may not know the rules. Currently, an apprentice needs a sponsor or an employer in order to be taken on. Establishing quality frameworks and professional development opportunities for those who provide on-the-job support and training for apprentices is important. In parallel, there is an urgent need to improve career guidance for apprenticeships and traineeships. We need to amend the eligibility requirements for traineeships, in particular. The lifting of the current restrictions to allow young people under the age of 25 years who have left formal education for more than four months to take up traineeships and qualify for a training allowance would be a practical way for the State to meet its obligations under the Youth Guarantee scheme, while providing opportunities for these young people to become skilled and gain sustainable employment. Currently, qualification is based on ability or whether a person is in receipt of a Department of Social Protection allowance, regardless of whether he or she receives a payment.

Raising the minimum entry standards for apprenticeships is another option that we believe would raise the status of apprenticeships. It may also be expected to raise the standards of those who complete their apprenticeships successfully. We need alternative routes to apprenticeship for those who do not thrive in the senior cycle. A two-year pre-apprenticeship programme based on the apprenticeship model should be put in place. Those who successfully complete this programme would qualify for entry to a full apprenticeship programme. There is also the potential for early school leavers to undertake a traineeship in an area suited to their aptitudes and aspirations. On successful completion, the potential to progress to a related apprenticeship should be provided for. There also appears to be real potential for accelerated transfers between traineeships and apprenticeships, especially in the construction industry, and for many other proposed new apprenticeships. We are keen for the models to complement one another rather than replacing apprenticeships or crafts by traineeships.

ETBI believes education and training boards have the potential, if appropriately resourced, to play a leading role in the provision of cost-effective off-the-job training for apprentices and trainees across a wide range of career areas and in the communities where the apprentices and trainees reside in every parish and town in Ireland. However, resourcing the further education and training sector appropriately, especially in the areas of recruitment and retention of suitably qualified staff and access to state-of-the-art training facilities and equipment, is crucial if the sector is to support work-based learning in 21st century industry and commerce.

ETBs can provide pre-apprenticeship programmes, traineeships and apprenticeship programmes on a nationwide basis in their schools, colleges and centres of education, which are located in nearly every Irish community, so trainees and apprentices could receive their off-the-job training locally. This goes back to the tradition of the VECs when they were set up.

ETBs could expand their already existing capacity to oversee and quality-assure the on-the-job phases of new training initiatives as they come on-stream. It should be possible to generate economic synergies between the existing FET and institute of technology programmes and an expanded apprenticeship programme: the potential savings to the trainees or apprentices, their families and the State through the provision of off-the-job training programmes in local centres; the possible use of IoT teaching and training facilities for the provision of off-the-job training at times when these facilities are not being used for third-level students; the possible use of ETB schools and centres to provide off-the-job education and training at times when these facilities are not being used for mainstream education purposes; the possible redeployment of some staff currently delivering FET and third-level programmes to provide off-the-job training to apprentices; potential for up-skilling some ETB staff to support enterprises involved in apprenticeship or traineeship programmes; and savings due to the reduction in welfare payments currently made to young people should be diverted to support traineeship and apprenticeship training.

It should be possible to harvest other synergies between mainstream education and training and the reformed apprenticeship and traineeship programmes.

A significant proportion of future jobs will be neither particularly high-tech, nor towards the top end of the occupational ladder but all jobs, at all levels, will require increasingly higher levels of knowledge, skill and competences. The big skills challenge for Ireland will be in the provision of low and medium skills and qualifications – in further education and training, where an effective work-based learning model can play a vital role. I believe we can answer this call.