The education sector's contribution to Ireland's economic recovery and international competitiveness lies in ensuring that the system meets Ireland's human capital needs. The economy requires an output of creative, adaptive skilled individuals. As enterprise sectors develop and expand, demand for employees with core technical and specialist expertise across a range of disciplines continues to grow. Employers also equally value more generic skills such as creativity, critical thinking, communication and interpersonal skills, and problem solving abilities. The fostering of these attributes and the development of core foundational skills in numeracy and literacy is built through the experience of students at both primary and second level. A key objective of the reform programme underway across the education and training sector is to seek to further improve the quality of the teaching and learning experience for all students and to ensure the ongoing supply of high quality graduates for the workforce. In relation to higher education specifically, one of the core objectives under the new Performance Framework for the higher education system is meeting Ireland's human capital needs across the spectrum of skills areas through both core funding and specifically targeted initiatives. The Deputy can be assured that meeting the requirements of industry is a high priority for the education and training sector.
