Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We welcome key aspects of the Bill which seeks to regulate the English language school sector which, as we all know, has been manipulated by rogue English language schools to exploit students and employees. The sudden closure last December of Grafton College in Portobello provided the most recent example of how much regulation is needed in this sector for workers. Twenty-three teachers were left abandoned by their employer, empty handed without their wages and with no chance of financial compensation.

The Bill provides an opportunity to address the lack of regulation of English language schools and the problems created by that absence. Teachers and students need certainty and protection while working or studying. While we welcome the principle behind the Bill, prior to it being amended there was a distinct lack of focus on regulating employment practices in the sector. We are happy this has been noted and that the relevant amendments have been accepted to strengthen the Bill.

We know that the sector is characterised by low pay, precarious employment and often a complete disregard for workers’ rights. We are also aware that fixed term contracts are frequently abused by employers. Teachers have been regularly released from their contract prior to Christmas and rehired in January in order that the payment of holiday pay can be avoided. Zero hour contracts are common place, as well as bogus self-employment. Even though all of this is a flagrant abuse of power, workers are reluctant to take a case to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, out the fear that once their contract expires it will not be renewed. That is the reason minimum employment standards for teachers must be a key pillar of any code of practice which employers should have to meet to be awarded an international employment mark, IEM. The introduction of the international education mark which should ensure high standards will be maintained in English language schools for both students and employees and that the schools will be compliant with employment law is a progressive step.

The requirement that providers that are seeking to adopt the IEM must adhere to a code of practice related to HR policies and procedures for the recruitment, training, employment and continuous professional development of teachers in the English language education sector is also very much to be welcomed. This type of regulation is necessary to deter bogus schools from setting up and closing in a matter of weeks or months with no consequences.

Since it was introduced, a lot of work has been done by Senators to strengthen it to ensure employment standards feature as a core component of the Bill. Its absence was one of our main concerns. Obviously, the onus is on employers to sign up to the proposed agreement in order to achieve the international education mark. The positive to be taken from this is that any employer who refuses to do so will be exposed. Any English language school that does not agree to adhere to these employment standards will be shown to be potentially unreliable or untrustworthy and, accordingly, students and teachers will be able to choose the schools in which they want to study or work. It should ensure rogue employers masquerading as legitimate schools will be shown for what they really are.

Ireland has always been a hub for English language teaching and historically has had an excellent record and reputation abroad. Unfortunately, school closures, including like that of Grafton College in Portobello, have damaged them. I hope this legislation will help us to regain the standards for which we were once known and eliminate the potential for abuse of the language sector by individuals driven by profit through the exploitation of staff and students. There should be a focus on marketing the sector in a renewed way once legislation is passed. This is a valuable sector that brings thousands of students to Ireland and contributes to the economy on a yearly basis. The international education mark could essentially act as a marketing tool when schools advertise their courses abroad and raise the reputation and standards of the whole sector.

In order to allow solid and serious regulation of the sector to take place and be consistent, consultation needs to continue with the appropriate stakeholders. Significant work has been carried out for years by the Unite trade union and in playing an important role in strengthening sections of the Bill in the interests of workers in the sector. It is vital that the Department continue to consult and discuss during the implementation and ongoing governance of the Bill to ensure workers’ rights are maintained to the best standards.

We welcome the provision in the Bill that will enable Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, to address the issue of academic cheating. The Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill creates an offence of advertising or providing essay mills services and other forms of cheating such as sitting an examination for a candidate. This is absolutely necessary and we support that provision.

Following the Bill’s passage through the Seanad, it was amended to empower QQI to assess the compliance of providers with employment law, to withdraw authorisation for use of the IEM where such non-compliance is found and to establish a pathway for higher education institutions, the primary source of income of which is not funding from the Exchequer such as the RCSI to access and use the title of “university”. We understand the thinking and rationale behind the Bill in providing for a new mechanism for higher education institutions to apply for university designation. Higher education institutions that meet particular eligibility criteria such as having statutory degree awarding powers and which have established a reputation for excellence should be eligible to apply for university status, given their contributions to the education sector. However, we, in Sinn Féin, have serious concerns about a specific institution which has been tipped as a prime example for this consideration.

Sinn Féin recognises the important work of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland which it applauds for the service it has provided in training surgeons who work in hospitals, as well as students spread all across the world. However, it is widely known that it has a campus in Bahrain where widespread human rights abuses have taken place in hospitals in which RCSI students receive training. Ceartas: Irish Lawyers for Human Rights has called on the Irish Medical Council not to approve the RCSI’s Bahrain campus for accreditation because of these widespread abuses carried out by the autocratic and sectarian regime that rules in Bahrain. Many former students of RCSI Bahrain have been arrested, tortured and imprisoned because they treated victims of the regime’s security services. They operated as medics under the hippocratic oath in attempting simply to save lives, but they were victimised for it by the regime and have suffered and continue to suffer brutal consequences. The RCSI has refused to condemn the regime for this or recognise what is happening. Ceartas has plainly stated RCSI Bahrain has "an education programme integrated with health systems connected to torture, discriminatory conduct in the provision of healthcare and employment of medical staff, and consistent violation of the rights to freedom of expression." We are deeply concerned about the RCSI’s connection to this brutal regime and that a proposed name change would grant legitimacy to the RCSI's campus in Bahrain. Given this stance, we could not support the proposed amendment tabled by the Labour Party and Fine Gael in the Seanad that would have ultimately led to recognising the RCSI as a university. I take the opportunity to call once again on the RCSI to make a public statement to distance itself from the Bahraini regime and condemn the actions of the Bahraini state. My colleague Senator Paul Gavan raised this concern on Committee Stage in the Seanad and we will be tabling an amendment to address the issue on Committee Stage in the Dáil.

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