Order of Business (Resumed). - Vocational Education (Amendment) Bill, 2000: Second Stage.
Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods): I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
I am pleased to introduce the Vocational Education (Amendment) Bill, 2000. We have witnessed in recent years fundamental and dramatic improvements to our schools yet it behoves us to remember that in this era of change the vocational education system has been an underlying strength of our education system, not just in this decade or the last but almost since the found ation of the State. It was in 1924 that the then Minister for Education requested a committee on technical education to report to him on the question of provision for technical education. It was the recommendations of this report, published in 1927, that would lead in 1930 to the first Vocational Education Act.
I will touch briefly on some of the key aspects of this new legislation which will update and modernise that system. We will have an opportunity to discuss the details of this legislation in more depth on Committee Stage and I look forward to the contributions of Deputies at that time.
I bring this legislation forward with one central aim, to enhance the ability of each VEC to provide an ever better educational service to those students who are availing of its services and for future students. We must recognise that the educational landscape of today is very different from that of 1930; indeed, it is very different from that of 20 years ago. Legislation must reflect these changes. More importantly, it must reflect the reality that change and uncertainty are now essential parts of all our lives. This new VEC legislation cannot anticipate that change but it can create the legal environment to give vocational education committees the means to plan for change, the flexibility to enable them to respond to uncertainty and the authority to put in place effective and appropriate educational services for the needs of those they serve.
In order to achieve this aim I propose a number of changes to four key areas of the current VEC legislation. This legislation will provide for a revision of the functions of vocational education committees, provide for a more inclusive membership in vocational committees, provide for more effective reporting arrangements within vocational education committees and between vocational education committees and the Minister and provide for an updated financial structure for the operation of the vocational education committees.
Perhaps the most visible changes which have affected the VEC sector since the 1930 Act are in the terminology used to describe the functions of VEC schools and, even more fundamentally, in the functions that are carried out by such schools. The 1930 Act, developed at a time when school attendance was compulsory only up to 14 years and when general second level education was the preserve of a relatively small fraction of the population, envisaged a particular and relatively narrow role for the VEC school. The schools would engage in continuation education to supplement existing elementary education and technical education to assist in the development of the trade and craft skills that the industry of the day required.
The VEC sector today performs a much broader role in a much more complex society. VEC schools are now an integral part of our second level education system, providing schooling for almost 100,000 students, nearly 30% of all second level students. VEC centres are actively engaged in the provision of a wide range of adult education services, from basic literacy to certificate courses. Indeed, the Government White Paper on adult education has earmarked the sector for the development of a resourced and comprehensive adult education service. I will introduce amendments on Committee Stage to copperfasten these proposals.
These developments have rendered outdated some of the provisions of the 1930 Act so I propose to bring this legislation into line with more modern concepts. While the existing function of the vocational education committees, as set out in the 1930 Act, will be retained, section 9 of the Bill before the House provides for a more complete description of the functions of vocational education committees, capturing the reality of their role in Irish education today and giving each VEC a general reponsibility to review, plan and co-ordinate the provision of education in their area.
These changes, together with other changes to the way in which vocational education committees will plan their activities, particularly the education plan and service plan to which I will refer in a moment, will provide a new basis for the operation of vocational education committees, a basis which will tap into the tremendous potential of the VEC sector and allow it to be released for the benefit of the local community. Decision-making and responsibility in the VEC sector has always been vested at local level. This local involvement has always been perhaps the key strength of each VEC, and one that I propose to enhance further in this legislation.
The 1930 Act made an explicit linkage between each vocational education committee and the local community. This linkage is most clearly obvious in the membership of vocational education committees. Each local authority would nominate the 14 members of the corresponding VEC. Of these 14, not more than eight would be members of the local authority concerned, while the balance would be drawn from a general constituency of local employers, tradesmen and others. Such a linkage reflects the thinking of the time. VEC schools had a clear commercial rationale, hence the need to ensure that the schools would be sensitive to the needs of local employers, and that students would have opportunities to take up employment in their own locality.
That model of local representation remains valid. If anything, time has proved the foresight of the original architects of the VEC structures. Local involvement in public administration, and indeed any activity, is now asine qua non. Such involvement harnesses local energies, directs activity towards genuine needs, and creates a sense of local ownership. In this age of multinational corporations, genuine local involvement serves to remind us that the ability to direct change still exists at the local level, and that local communities can steer that change to benefit their own community. The success of the local area partnership groups which have played such an important role, particularly in combating long-term unemployment in areas of disadvantage, is ample testimony in this regard.
