1. VET in Ireland 2 Young learners Other learners

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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 IoTs are 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

5. 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.

6. 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  XX 2006 – RPL Forum - included Skillsnets, NQAI, FETAC & 2 HE institutions, to support RPL in the workplace  XX FÁS, with IoTs, has developed protocols / procedures for RPL for apprenticeships to facilitate increased access  XX Other initiatives the retail, construction and childcare sectors

7. 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)