Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question and his ongoing interest in Cork Life Centre. The centre, in Sunday's Well, caters for young people who have encountered challenges in completing mainstream education. The centre is one of a number of such alternative education providers nationally.

The Department of Education has provided funding to Cork Life Centre for the last number of years, with that support increasing significantly since 2018. In 2022 the Department will provide funding of €177,500, as well as 6,000 co-operation hours, in conjunction with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

In June of last year, as the Deputy alluded to, I was fortunate enough to visit the centre and had the opportunity to meet young people who attend the centre, their parents and guardians, staff from the centre and the management of the centre. I concur with the Deputy that I was truly impressed and grateful to have the opportunity to engage, particularly to engage directly with the centre's young people, to listen to them and to hear from them about their experience of Cork Life Centre. It really was a positive engagement from their point of view.

During that meeting, the centre raised the issues of security of employment for their staff and terms and conditions, including payment rates for the centre's teaching staff. Staff employed in Cork Life Centre, under the co-operation hours arrangements by Cork Education and Training Board, are employed under terms and conditions, including pay scales, in line with arrangements which apply to settings outside the recognised school system. It is generally not unusual that tutors may hold qualifications that entitle them to recognised teacher status or registration with the Teaching Council, but payment rates and terms and conditions are generally dependent on the setting or sector in which a person is employed.

A commitment was given to examine the circumstances around the payment of teachers at Cork Life Centre. I am committed to honouring that agreement through the Review of Out-of-School Education Provision. That review was carried out by a working group comprising representatives of stakeholders, including the Department of Education, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Tusla, SOLAS, Education and Training Boards Ireland and the National Educational Psychological Service.

The report on the review was published in May 2022. The review finds that out-of-school education settings are providing an important role in maintaining contact with education and supporting well-being for a key cohort of learners who have encountered challenges in mainstream settings through adopting a holistic approach based around the individual. However, approaches to the education curriculum, certification and education pathways for students are highly dependent on what can be provided for in each setting.

Cork Life Centre is seeking sustainability for the future, which is what the Review of Out-of-School Education Provision aims to provide for the entire sector as a whole.

It is intended that implementation of the report's recommendations will include developing criteria for structures, governance and level of education provision, including scoping out costs associated with such settings providing education for students who have encountered difficulties completing mainstream education.

The work on the implementation is ongoing at present and is up and running. I confirm that to the House.

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