Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2023
604. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the measures and policies his Department has in place to promote gender balance in apprenticeships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40971/23]
View answerOne of the five overarching objectives of the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 is "Apprenticeship for All". That is, ensuring that the profile of the apprenticeship population more closely reflects the profile of the general population. As of end-August 2023, there were 1,982 female apprentices, representing 8% of the overall apprentice population. This compares to 1,321 in April 2021, almost 7% of the overall apprentice population at the time.
While this increase is mainly due to the expansion of apprenticeship into new areas, it is also important to note that female representation in craft apprenticeship has almost tripled in the last 4 years. 125 females were participating in craft apprenticeships in 2019 and 372 females were participating in craft apprenticeships as of August of 2023. Participation in industry areas such as manufacturing and engineering is also increasing. Women also feature more strongly in the apprenticeships in the hospitality, healthcare, property, sales, biopharma and ICT sectors.
The actions set out in the Plan build on the outcomes of the 2018 Review of Pathways to Participation in Apprenticeship . This has already resulted in a significant widening of measures to support increased visibility of apprenticeships.
In 2022, I announced a new gender-based bursary for apprenticeship employers. The bursary, worth €2,666, is available to employers who employ apprentices in the minority gender on any national apprenticeship programme with greater than 80% representation of a single gender. Currently there are more than 40 programmes eligible for the bursary.
This bursary is in addition to the Government supports that apprenticeship employers receive via the craft training allowance and the employer grant.
Information on apprenticeship was included on the CAO website for the first time for CAO 2022. This shows the range of learning and qualification options for school leavers. As part of this landmark change, a freephone helpline was introduced for learners, parents and guidance counsellors to provide information on apprenticeship, including how to find an employer. The helpline supplements the existing guidance counsellor service at post-primary and further education and training levels.
There has also been a specific focus on female participation as part of the Generation Apprenticeship national promotional campaign. For example, this year an initiative by the National Apprenticeship Office called 'Facts, Faces, Features' was launched to coincide with International Women’s Day 2023. The purpose of the initiative is to communicate the growing participation and leadership of women and girls in careers available through apprenticeship. The campaign also aims to ensure that students in girls’ schools around the country are aware of the apprenticeship programmes now available. Many of these lead to degree-level awards, in industries that include finance, biopharma, property services, tech and engineering. We want to ensure that young women in Ireland have a front row seat in that transformation at a time when the opportunities for women through apprenticeship have never been stronger.
The details of its 3 components are as follows:
• Facts: Apprenticeship is packed with diverse role models and women's success stories, and growing numbers of women apprentices and graduates of the apprenticeship route
• Faces: They are employers, chefs, craftspeople, cyber security specialists, international financial analysts, creators, team members, leaders!
• Futures: More and more girls in school can take inspiration from these role models, seeing what they can be and shaping their future careers
The general push towards women in STEM roles under the STEM Education Strategy and the ICT Skills Action Plan should also feed through to the apprenticeship intakes.
I am satisfied that these measures and the implementation process for the Action Plan for Apprenticeship overall will have a significant impact in ensuring greater diversity in the apprenticeship population as a whole.
