Ms Roisin Doherty:

On behalf of SOLAS, I thank the Chair and committee members for the opportunity to speak about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, at a local level and on employment.

SOLAS is Ireland's state agency responsible for further education and training. Our vision is to power the potential of individuals, communities and enterprise through lifelong learning and workforce transformation. Transforming Learning, the national further education strategy for 2020 to 2024, sets out an ambitious vision for further education based on three strategic pillars, namely, building skills, fostering inclusion and facilitating pathways. Easier access, simplified pathways, consistent learner experience and a stronger identity are all key themes of the strategy.

The learner base of further education saw growth by some 17% between 2022 and 2023. Indeed, one in ten adults in Ireland was engaged in further education activity last year, including apprenticeships, our construction skills certification schemes and other further education courses. Working with the 16 education and training boards, ETBs, across the country, further education is available in every community in Ireland and offers individuals, regardless of any previous level of education, a pathway to take them as far as they want to go.

The further education sector is committed to supporting the development of equal opportunities for people with disabilities in employment by providing high-quality, more inclusive and flexible education and training programmes and supports tailored to meet the needs of persons with disabilities. To ensure this commitment is met, the further education sector aligns to a range of inclusion strategies, national and international, which seek to progress towards a learner-centred approach. As fostering inclusion of learners is a key pillar of the further education strategy for 2020 to 2024, the actions taken by the sector are shaped by these strategies.

I will turn to disability supports in further education. The further education sector welcomes all learners and students, including persons with disabilities who choose to avail of specific disability supports. Disability supports are available to participants in all further education programmes. Funding for these programmes is disbursed under the general individual programme and learner support headings. Within further education, a broad range of supports is provided through the education and training boards to support the participation of all learners, including those with disabilities. The provision includes both accredited and unaccredited courses.

As well as universally designed supports, persons with disabilities can choose to avail of individualised supports. A few examples are additional one-to-one support, where necessary; adaptive technologies, such as screen-reading software; the provision of a reader or interpreter service; the provision of a reader or scribe or extra time during examinations; the provision of preferred learning-style identification and learning to learn programmes; and the adult education guidance and information service.

I will move on to universal design for learning. To meet the needs of all learners through an inclusive approach, the principles of universal design have been embedded across all further education provision. Universal design for learning principles and practices can help practitioners to support learning variability and reduce barriers to learning by building flexibility, accessibility, the learner voice and choice into the fabric of the learning interactions they design. Applying universal design principles means offering multiple ways of engagement, representation, action and expression, providing necessary accommodations to remove obstacles to learning and providing, where required, one-to-one support and assistive technologies to support differentiated Learning. To support the roll-out of best practices at the local level, SOLAS, with partner organisations AHEAD and Education and Training Boards Ireland, ETBI, has published sectoral guidelines to support the implementation of universal design for learning for further education practitioners.

Turning to specialist training provision, specific further education programmes are provided for persons with a disability who wish to avail of more intensive support through specialist training providers, STPs.

A budget of €43 million is provided to education and training boards to provide specialist training across the country. More than 3,000 learners can avail of this intensive support. In 2023, over €36 million was allocated to education and training boards to provide a host of supports, including guidance, an education disadvantage fund, a specific fund for post-leaving certificate provision for persons with disabilities, psychological support, and a general allocation "learner support" fund for all learners across further education provision. Learners can also avail of one-to-one teaching on courses such as literacy, numeracy and digital skills. Other courses delivered at levels 1 to 3 on the national framework of qualifications have small class sizes of one to three learners. There are a range of courses to support those transitioning from school prior to transition year. They have team teaching and dedicated teachers for groups of 12. Many courses at levels 5 and 6 on the framework of qualifications incorporate work placements.

I will provide a few examples of supports. SOLAS and Down Syndrome Ireland have collaborated on producing a short video on the many options that further education provides for adults with Down's syndrome. A host of new courses specifically designed to support persons with Down's syndrome are now available, for example, the work skills programme in Galway and Roscommon ETB, personal development courses in City of Dublin ETB, learning through gardening in Kerry ETB, culinary operations in Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim ETB, and communication courses across all ETBs.

SOLAS is a member of the Department of Education's post-primary students transition development national steering group. The group's work focuses on planning transitions into post-school life for young persons with disabilities. This is an action under the comprehensive employment strategy. Local ETBs are members of the Dublin and Galway local transitions development and implementation groups. These groups focus on local planning transition options into post-school life for young people with disabilities. The groups are working closely with all local stakeholders to identify transition options for students with disabilities.

SOLAS launched guidelines for supporting persons with intellectual disabilities in adult literacy services in partnership with NALA and ETBI. Case studies and a background research report were published by SOLAS to support this. There has also been the launch of good practice case studies on inclusive assessment practice.

AHEAD, through SOLAS’s support, has released two new online courses for FET practitioners on its ARK platform. One is on getting started with universal design for learning and the other is on designing course layouts. ARK, which stands for “accessibility resources and know-how”, aims to improve access and support for people with disabilities in further education. It focuses on digital accessibility resources that FET practitioners can access to support their learners. Supported by SOLAS, AHEAD has also created a resource that aims to raise awareness about assistive technologies and guide people through a wide range of the ones available.

This year, SOLAS has supported the Dyslexia Association of Ireland in developing a new adult dyslexia information booklet and expanding the adult dyslexia hub with additional video resources. This work will include further levels of the structured literacy programme, which is a free literacy learning programme based on the science of reading. In addition, videos on strategies and assistive technologies to support functional literacy in further education and workplace settings will be developed.

Through support from SOLAS, the Irish Deaf Society will offer courses to deaf adults and provide Irish Sign Language courses to more than 700 persons this year.

Further education continues to play a critical role in fostering inclusion and providing access to education for those under-represented in further education and training. SOLAS will continue working with key stakeholders across the FET sector to ensure that further education and training provides inclusive learning environments.

I hope this has provided a brief overview of SOLAS's role in supporting persons with disabilities in employment. I thank the committee for its time and look forward to further discussion.