Dr. Seamus McGuinness:

The major gap in educational attainment in two areas is that they are in the further education system but there just is not enough provision in the North, and in the early school leaving components two obvious things need to happen. There needs to be more provision within the FE sector. As regards an all-island approach, we have evaluated the post-leaving certificate programme, which is Ireland's major vehicle for post-secondary education. It has been found to have very positive outcomes for employment and in ultimate transitions to third level, particularly for children from lower income families. It is a very important vehicle in ensuring that people stay on in education. I think the problem with the Northern Ireland FE system is that there is a lack of provision, there are not the number of places and there is a scattergun as to what courses are available. Everyone here knows about the PLCs. The system also has lower status, I would say. There is an issue with FE having lower status to HE generally, but I think the gap is bigger in the North.