Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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171. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the education and training boards currently require four years experience for applicants tendering for IT education contracts; and if they will consider voluntary work and academic qualifications in lieu of meeting this requirement. [36045/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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While I am unaware of the specific context in which the Deputy is raising this issue, I am setting out below the arrangements in place to ensure quality delivery and value for money in Education and Training Boards training contracts awarded pursuant to the SOLAS contracted training procedures. The Deputy will note that the procedures provide for a mix of academic qualifications and experience in delivering programmes. For definition purposes, a tutor is a person delivering any element of the course greater than 10% of the course content.

Tutors must meet either the requirements detailed in the Training Specification or the requirements outlined below; whichever is higher.

Tutors must be capable of delivering the course or module(s) specified in the relevant Training Specification (QA58/01) and any specific requirement specified in the Invitation to Tender. They must also have an appropriate technical and pedagogical qualification prior to delivering any element of a Training Course

Pedagogical qualification minimum requirement:

The Tutor's qualification must have comprised a minimum of 110 hours of learning, of which a minimum of 24 hours must be face-to-face tutored.

The content of the course must have included elements covering:

- Planning for training

- Training Needs Analysis

- The trainer role

- Motivation

- Communication

- Training methods

- Evaluation and assessment

- Quality assurance in training and education

- Equality issues in training

Pedagogical experience minimum requirement:

The Tutor must have post qualification experience delivering training to learners over a period of time totalling 2 years or more of direct learner contact time or the Tutor must be the subject of a development plan by the Contractor that includes monthly evaluation by an Evaluator for the duration of the course.

Professional qualification and experience minimum requirements:

The Tutor must hold a recognised qualification in the particular discipline at least 1 level above (equivalent to the National Framework of Qualifications) the module or overall course certification that is being delivered and have at least 2 years related professional experience in the discipline or the Tutor must hold a recognised qualification in the particular discipline at the same level (equivalent to the National Framework of Qualifications) and have a minimum of 4 years related professional experience in the discipline or where no recognised professional qualification exists for the course, the Tutor must have a minimum of 7 years related experience in the discipline.

This requirement is the same for all types of courses including IT programmes. The type of related professional experience does not exclude voluntary work.

It is essential that the tutors are able to relate real life experience during their delivery of the material and therefore academic qualifications without experience are insufficient to deliver effective training to the client group.