The Bill before us will make certain changes to this model of representation, while remaining rooted in the principle of local involvement. We will now extend that principle of local involvement to provide for statutory recognition for the partners in education to become formally involved in vocational education committees. The Bill provides that in addition to local authority representation, there will now be a statutory right of representation on committees for both parents of students attending vocational education committees, and the staff employed by vocational education committees, including teachers. The Bill also provides that in addition, further categories of persons will also be considered for membership of each VEC, including students, representatives of voluntary bodies and local business interests. These broad categories will allow vocational education committees to continue to involve a breadth of interests from each local community in the operation of the VEC.
Deputies will appreciate that this is in many ways only a minor alteration to what I have already noted is a very successful formula. It is important however that such changes be made. The Education Act, 1998, has already given the principle of partnership a statutory footing in the education system. That Act has given parents a new range of statutory responsibilities and rights, ranging from the recognition to local parents associations in each primary and post-primary school to their formal involvement in the preparation for new models for boards of management at a national level. Parents themselves have long sought that this principle of recognition should also extend to the VEC sector. I fully subscribe to that view and am happy to make this provision in this Bill. The parents of students attending VEC schools will therefore now be able to elect two representatives to become full members of each VEC.
It is also appropriate that the staff of the VEC should also be entitled to such membership. The single most important attribute of any organisation is its staff and it is appropriate that their involvement should be formalised by distinct provision in the membership of the VEC. Therefore, in the same way as parents, the staff of each VEC will be entitled to elect two representatives to sit on the VEC.
In considering amendments to the VEC legislation, I was very conscious that other sectors of local government have undergone considerable and beneficial change in recent years. These changes have, for example, helped health boards to undertake a new method for the planning of their annual work, through the mechanism of a service plan. At another level, local authorities have adopted a longer-term strategic framework for their work, through a system of medium term planning, which allows for the identification of needs and the preparation of plans to meet those needs.
Although it is perhaps an over used term today, strategic planning remains an essential concept for any form of public administration. The term itself originates in ancient Greece, where the“strategoi”formed a war council. The development of the term reflected developments in military technology to the point that warfare involved the complex organisation of a range of forces rather than reliance on individual ability and bravery.
In many ways, the VEC sector continually faces problems of a similar scope today. The average VEC is responsible for students with a range of educational needs, ranging from the 12 year old just entering second level schooling, to the person in their early 20s completing a post-leaving certificate course, to the adult learner who is undertaking further study in any one of a range of areas. To meet these needs, the VEC has responsibility for schools, centres for education, and employs teachers and administrative staff. The VEC must also plan for the future needs of students, taking into account both the changing demands for education, and the changing needs of the local community.
This Bill proposes two important changes to allow vocational education committees to adopt new methods to deal with these strategic challenges. First, the Bill requires each VEC to prepare a service plan. The legislation provides that it will be prepared each year immediately after the allocation of resources by the Minister for Education and Science, an allocation which will be made after the budget. The plan will set out the income the VEC expects to receive that year, and how it proposes to allocate that expenditure. The service plan will also set out broad categories of service which each VEC will provide, and the estimated expenditure it will incur in providing that service.
The service plan thus provides a complete picture of how a VEC intends to carry out its functions in the coming year. The Bill further provides that each VEC will also at the end of the year prepare a report on how it has carried out the objectives it has set for itself in the service plan the previous year. This will allow for full accountability in the operation of the VEC. Its operations and activities will be open to any outside scrutiny. This accountability will, I believe, give the local community a greater understanding of the role and activities of the VEC. Where those activities might be enhanced, or redirected, they will be able to so inform the VEC, thus creating a virtuous cycle of enhanced services.
At a more general level, the Bill also requires a VEC to create an education plan. The function of this plan will be to set out a broad vision of the future activity of the VEC, spread over the coming five years. It allows the committee an opportunity to focus their attention on the overall development of their services, a focus which might on occasion be sacrificed to the needs of the instant. Issues such as demographics, or population shifts, changing economic circumstances, or patterns of employment can feed into the thinking of the committee, to inform them in their plans for the future development of the VEC.
