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VET in Ireland 2. Young learners Other learners. Entry to VET in Ireland. E&T system in Ireland is characterised by a strong academic bias and late vocational choice
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VET in Ireland 2 Young learners Other learners
Entry to VET in Ireland • E&T system in Ireland is characterised by a strong academic bias and late vocational choice • In upper secondary (ISCED 3) - a minority of learners (34% of 57, 532 applicants in 2011) make a limited vocational choice – what might be termed ‘vocational light’ • a Leaving Certificate Vocational (LCV) (28.5%) • a Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) (5.5%) • Majority exercise vocational choice on completion of upper secondary education when they progress to: • higher education (c. 65%) , especially in an Institute of Technology(46% of entrants to HE in 2009-2010) • non-tertiary further education and training in a Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) course – c. 25% • an apprenticeship - relatively small number – c. 2% joined designated apprenticeships in 2010 • other vocational training course - relatively small number
Young learners without a LC • 62% progress to some form of education or training • Community Training Workshop (FÁS) • Youthreach – (VECs & FÁS) • Senior Traveller Training Centres • Community Training Centres
Guidance • Career guidance services “fragmented and weakly underpinned by information on labour market opportunities”- in post-school VET - demand for guidance services outstrips supply • Recent report - post-primary guidance professionals appear to use labour market information “less than they ideally should” - initial professional development . . .. . • PLC courses - in-house education and career guidance • Youthreach - counselling & psychological services + guidance • Adult Education Guidance Initiative • National Forum on Guidance re-launched 2011 • Universities and the IoTsare not statutorily required to offer careers services and the provision can differ across the sector – but Careers Services growing • FAS Employment Services transferred to the Department of Social Protection in 2011. “Inadequate” - narrow focus on placement to the exclusion of counselling, profiling, activation, brokerage & outreach
CVET for persons at work • VET for persons at work is primarily the responsibility of employers but . .. . • XX Up to 2008 public resources through FÁS initiatives, e.g. • the Competency Development Programme (CDP); • the Excellence through People Programme (ETP); • programmes in the public and private sectors - waste management, road construction and film industry • Fáilte Ireland operates a national training subsidy scheme to train employees in hospitality sector • XX Skillnets, the state-funded, enterprise-led support body for the promotion and facilitation of training & upskilling supports and funds networks of enterprises. Now minimum of 10% of participants must be unemployed. • XX The National Training Fund (2000) resourced by a levy on employers of 0.7% of employee earnings covers approximately 75% of all employees - social partners have a role in allocation of NTF - consistently underspent over the years & described as ‘awash with money’ in 2011 • The Social Partnership Agreement, Towards 2016 - commitments to participation of older people in labour market - has slipped off active agenda.
RPL • Good experience of RPL practice - but largely ad hoc or project–based • A co-ordinated approach required - action by a range of stakeholders across the VET sector • XX2006 – RPL Forum - included Skillsnets, NQAI, FETAC & 2 HE institutions, to support RPL in the workplace • XXFÁS, with IoTs, has developed protocols / procedures for RPL for apprenticeships to facilitate increased access • XX Other initiatives the retail, construction and childcare sectors
Unemployed & other learners • Ireland entered the rapidly accelerating economic crisis with weak activation measures - fragmentation in availability & quality • Many programmes in parallel silos with a confusing array of diverse eligibility criteria, funding arrangements, learning opportunities & administrative structures • National Strategy on Activation - a degree of convergence illustrated by new VET governance structures, the integration of employment services & social benefit administration, and co-ordination of labour market programmes by multi-disciplinary teams • Priority groups • low-skilled • those aged under 35 years • those previously employed in declining sectors • long-term unemployed (including those on wide range of social protection payments)