Mr. Philip Sheridan:

This is a perfect time to answer some of the questions. Some of them are interconnected. I want to talk about the branding of vocational education training. There is a fear we must focus on, and streaming from that is its attractiveness and value. I referred in my presentation to the European Commission talking to people in Ireland about how it is valued. While a high percentage of people agreed, only 10% said they would recommend it. Members said that parents are the most influential people in terms of what young people will do in future and that is absolutely right. The second most important people are career guidance staff within schools as well as teachers. Research shows that we need to engage with young people earlier at approximately 13 years of age and in secondary school.

Research tells us that is what children want, as they are much more informed these days. We could umbrella that approach as going downstream into the problem, going to the root cause of some of the issues, particularly on the branding side and what further education can do for people. It is matching people with careers and professions at the earliest opportunity, not at the upper stream when it is almost too late for them to make decisions. I personally experienced this when I was teaching at third level, apprenticeship level and post leaving certificate level. Sometimes one would encounter this mismatch where young people ended up in the wrong place doing the wrong thing, which is very inefficient for the State.

We have a very strong apprenticeship model. It has its strengths but also its weaknesses. One of its main strengths is its duality where it combines workplace learning with further education. It is competency-based training which is the best way to learn skills and knowledge. The supports built into the institutes of technology, SOLAS, An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna, and ETBI, Education and Training Boards Ireland, as well as investments in particular industries have been significant.

Some of the weaknesses relate to extending into new sectors and the duration of apprenticeships. It must be remembered one size does not fit all. For example, an aircraft technician and a plasterer are on completely different ends of the scale but the apprenticeships for them last the same time. If some of them were speeded up, costs would be reduced and the delivery would be speeded up for employers.

Collaboration between QQI, Quality and Qualifications Ireland, SOLAS and ETBI is very strong. It has improved dramatically over the past several years. We engage at regular intervals with the teams represented here today. Collaboration on the employer side, however, needs to be improved and become stronger, a point referred to earlier by several speakers. If that is achieved, it will have the end result of getting people into employment after training and developing qualifications. City & Guilds believes we can support such development. We have been in existence for over 130 years and have been involved in qualification development in the UK for some time. Rather than recreating the wheel, we believe we can use particular qualifications from the UK and transfer them here, adjust them to local needs and deploy them. This will bring efficiency and speed. We operate in 81 countries and would like to offer our experience in other markets to Ireland’s. We have over 12,000 qualifications on our system which goes from higher levels right down to entry level which is not on any framework, making it ideal for community practice implications.

Our plan is to support the Irish mechanism in the best way we can, bringing our experience and efficiencies to the table and participate as a provider in the system. Early intervention is important, as I said earlier.