The education plan will not be a document written in stone. Very few plans should so be. Instead, it will provide a broad canvas for the direction of the VEC, a set of principles to guide actions over the coming five years. Where circumstances change radically, the plan will be amended to take account of such change. I believe however that its core value will lie not so much in the details of any part of the plan, but in the opportunity it offers each VEC to develop and maintain an overall framework, a framework setting out the priorities of the VEC, as determined by the VEC following a process of consultation, and providing a strategic framework for their operation. I know that many vocational education committees already adopt such a framework on an informal basis. I trust that all vocational education committees will now seize the opportunity that this Bill provides.
On revised reporting arrangements, this new structure will also be accompanied by the introduction of the reserved executive model in the VEC sector. Originally introduced in the management Acts, 1929-40, governing the local authority sector, this model is also now used in the health board system. Essentially, the model provides for a division of the policy and executive responsibilities of each VEC. The committee of the VEC will undertake responsibility for the management of overall policy direction. Thus, the preparation of both the service and education plans will fall within the committee's scope. While VEC officials may assist in the preparation or compilation of information, the formal adoption of these plans will be the charge of the committee. VEC officials will then be responsible for the management of the VEC's activities in order to conform to the parameters set out in both of the above plans.
It is the specific responsibility of the chief executive officer to ensure the day-to-day operation and management of the VEC, known as executive functions, will be carried out in compliance with the directions of the committee. The chief executive officer will be accountable to the VEC at all times for such actions and will thus take responsibility for the ordinary running of the VEC's affairs and ensuring such affairs are carried out in an efficient and effective manner.
The reserved executive model has proven itself to be both successful and durable throughout the remit of local government. It is based upon the essential and democratic precept that elected representatives are entitled to and responsible for setting out the policies and principles which should guide the organisation for which they are responsible. Those officials who are employed by the organisation are responsible for the effective implementation of those policies and accountable to the representatives for any failure to so do.
A further element of the Bill provides for the regularisation of the position of County Dublin VEC, the legal basis of which is currently governed in a somewhatad hoc manner by the 1999 legislation dealing with Blanchardstown Institute of Technology. This arose due to a redesign of the local authority borders in the Dublin area which led to a departure from the traditional local authority-VEC area alignment. County Dublin VEC now extends to cover three local authority areas. The Regional Technical Colleges (Amendment) Act, 1999, made an interim provision for these three local authorities to elect the members of the VEC. It has been my view for some time that it is necessary to ensure this provision is replaced and the activities of County Dublin VEC, one of the biggest VEC schemes in the country, be placed on a more secure footing. The Regional Technical Colleges (Amendment) Act requires this as the provision expires this year. Accordingly, the Bill provides for such a basis for the operation of County Dublin VEC, enshrining as it does its geographical basis in law.
The Bill represents the most significant overhaul of the VEC system since its foundation in 1930. The Bill is based very much on the strengths of the VEC system – local involvement and devolved decision-making – while providing the VEC structure with a more appropriate and modern set of structures with which to carry on its business. The Bill will significantly enhance the effectiveness of VEC and the quality of education being provided for VEC students.
I look forward to a positive and constructive debate on the Bill. I am sure Deputies will offer amendments which I look forward to being able to consider on Committee Stage. I commend the Bill to the House.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Bill which is a welcome break for the Minister from the more difficult task he has on his hands. The Bill is largely non-contentious. Its purpose is to provide for new structures and procedures in order that individual vocational education committees can meet the needs of vocational education in their areas in as effective and efficient a manner as possible. The Bill's principal aims are the revision of the composition of vocational education committees to include representation on vocational education committees for parents of students registered in VEC institutions and VEC staff, including teachers. This is one of the more interesting aspects of the Bill and smacks of cronyism of the worst kind. Fianna Fáil's stranglehold on vocational education committees throughout the country will be copper-fastened by this provision which I urge the Minister to reconsider.
The other provisions in the Bill, such as the classification of the functions exercised by vocational education committees into reserved and executive functions, are not earth shattering as this system has operated in local authorities and health boards for some time. The Bill also provides for additional functions for vocational education committees and revised reporting, accounting and financial procedures. Implicit in this is that the Department has learned from the misdemeanours and shortcomings highlighted in some vocational education committees in the past with people being hauled before the Committee of Public Accounts to explain their actions. I welcome such new procedures.
