Billy Kelleher
Question:127. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the lifelong learning targets to be achieved. [50034/18]
View answerThursday, 29 November 2018
Questions (127)
Written answers
Ireland's targets in the area of lifelong learning are set out in Ireland's National Skills Strategy 2025, which was developed and is being implemented by the Department of Education and Skills. As that strategy highlights, 'Given the changing demand for skills, increasing people's lifelong learning activity, especially those in the workforce, is a vital element of Ireland's future skills development and can have a positive impact on productivity and innovation at firm level and nationally'.
The strategy aims to increase engagement in lifelong learning through increased promotion and communication of its benefits, more and easier opportunities for those in employment to engage in education and training, greater recognition of workplace learning and prior learning, and the significant strengthening of career guidance.
From a baseline lifelong learning participation rate of 6.7% in 2014 (population aged 25-64), the National Skills Strategy set a lifelong learning participation target of 10% by 2020, and 15% by 2025. In 2017, Ireland's lifelong learning participation rate was 8.9%, compared with an EU average of 10.7%.
Lifelong Learning is key consideration in developing actions under Future Jobs – Preparing Now for Tomorrow’s Economy . Future Jobs will form a key part of Ireland’s economic agenda over the medium term to ensure we are well positioned to adapt to the technological and other transformational changes our economy and society will face in the years ahead.
The development and implementation of Future Jobs is being led jointly by the Department of the Taoiseach and my Department and is organised around five pillars, namely: Improving Productivity, particularly in Irish Small and Medium Sized Enterprises; Supporting Innovation and Technological Change; Enhancing Skills and Developing and Attracting Talent; Increasing Participation in the Labour Force; and Successfully Transitioning to a Low Carbon Economy.
A key factor to Ireland’s successful transition to a digital and low carbon based economy will be having a well-skilled workforce capable of adapting to new challenges. Soft skills, transversal skills and the mastery of core competencies in numeracy, literacy and digital technologies remain critical for employees in all sectors, and opportunities to develop and enhance these skills are vital. Advanced cognitive skills, problem solving, logic, social and emotional skills are particularly important in the development of competences needed to adapt to and respond to the changes that may occur due to technological advancement. Students and learners at all levels of the education and training system need to be given the opportunity to acquire these skills both during their initial formal education and throughout their lives.
Therefore, we need to enhance Ireland’s lifelong learning provision to help workers re-skill throughout their working lives. Enterprises, and SMEs in particular, also need to invest in upskilling and re-skilling their workforce, including their managerial capacity, to enhance and maintain productivity; to adapt to technological disruption; and to identify and exploit opportunities from the digital and low carbon economies as they emerge. Future Jobs, which will be launched early in 2019, will map out the supporting actions for 2019 as well as framing the longer term agenda.
These objectives were strongly supported by participants at the successful national summit on Future Jobs which took place on 22nd November last which brought together over 200 attendees representing employers, workers, academia, civic society, state agencies and public administration to discuss future challenges and opportunities with myself and other ministerial colleagues.