Back to Education Initiative

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Questions (121)

Tom Fleming

Question:

199 Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on the back to education initiative; the number of the available 3,000 places that were taken up; the number in each county; and the progress and potential for the participants to access work. [24232/12]

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Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills (Deputy Ciarán Cannon)

The aim of the Back to Education Initiative (BTEI) is to target adults with less than upper second level education in a range of part-time learning opportunities which lead to certification at Levels 1-6 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ).

In 2011 there were just over 32,000 BTEI participants, of whom just over 4,100 availed of the 3,000 additional BTEI places provided under the Jobs Initiative. The vast majority (over 3,000) are continuing in BTEI courses. The rest have progressed to other further education provision or into employment.

A county-by-county breakdown of participants in the BTEI under the Jobs Initiative is set out below:

VEC	No. Jobs Initiative participants
Carlow	32
Cavan	193
Clare	239
Cork City	20
Cork County	212
Donegal	118
Dublin City	534
Dublin County	312
Dun Laoghaire	39
Galway City	56
Galway County	252
Kerry	315
Kildare	36
Kilkenny	133
Laois	87
Leitrim	72
Limerick City	23
Limerick County	108
Longford	41
Louth	29
Mayo	82
Meath	211
Monaghan	58
Offaly	208
Roscommon	33
Sligo	84
Tipperary North	32
Tipperary South	126
Waterford City	108
Waterford County	77
Westmeath	59
Wexford	117
Wicklow	75
Total	4,121