While the Bill, in itself, is not offensive, the vocabulary used is somewhat dated. The explanatory memorandum states that the Bill's purpose is the provision of new structures to meet the needs of vocational education in the areas in which the vocational education committees serve. This smacks of a very dated approach to education. My experience in this area is based on Cork City and Cork County vocational education committees, both of which are at the cutting edge of innovation in education. The concept of "vocational education" in the original 1930s legislation which established vocational education committees is very dated. Some vocational education committees are very progressive providers of academic education, in addition to vocational education. One could ask whether there is a need for an overview of the Department of Education and Science and the possibility of its divesting itself of some of the functions it holds dear. That could result in greater democratisation of education and the enhancement of its delivery at local level.
I regret that the Department, under the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Martin, threw the baby out with the bath water in the context of the proposed regional education boards championed by the former Minister, Niamh Bhreathnach, in the previous Administration. Regional boards, while not an ideal solution, offered the possibility of greater democracy and accountability in education at local level and a greater capacity to respond to local needs. This oasis in the sea of bureaucracy worked very well in certain areas, but we refuse to contemplate the next obvious step, namely, how to provide for a similar degree of accountability and necessary local involvement in the reform of the education system from parents, teachers etc.
The Department recently commissioned the Cromien report to review its operations. The report made some suggestions in regard to the Department divesting itself of responsibility for organising the State examinations. That will be one of the items of reform which will be fast-tracked because it is probably the best lesson to be learned out of the immediate debacle of the ASTI dispute. The Department is creaking at the seams. It has undertaken the responsibility for all issues and not delegated responsibility for local issues. I know of a school amalgamation which has been in progress between the Department and the schools involved for nearly five years. If this matter was left to parents, staff, local elected and unelected representatives, it would have been resolved long ago. It would also allow the Department more scope to apply itself to policy issues rather than being caught up in the day-to-day administration of education. The principal of a local national school or a post-primary school has to get departmental permission for new downpipes or new windows. There is no localised contact point. It is a constant two-way communication process between Tullamore or Athlone and the local school management.
While this is a Bill to be welcomed the question must be asked, when will some of the Department's functions be farmed out? Dealing with these matters hinders the Department's ability to be an effective agent of policy change in education. It is a pity that the regional education boards were thrown out.
My own experience of vocational education committees is confined to Cork County Vocational Education Committee and to a lesser extent, the operations of the City of Cork VEC. I think the Minister would agree that both are among the best in the country. I wonder why some VEC structures are dealing with perhaps one to three schools and others have between ten and 20 schools. I think there is room for greater efficiencies and the Minister has abdicated his responsibility in this regard. A strategic review of the functions of vocational education committees should also include those matters.
Page 5, section 7 of the Bill deals with the composition of vocational education committees. We can see here the stifling hand of Fianna Fáil on local authorities around the country. A person cannot take up a position on a VEC, even though he or she may be the favoured nominee of parents or other interested groups, unless that person passes an interview test with the local Fianna Fáil councillors. That is regrettable.
Section 7(e) provides for four members being appointed by the local authority after consultation with groups representing students, voluntary organisations and the local business community. This is a disservice to the best interests of all involved at local level in providing education through the VEC system. When this Bill is in Committee Stage, I urge the Minister to lift that withering hand of Fianna Fáil members on local authorities and prevent the meddling which is not in the best interests of the vocational education committees. It smacks of cronyism of the worst type.
I also have concerns about provisions in section 7(c) and (d). Two members are to be elected by parents of students who are attending VEC institutions and two members to be elected by the staff of the VEC. It is not clear whether there will be ringfenced provision for teaching staff. Members of the teaching staff should be entitled to two representatives and one additional member should represent the non-teaching staff. Otherwise there will be possible hostility and competition and associated unease between groups of people who have worked together in the best interests of the VEC.
The Bill deals with the composition of the County Dublin Vocational Education Committee, and again in subsection (2)(d) it provides for the stifling hand of political involvement in determining who will become members of the VEC.
We need to cement real partnership in education between the interested parties, parents and their children, teaching staff and elected representatives. I wish to speak in defence of the involvement of elected representatives in education. Those outside the VEC sector react when any attempt is made to talk about a democratic structure in education outside or embracing both the VEC sector and the non-vocational education sector and there is a reluctance because of perceived and indeed real evidence of political interference. That provision in the Bill will only give the opponents of democratisation and accountability a further stick to beat us with. Local elected members are a legitimate voice and are accountable directly to the public they serve. This provision for the vetting of members will do them a disservice. If we are serious about real partnership, then the partners in education should be given an automatic nominating right. Otherwise, it will be a politically driven vocational education committee system with all the worst consequences. I am committed to moving forward the agenda of greater democratisation and accountability. Others outside the VEC will use this as a stick to beat us with.
