Ireland – 15th May, 2008 – The skills challenge facing the Irish economy was the subject of a major seminar organised jointly by the National College of Ireland (NCI) and the National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP), and held in Dublin on May 15.

The ‘Learning at Work’ seminar was chaired by NCPP director Lucy Fallon-Byrne and was addressed by Minister for Lifelong Learning Seán Haughey, Leo Casey of the Centre for Research and Innovation in Learning and Teaching and Prof Chip Bruce, National College of Ireland.

Four national initiatives, designed to promote and encourage learning at work, were showcased also at the seminar, providing the 100-plus delegates with real-life examples of innovative responses to the future skills challenge.

Among the issues discussed at the seminar were:

• The role of workplace learning in driving and growing the Irish economy;
• The opportunities for, and obstacles to, workplace learning that exist in Ireland today;
• Effective ways of engaging employers and employees to ensure Ireland is equipped for the future skills challenge.

National College of Ireland president Paul Mooney said the message was simple:

“For Ireland Inc. to succeed, the barriers to workplace learning must be identified and systematically removed. To survive and prosper in a tougher global environment, we need to collectively up our game to out-think the competition.

“The highest performing companies of the future are the ones that are becoming engaged in workplace learning initiatives today. The time is now and there is zero room for complacency on this. The future is decided by those who sense change and actually start to do something to respond to this. For everyone else, the time bomb is ticking.”

A new DVD was launched by Minister Haughey. Produced by NCPP, the DVD profiles the practical experiences of five Irish public and private-sector organisations that have recognised and embraced workplace learning as an enabler of change. Their stories illustrate the value of promoting human talent and creativity in the workplace, and make a powerful business case for lifelong learning and workplace training and development.  Upskilling is now a necessity.

Copies of the DVD are available (free of charge) on request from the National Centre for Partnership and Performance.  Simply drop an email to Conor (conor@ncpp.ie) with your contact details, and he’ll post them out to you as soon as possible.

Source: Education MATTERS

Ireland – 25th June 2008 – Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Mary Coughlan TD, launched two new FÁS initiatives:

• Training of Workers with Lower Levels of Qualification
• SME Management Development

Ireland’s future economic prosperity will depend on the development of the skills of our workforce. We must continually upgrade the skills of those at work. It is through this process of constantly upskilling our workers that Irish companies will be able to secure a long term competitive advantage.

The SME Management Development initiative is targeted on the need for businesses to also develop the skills of their workforce and therefore enhance productivity and competitiveness. The training programmes are being constructed in such a way that the current and prospective, growth-related, needs of SMEs in Ireland are kept fully up to-date.

Speaking at the launch of the FÁS initiatives the Tanaiste said “In recent years, the Government has significantly increased funding through FÁS for the training and up skilling of persons in employment. This reflects our commitment to improving national competitiveness through training and development. These new FÁS initiatives, which over the next two years will deliver training and development to over 11,500 employed people, collectively represent a total investment of €19 million in the development of our workforce”.

The Tanaiste added “Experience has shown that well-trained managers, who realise the benefits of up-skilling for themselves, are also more likely to recognise the value of across-the-board training for other levels of the workforce.

This in turn facilitates and drives training for workers with lower qualifications. Therefore the suites of courses being launched today are in fact complementary to each other.

The initiatives being launched represent a major step forward in implementing Government policy in this regard, with the objective of ensuring that we have the best educated and most highly trained workforce possible in Ireland going forward”.

FÁS Director General Rody Molloy emphasised “It is those people at the lower end of the labour market who are now the most vulnerable to competition from low cost economies. It is their jobs, which can be most easily replicated. Many of these workers have low levels of skills and educational attainments. This has got to change. In future the key to long-term employment will be through a process of lifelong learning, where the skills of Irish workers, both of jobseekers and those already in employment, will undergo continuous upgrading throughout their careers and not just before they enter the workforce”

Source: FAS Press Release

Ireland – 6th March, 2007 -   The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Micheál Martin TD, and the Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin TD, today(6 March 2007) jointly launched a new national skills strategy, Tomorrow’s Skills: Towards a National Skills Strategy. The Strategy was preparedby the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN). It identifies Ireland’s current skills profile, provides a strategic vision and specific objectives for Ireland’s future skills requirements, and sets out a road map for how the vision and objectives can be achieved. The implementation of the Strategy will help to secure the future competitive advantage of enterprises in Ireland and enhance future growth in productivity and living standards.

