Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is my understanding that SOLAS put out a request for proposals regarding apprenticeships. Of all the submissions that came in, the further education sectors accounted for just 14%. The third level sector made up the majority and the private sector also submitted a significant number. I spoke to principals at the meeting to which I referred who told me they were never consulted on the matter. There is something terribly wrong if SOLAS is looking for ideas but neglecting to consult the people at the coalface. The Minister of State and I might discuss this issue at another time. My time will be up if I do not move on.

During my trip to Finland, I visited a further education college outside Helsinki which has 11,000 students, 900 teachers and a budget of €71.9 million per annum. That is further education as we all would like to see it. While I realise we cannot afford that level of investment, it is what we should be aspiring to. In my final speech as president of the Teachers Union of Ireland, I spoke about how further education in Ireland must change. It needs to shake off the shackles of second level education and become a sector in its own right. It must deliver longer hours and more weeks of learning per year. If that means changing contracts of employment, then it must be done. I am sure the unions will be willing to negotiate.

Teacher registration has professionalised the further education sector through the Teaching Council but also restricted its ability to develop programmes. I am talking here about high-tech programmes. My final job in Dún Laoghaire VEC, as it was then, was to develop a course in cloud computing in association with VMware, the intention being that I would deliver the course myself. Unfortunately, the course died when I was elected president of the TUI. Nobody would take it up because continuing professional development was required. We have to fund the teachers in further education. Springboard is great if one has a third level qualification. If one does not, something better is needed. We need to create a space where the further education colleges can employ experts in the industry to come in and deliver modules rather than have the shackles of the Teaching Council preventing them from developing.

Courses in further education cannot all be short ten-week courses, but there is a place for that type of training within the further education and ETB sector. I went to Limerick Senior College when I was 35 and came out four years later with a degree in economics through the London School of Economics. That is what we need to be doing. Online learning is all well and good. In fact, I pioneered online learning in Dún Laoghaire in 1996. While it is great, it is no longer the answer. We need blended learning, which requires weekend classes where students can go in and meet their teacher face to face.

When I became president of the TUI, I wrote to all of the education partners, including the Department, school managers, my fellow trade unionists and so on, proposing that we all go into a room for a day, leave our respective hats outside and between us come up with a model for our ideal education system. That suggestion received a very flat response right across the sector, including from some of my trade union colleagues. The Minister of State is brave enough to take a similar initiative. Will he throw open a conference and invite all the relevant parties to participate? I certainly am prepared to leave my trade union flags outside.