Section 12 deals with the functions of the chief executive officer and executive functions. A concern has been conveyed to me from within VEC circles that, during industrial relations difficulties, those directly involved would have had access to board members and independent arbitration. Will the Minister elaborate on the consequences of this section for dealing with industrial relations disputes? What avenues in the industrial relations machinery of the State will be available given certain provisions in previous Vocational Education Committee Acts which make specific avenues available to VEC employees to resolve disputes? Will unhindered access to independent arbitration be guaranteed?
I do not have any further detailed comments. I have received a considerable volume of representations on the Bill from Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge which is interested in proofing the Bill from an Irish language perspective, something towards which we should be sympathetic. I have not yet analysed its submission in sufficient detail, but perhaps the concept is something the Minister might take on board.
There is nothing hugely contentious in the Bill which is broadly welcome. The Department of Education and Science should examine placing further democratic accountability in the delivery of education at local level outside VEC structures and let us know of any plans it has in that regard. Members regularly encounter the cumbersome process involved in a school seeking an extension or securing grant aid. If these matters were dealt with at local level, they would be handled more efficiently in terms of finance and time. The Department indicated that it takes six years from sanction in principle being given to the building of a new school or extension to the time the key is turned. For a post-primay school, that is an entire body of students who will have started and finished education before any new provisions are made. They are often educated in inappropriate or unsuitable accommodation, such as prefabs or overcrowded classrooms. These issues could best be dealt with at local level, either by expanding the remit of vocational education committees to cover voluntary schools or by the establishment of a parallel institution.
It is regrettable that the baby was thrown out with the bath water when regional education boards were rejected. There is some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of what has been identified in the Cromien report. The Murray report, a review of vocational education committees, has gathered dust in that politically difficult issues raised within it were fudged. It is time we paid heed to putting in place an accountability structure for education to provide a forum for the partners in education outside the VEC sector to have a say in the running of education. That would leave the Minister with more time on his hands to deal with policy issues. There is some merit in the point that the ASTI dispute may not have reached its current impasse if the Department had been in a position to concentrate on issues best dealt with nationally while divesting itself of some of the issues which clog up the system and lead to inefficiencies and bureaucratic delays. I look forward to the Minister's reply and I am sure we will table amendments on Committee Stage.
I welcome the publication of and debate on this long overdue legislation. There is no doubt that it is high time the vocational education committees were revamped and revised regulations and legislation dealing with them were put in place given that the primary legislation dates back to the 1930s, with minor amendments in the late 1930s and 1940s, and given the enormous change which has taken place in terms of student and parent expectations of education, additional funding being made available and the higher standards people generally are trying to achieve. There is no doubt that the original legislation is outdated and, in that respect, it is welcome to see amending legislation.
The Minister has, however, adopted a conservative approach. This was a good opportunity to provide for a complete revamp of the VEC system, but the Minister has failed to do this or use this as an opportunity for introducing many of the recommendations of the Murray report which, as the previous speaker said, has been left to gather dust. There is considerable potential for streamlining the VEC sector, amalgamating some of the smaller vocational education committees and rationalising the system generally. The opportunity has been missed in so far as no attempt has been made in the Bill to deal with the matter.
I welcome the provision in the Bill to broaden the base of representation of VEC members. I also welcome the move to provide on a statutory basis for the greater involvement of parents, staff and students. The Bill provides for new procedures, now commonplace in local authorities and health boards, covering the definition of functions and the distinction between reserved and executive functions. This is welcome and will provide for better accounting and reporting procedures and service and education plans. These are standard practices in other local bodies, such as local authorities, and it is long overdue that the same requirements were made of the VEC sector.
The vocational education committees have performed a very important role since the 1930s in the development of education and society. It is fair to say that they have many strengths, not least their willingness to be involved at community level, to be more open to the community and to cater for all students in their catchment areas. It has been an important aspect of VEC schools that they see themselves as providers of education for all children and that they have not adopted the exclusive and discriminatory approach adopted at times by the voluntary sector. Many vocational education committees have shown themselves to be extremely innovative, have been to the fore in taking on new programmes within the second level system and creative and inventive in so doing. That type of enthusiasm has been important from the point of view of the general well-being of the sector. There is a vibrancy, especially among teachers who have been very keen to tailor-make programmes, services and courses to meet the needs of the local catchment area. In the non-discriminatory way they have encouraged people to attend their schools, vocational education committees have played a very useful role.
