Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 April 2017
193. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the extent to which upskilling facilities continue to remain available to maximise the capability of the workforce in changing or challenging times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17127/17]
View answerDevelopment and implementation of strategies that plan and provide for workforce training will play a key role to incentivise both workers and employers to invest in upskilling and acquisition of knowledge to empower a skilled and knowledgeable workforce. Within the education and training system there are a range of strategies now in place to support upskilling opportunities in order to maximise the capability of the country's workforce.
My Department published its Action Plan for Education 2016-2019 last year. The Action Plan contains hundreds of actions to be implemented with particular focus on re-skilling and upskilling employees to meet the existing and future skills needs of employers.
In addition, published in 2016, the National Skills Strategy 2025, contains over 125 Actions and sets an ambitious trajectory for the next ten years for skills development in Ireland and marks an important step in the evolution of Ireland’s education and training system to a system which fully supports upskilling and lifelong learning and is more responsive than ever to the changing needs of participants and enterprise.
SOLAS is currently overseeing the development of a Policy Framework for Employee Development in order to guide activity undertaken by the Further Education and Training (FET) sector to support employee development. This will be published in Q2 2017.
The recent launch of the Action Plan to Extend Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland 2016-202 is being used to promote the essential skills attained from VET as a route to skilled employment and not just as a stepping stone to higher education. A further call for Apprenticeships is scheduled in the near future.
Skillnets, co-funded through the Irish National Training Fund and the European Social Fund, supports and works with businesses in Ireland and their employees to address their current and future skills needs by providing high quality, subsidised training through their training networks in a range of regions and sectors.
Springboard+ provides free higher education places, primarily to jobseekers in need of upskilling or re-skilling to allow them to re-enter the labour market and involves a job placement. From 2017 the eligibility criteria for Springboard+ will be expanded to include homemakers and those in employment in the Biopharma/Med Tech sector who wish to upskill or reskill to meet a specific emerging skills need.
