European Year of Skills, Apprenticeships and Skills
Transcript: Picking up on what the Minister said in his last contribution, it has been extremely valuable that a stand-alone Department was created for further and higher education due in particular to the emphasis it has allowed us to put on further education, apprenticeships and skills. We find ourselves in the European Year of Skills. It is something that slightly surprised the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science when it arrived because it arrived at very short notice. What plans does the Department have to celebrate what should be a very important year?
Deputy Simon Harris
If there is one part of the country that has seen the benefit of the new Department, I hope it is the Deputy’s county, constituency and city of Waterford. We had a good week this week and I thank the Deputy for his work on that. We did not have a university for the south east when he entered the Dáil or when I entered this role. We have worked together on a cross-party basis and in government to get there. There has also been the expansion of the Waterford Crystal site. That shows what we can do when we put a focus on issues, particularly for the regions.
I warmly welcome the announcement of the European Year of Skills. This is a year that kicks off from May, which might be a little peculiar. For the rest of us the year kicks off in January but the year of skills kicks off in May so we still have time to get a good programme in place. The European Year of Skills is a welcome opportunity because it puts skills on centre stage. It also gets us at a member state level to start thinking about what we can do to showcase what is good and challenge ourselves from a policy perspective about what more we need to do. The aim is to ensure people get the right skills for quality jobs and to help companies, particularly small and medium enterprises, to address skills shortages. The year will showcase skills development opportunities and activities right across Europe and will bring organisations and people together to share their experience and insights. It is an opportunity to signpost where people can go for skills development and what has happened when people have undertaken that.
The objectives of the European Year of Skills align with the work we are already doing as part of our core business in my Department to ensure individuals and businesses are offered supports and pathwats to quality education, upskilling and reskilling opportunities. Changes in the world of work, including the digital revolution, some of the issues we have been discussing and climate transformation, place a premium on supporting individuals and companies to make this transition. In 2022, I commissioned a review of the implementation of our national skills strategy and I am pleased that it will be published during the European Year of Skills because it will place a domestic focus on this as well. These will be some of the key themes from my Department, that is, the implementation of that report and looking at areas of focus around short flexible blended skills development.
Specifically on what we can do, we are having an event with stakeholders on 9 May. I intend to organise a skills summit and will work with the education committee on that. I would also like to see if the Dáil is agreeable to using Dáil time for a debate on skills and the European Year of Skills.
Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh
All of those measures are extremely welcome. We should do anything we can to bring people’s attention to the central nature of skills in the development we need in our economy. It was said at the education committee that there is a cultural handbrake at play here that means parents are less likely to support their children going towards a life of apprenticeships, for example. We need to address that. The more we talk about skills and the more we raise the profile of things like apprenticeships within this Dáil the better because this is an issue all across our economy. The solution to the housing crisis, for example, is to build more housing. To do that, we need more people with the correct skills. Similarly, to fulfil the retrofitting agenda, we need people to retrain in that area. On changing land uses, there will be massive opportunities for people around forestry and nature restoration. The Minister mentioned early years education. That is critical, particularly for allowing women to participate within the economy. The renewable sector is going to be a huge employment area. All of these require people with apprenticeships and skills. There are great jobs to be had, not just this year or next year but over the coming decades.
Deputy Simon Harris
On the point Deputy Ó Cathasaigh made, Skillnet Ireland becoming Ireland’s leading agency for upskilling and reskilling within the workplace will be one of the key policy directions of travel that will be seen from me and my Department in the months ahead. Going back to the European Year of Skills 2023, there are two things we need to showcase and to challenge ourselves on from a policy point of view. First is the fact that more and more people needing access to the education system are not going to just be full-time students or full-time young students. For all of the reasons outlined by Deputy Ó Cathasaigh such as the climate, digital, the way we work, artificial intelligence and so many others, more and more people, including well-qualified people in well-paid jobs, will need to be able to access education in a way that works for them. Second, we have too many people in this country locked out of full societal participation due to literacy and numeracy skills. It is not their fault; it is ours. The adult literacy for life strategy gives us a real opportunity to go back to make sure those people can go back and play their full role in society and the economy too.
Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh
The Minister made a very pertinent last point. I have just come from the launch of World Autism Month, which was very close to us here in Kildare Street. As we know, many people with autism are locked out of the workforce. A very pertinent point was made as well on lifelong learning. We have to stop considering our education journey as being finished at 22 or 23. We have to look at that component of education within the workforce, namely, lifelong learning and microcredentialing. The Minister met the Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board, WWETB, with me and we were looking at the retrofitting of houses. One of the issues was that people are not aware that this is a short course. Someone who is already qualified to fit windows or plaster etc. can come back, add to their skills base over a very short timeframe and gain access to a whole other sphere of work. That is incredibly important, particularly in the retrofitting agenda, which is the one that leapt out at me. If a person has a traditional skill already, he or she can retrain in a short period of time to access this whole new economy. Lifelong learning really has to be at the heart of this year of skills as well.
Deputy Simon Harris
I fully agree with the Deputy. With World Autism Month coming up, and Deputy Stanton has posed a question that will enable me to get into this more, we have so much more we need to do here. As a country, we have made quite a lot of progress in primary and secondary schools. There is still far too much of a cliff edge from my perspective for too many students who are neurodiverse, autistic students and others when they move from second level to third level. We have work under way but I want to challenge myself and ourselves to do more in that regard.
The Deputy is right. I remember that visit with him to WWETB. Far too often, people think training in retrofitting will be an apprenticeship or a couple of years which they could not do as they are in employment or are too busy. It is three days in many cases. In three days you can future-proof your job or your own workforce. We can use this year to get that messaging out. We cannot talk about it enough because, as the Deputy rightly says, there is a direct correlation between some of the massive societal challenges we face and those faced around the globe and the skills and the labour force we have to address those issues.
Good progress is being made on microcredentials. There is an opportunity to do more. Compared with other international regulators, Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, is leading the way on this, and I know it will be keen to continue to do so.