Their weaknesses must also be recognised, the principal one being that they have been over-politicised. This has led to a certain amount of cynicism on the part of teachers and other stakeholders in education. That cynicism and those concerns are well founded. This is particularly due to the way the Minister's party has exploited opportunities to gain control of a sector that was important in the community from the point of view of local public representatives. There is long history of jobbery associated with vocational education committees. We know from recent inquiries that issues concerning procurement procedures used by vocational education committees have warranted further investigation.
To that extent, the role of public representatives in representing the electorate in the education system has been done a disservice by those who set out to exploit the petty political opportunities which arose in the VEC sector. To some extent, the VEC has been given a bad name because of that. There are issues of credibility and confidence among teachers, and also among parents.
The role of and the provision made for vocational education committees in this legislation are progressive in their representation of a range of community interests and in their assessment of education in a local catchment area. There are good principles in the legislation – the need to draw up education and service plans, the need to co-operate with other vocational education committees and the need to consult and work widely with parents and students within the catchment area. Why does the Minister not apply the same principles to the education system in general? Many of the principles in this Bill should be applied to the entire education system and those principles make a good argument for having a devolved system and local education structures.
I agree with Deputy Creed that this Administration should not throw out the proposals for education boards. I hope the Minister will look again at this matter, considering the findings of the Cromien report and the numerous instances where the Department of Education and Science has been unable to respond to local needs. There is no local information available to the Department for the reasons outlined in the Cromien report. According to that report, the urgent takes precedence over the important in the Department and there is little planning or policy work done. There is a considerable cultural gulf between those in the Department charged with taking critical decisions on education funding and the ultimate users of the education system and their parents.
That cultural gulf and the absence at senior level in the Department of someone in a position to represent the Department at local community level has been highlighted by the Minister's inability to provide departmental representatives on local drugs task forces and on the newly announced RAPID programme which deals with disadvantage in the 25 most deprived areas. A key element of that disadvantage is education yet there is no representative of the Department at local level.
The world has moved on and Irish society has moved farther than the Department of Education and Science. The principle of partnership has been accepted in the way business is done in many communities. There are many examples of the partnership that exists between local communities and other Departments, particularly the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform through the Garda and the Probation and Welfare Service. Those critical players at community level are represented in the various partnerships that exist, but the missing partner in those fora is the Department of Education and Science. This is due to the Department's centralised structures and because it has no presence at local level. Such principles have been accepted for the VEC sector and it does not make sense that the Minister refuses to accept the need for them to be applied in a broader sense.
The Bill contains a requirement that vocational education committees consult with each other about the services provision. That is an important requirement but in practice it is more important for the VEC sector to consult with other sectors, particularly the primary sector, within the catchment area. This has been brought to my attention on numerous occasions by principals and staff at vocational education committees. There are real difficulties emerging in literacy and numeracy among children entering second level schooling, particularly in the VEC sector. They enter with inadequate reports from primary schools and in many cases it is not until half-way through first year that schools realise children are struggling with the ten subjects they may have in secondary school. It has been realised that many children have serious literacy and numeracy problems.
One VEC school spoke recently of a 60% literacy problem for first year students. Half of those children were three to four years behind the normal standard for their age. Such a situation makes it virtually impossible for a VEC to give a proper service to those children. Unless there is consultation, co-operation and collaboration between primary and VEC schools in local areas, they are wasting their time to an extent.
There are many missed opportunities. The nature and scale of the problem is apparent among first years at secondary level but the schools are helpless to do anything about it. There is no forum where secondary schools can raise their concerns with primary schools. If there were, there might be a concerted effort to deal with the fundamental problems of literacy and numeracy difficulties. There is a need to provide such a forum at local level so that the various sectors work together for the benefit of the children they serve. I appeal to the Minister to rethink Government policy on local education boards.
I want to draw attention to section 3 of the Bill which concerns the commencement order. The Minister should clarify when he expects to sign that order. This is a problem with recent legislation. It is debated, agreed and passed, but there is often a long wait before the Bill comes into force. What is the Minister's intention for this Bill?