For the first time the Strategy sets out clear long-term objectives for our education and training requirements to develop Ireland as a knowledge-based, innovation-driven, participative and inclusive economy with a highly skilled workforce by 2020. The Expert Group believes this vision is achievable. The Expert Group recommends that 93 percent of the Irish labour force should have qualifications at, or above, leaving certificate level by 2020, and that 48 percent should have a third or fourth-level qualification by then.

Minister Martin said, “This report provides a comprehensive vision for Ireland’s future skills requirements and also provides a strategic framework from which the relevant Government Departments and State Agencies can build. The strategy launched today is complementary to the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation launched in 2006.”

Minister Hanafin said, “The report identifies central challenges in ensuring a continuing supply of the skills needed for our future competitiveness and prosperity.  It brings into sharp focus the long-term importance of many elements of the policies we are pursuing to advance access, participation, quality and attainment at all levels of the education system.”

Anne Heraty, Chairperson of the EGFSN said, “To date education and training policy has served Ireland well. Ireland now has an opportunity to drive economic development through building our skills capability. This report provides an overarching policy framework for the development of coherent education and training strategies to meet current and future skills needs.”

Key Proposals for 2020:

• 48 percent of the labour force should have qualifications at National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) Levels 6 to 10 – from National Certificate to PhD level;
• 45 percent should have qualifications at NFQ levels 4 and 5 – Awards equivalent to Leaving Certificate Examination;
• The remaining seven percent are likely to have qualifications at NFQ levels 1 to 3 (i.e. below Junior Certificate) while aiming to transition to higher levels.

Skills Road Map to 2020 – Achieving the Vision

• An additional 500,000 individuals within the workforce will need to be upskilled and to progress by at least one NFQ level over and above their current level of education and training;
• The Leaving Certificate retention rate for young people should rise to 90 percent;
• By 2020, the proportion of the population aged 20-24 with NFQ level 4 or 5 qualification (Leaving Certificate or equivalent), should be increased to 94 percent;
• The progression from second- to third-level education should increase from 55 percent to 72 percent; and
• The report also highlights the need for:
  • Integration of immigrants into the education and training system, at all levels;
  • Career guidance and mentoring for those at work;
  • Assistance for individuals and companies in identifying their skills needs;
  • More awareness programmes that highlight the benefits of education and training; and,
  • Education and training provision needs to be flexible and responsive to the needs of employers and employees

  The full text of this report and background documents is available at www.skillsstrategy.ie

Ireland – 11th June, 2008 -  AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation, today repeated calls for the government to take action following the increase in those signing on the live register as outlined by the CSO . The figures reflect the highest increase in the number of those signing on the live register since July 1999 with the figure now standing in excess of 200,000.

Reacting to the statistics, Berni Brady, AONTAS Director urged the government to turn its immediate attention to the issue of upskilling those members of the workforce most at risk of unemployment in the event of an economic downturn. ‘Although we were aware that those employed in the construction sector were most at risk, the fact that more women are now signing on the live register is deeply worrying.’

Yesterday, the INOU issued a statement outlining their concern at the lack of government response to these trends.

‘A practical response to this issue involves providing opportunities for those in employment to upskill within the workplace’, continued Ms Brady. This would enable workers to make the transition from one sector to another, and to consider alternative employment options. AONTAS is concerned at the lack of progress regarding the ambitious targets identified within the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs report. Given that economists have predicted another increase in unemployment over the next six to twelve months period, the government must take heed, and act accordingly, through a speedier implementation of the National Skills Strategy‘ she concluded.

AONTAS is the National Adult Learning Organisation. AONTAS is a non-government membership organisation, established in 1969. The organisation’s mission is to ensure that every adult in Ireland has access to appropriate and affordable learning opportunities throughout their lives, thus enabling them to contribute to and participate in the economic, social, civic and cultural development of Irish society. AONTAS is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. AONTAS represents over 600 members, ranging from statutory providers of adult education, such as VECs and third level institutions, to voluntary providers of community education, to individual adult learners and those with a general interest in adult education. The role of AONTAS is to work towards improving the adult education sector in Ireland through policy development, promoting the benefits of adult education and research.
The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs was established in 1997. The group advises government on future skills requirements and associated labour market issues that impact on national potential for enterprise and employment growth. In March 2007 the group published a report entitled ‘Tomorrow’s Skills : Towards a National Skills Strategy’ which included an outline of the skills required for Ireland to develop over the period to 2020 as a competitive, innovation-driven, knowledge-based, participative and inclusive economy.

Source: AONTAS Press Release