Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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135. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which he plans to progress the three areas in the education sector that he has identified as his core priority areas of focus, including helping children with special needs, supporting schools and building a stronger bridge between education and the workplace; the reason he has prioritised these three areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24943/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Last September, I launched the first ever Action Plan for Education, covering the period 2016-2019. The central vision of the Plan is that the Irish Education and Training System should become the best in Europe over the next decade. The Plan’s high-level goals are based on the five policy areas which I believe will help us to achieve this ambition. The goals are:

1. Improve the learning experience and the success of learners

2. Improve the progress of learners at risk of educational disadvantage or learners with special educational needs

3. Help those delivering education services to continuously improve

4. Build stronger bridges between education and wider community

5. Improve national planning and support services.

The basic aim of this Government is to sustain our economic progress and use it to build a fair and compassionate society. Education is the best means of delivering a fairer society, breaking down cycles of disadvantage and ensuring that all our people, in particular those with special educational needs, are able to participate in that progress and fulfil their potential. Excellent and innovative education and training are the pivot around which personal fulfilment, a fair society and a successful nation should revolve.  It is central to sustaining economic success and in converting economic success into building a strong community. Having the best education and training service in Europe will allow us to provide better opportunities for more people from disadvantaged groups, as well as ensuring that we create more sustainable well-paying jobs.

Our approach to special education has undergone a huge transformation with a growing proportion of children with special educational needs being educated with their peers in mainstream schools.  The participation and progress of learners with special educational needs across the whole education system remains a key focus with an emphasis on improving whole-school and whole system approaches. The Action Plan 2017 sets out a range of measures which will be undertaken during this year. These include allocating teachers to schools under the new allocation model to support children with special educational needs, publishing the outcomes of a comprehensive review of the SNA scheme, and consult with partners on the implementation of sections of the EPSEN Act and on the provision of services to children with Down Syndrome.

Quality of provision is the cornerstone to the success of the education and training system.  We recognise the fundamental roles that leaders, teachers and support staff play and we want to strengthen the system’s capacity to continuously improve and to deliver the highest quality education and training services for learners. The Action Plan 2017 details actions which will ensure that leadership, management, quality frameworks, teaching methods, and initial and continuing training are all operating to the highest standards across the continuum of education and training provision. These actions include expanding the range of supports available through the Centre for School Leadership, providing dedicated professional support to teachers to support the implementation of curricular and policy change, and developing and introducing a new postgraduate qualification for aspiring school leaders.

To become an innovation leader and to build a strong talent base, we as a nation must effectively engage with enterprise. We must work to address identified skills needs in critical areas, and recognise the shifting global economic and political climate in which services are delivered and jobs are created.  Successful enterprise engagement is the foundation of much of the planned activity detailed in the Action Plan 2017. This includes driving the growth of traineeships and apprenticeships, ensuring the relevance of work placements and work-based projects, and increasing the diversity of opportunity in learning beyond school. To advance this agenda, together with Minister Halligan, I launched the National Skills Council and the Regional Skills Fora last month. The Council’s members are from senior levels within the public and private sectors, and they will oversee research, advise on the prioritisation of identified skills needs and on addressing those needs, and have a key role in promoting and reporting on the responses of education and training providers to the identified needs. The nine Regional Skills Fora will provide a cohesive education-led structure for employers and the further and higher education system to work together in addressing the skills needs of their regions, help employers to better understand and access the full range of services available across the system, enhance links between education and training providers in planning and delivering programmes, reduce duplication and inform national funding decisions.

In order to ensure that progress is made in all of these areas, updated annual Action Plans will be published each year, detailing the actions that will be implemented during that year. As part of this process, actions will be monitored against published timelines and progress reports will be published on a quarterly basis. Recently, the 2016 End of Year Review and the 2017 Quarter 1 Progress Report were published. They are both available on the Department’s website (www.education.ie), with full details of the actions already achieved in these three important areas.