Regarding section 7, the history of the vocational education committees is that they have been much too political. The Bill provides for nine county council members, two parents, two staff and four others. We must admit that in the past local councils appointed members to vocational education committees for reasons other than their interest or expertise in education. vocational education committees have many passengers and I hope the Minister accepts this state ment in the spirit in which it is intended. All political parties must be honest about the fact that some representatives do not necessarily serve the best interests of the education system.
The proposals in respect of the nine council representatives and the ability of local councils to make a further four appointments are undue powers for elected representatives. There should be a move towards a system where there is equality of representation from the council, community, staff and parents and other areas. This is why I ask the Minister to consider removing the power of appointment from local councils. The representatives of students, business, etc., are, in effect, political appointments and often they do not add anything to the composition or competence of the VEC. I ask the Minister to consider the proposal in the Murray report regarding a core group comprising elected members, councillors, parents and staff which would appoint the other representatives of students, business, etc. This would be a much fairer system and would safeguard against the over-politicisation of vocational education committees that occurred in the past.
VECs employ a huge number and wide range of staff. There is much to be said in favour of the principle of equality of representation between parents and teaching staff and two places on the committees should be ringfenced for teaching staff. I also suggest that there should be a dedicated place for other staff. The reality of the Minister's proposal is that the two staff representatives will end up being teacher representatives. However, a wide range and large number of other staff are critical to the successful operation of vocational education committees, such as clerical, secretarial, caretaking, maintenance and other ancillary staff. They are part and parcel of the VEC sector and should have a voice at committee level. I urge the Minister to consider dedicated places for non-teaching ancillary staff.
The Minister mentioned making regulations regarding the staff representatives. What are his intentions in respect of those elections and who will be eligible to vote in them? I hope and expect the Minister will ensure that the large number of part-time staff have a say. Anything other than that would be unfair; I urge the Minister not to limit it only to full-time staff. Provision should be made for including part-time staff and allowing their voice to be heard.
Regarding the County Dublin VEC proposals, given that three local authorities are involved, the representation of councillors has been increased. However, the number of other representatives has not been increased. It is important to maintain the balance between public representatives and the representatives of the other partners. I ask the Minister to consider the possibility of increasing the representation from the other nominating groups.
Regarding section 8, I ask the Minister to agree to setting an early date for the first meeting. It is important that vocational education committees have a fresh start. There are many negative perceptions about the way in which vocational education committees operated in the past. The Bill is the perfect basis for the fresh start that is needed in terms of membership and I urge the Minister to ensure that happens quickly. He should not wait until after the next local elections for members to be appointed. It should be done within a reasonable time of the enactment of the legislation. It is also important to limit the term of office of members. There has been a dead hand where people have been members of vocational education committees for many years. New blood and fresh ideas are necessary on a regular basis. A level of enthusiasm and freshness must be maintained, although that has not always been the case with vocational education committees.
Section 15 relates to the chief executive officer's powers in respect of staff matters. There is a strong argument for taking such issues out of the hands of the committee, but the legislation appears to give the chief executive officer power as the absolute arbiter in staff matters. What are the Minister's views in respect of an appeal system for staff? Up to now, staff members who had difficulties with the chief executive officer could appeal to the VEC. I understand the argument for the Minister's proposal, but what appeal mechanism will be open to a person who does not get satisfaction from the chief executive officer?
Section 26 deals with the five year education plan. However, that period is too long because things change rapidly in education. I would prefer the term to be three years. Regarding section 27, the principle of partnership is not being extended to the composition of the sub-committees. The Minister's party councillors have sought to take complete control of VEC sub-committees and I ask him to ensure that the sub-committees are covered in the legislation in terms of their composition and that the principle of partnership also applies in that area.
I am concerned about the provisions regarding the review of adequacy of services. It is important this review is carried out on a regular basis, similar to the health boards. I am not sure there is adequate provision in terms of examining gaps in services and an honest appraisal of the adequacy of the services being provided to meet the need that exists. We should be much more open and upfront in terms of identifying need. Given that the Department does not have a remit in that regard, it is most important that the VEC sector takes on responsibility for identifying the unmet need and gaps in services in their catchment areas. The Bill, as far as it goes, is welcome and I look forward to Committee Stage when I intend to put many of the ideas I mentioned into amendments.
Debate adjourned.
