Ms Susanne Rogers:

From other organisations we link in with across the adult and community education space, we know there is incredible work being done. Ms O'Brien hit on a key point. This is not about bringing everybody up to PhD level or making sure everybody is educated to third level; this is about bringing people to their maximum level and allowing them to go at their pace to the place they need to be. I see great work across the sector concerning the conversation around being an adult and acknowledging that a lack of literacy and numeracy skills gets in the way of being able to engage with the community and in certain processes. There is less and less shame and stigma attached to reaching out for help, which is massively important. It is not a big deal to go back to a night class or go back to do the leaving certificate. There are community-friendly supports. Meeting people where they are in their communities is key. I see great work being done in that space. Hopefully, fewer people will fall out of the education system in the next ten, 20 or 30 years. We are trying to keep young people in education to leaving certificate level or move them on through apprenticeships and stuff like that. I see the challenges in my school community with kids who just want to be gone and can probably pick up a little job somewhere, which is fine at 17 but at 57 is a whole different conversation. There is good work being done on recognising the skill sets we need are shifting and on meeting people's needs now for the digital transition.