Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI), which represents Ireland’s 16 Education and Training Boards (ETBs), has welcomed the publication of the latest OECD Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) results which indicate further improvements since 2009 in the performance levels of Ireland’s 15-year-olds, most notably in science, where it now ranks 9th out of 34 OECD countries, but also in reading where it ranks 4th, and in mathematics where it ranks 13th.

ETBI welcomes the Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn T.D. moves to tackle the cost of school uniforms.

Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI), the representative body for Ireland’s Education and Training Boards (ETBs) today welcomed the statutory establishment of SOLAS, the national training authority which replaces FÁS and which is now tasked with overseeing the establishment of a world-class Further Education and Training (FET) sector as envisaged by Minister Quinn when first announced in July 2011.

The ‘new Anti-Bullying Procedures launched my Minister Quinn today involve a significant updating of the 1993 guidelines and they provide much-needed clarity to schools and parents about the nature of bullying and how schools and parents can collaboratively address a problem that has reached epidemic proportions in the Internet age’ says Michael Moriarty, General Secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI). 

‘Minister Quinn’s proposals for reforming school admissions are a reasonable and proportionate response to addressing a problem that many parents face each year in obtaining a school place for their sons or daughters’ says Michael Moriarty, General Secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI).

While today is a significant day in the lives of the Leaving Certificate class of 2013, it is important to keep this ‘milestone’ in perspective, says Michael Moriarty, General Secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI).

The establishment of sixteen Education and Training Boards (see below) on Monday July 1st 2013 marks an historic event in Irish education. These new statutory education authorities, formed from the aggregation of Ireland’s 33 VECs (abolished on July 1st) and the integration of the 16 FÁS Training Centres (on-going to June 2014), will be the vehicles for the delivery of coordinated education and training programmes across Ireland for decades to come.

Statement by Michael Moriarty, General Secretary,
Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA)

On behalf of the Irish Vocational Education Association (soon to be Education and Training Boards Ireland), I welcome Minister Quinn’s decision today to allocate a further 500 posts for Special Needs in first and second level schools.

The most vulnerable in our schools are those who need the most help and assistance to realise their full potential, and this cohort of students should never have their life chances diminished.

I wholeheartedly welcome also that Minister Quinn has fast-tracked the recommendation of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to review the present allocation model governing Special Needs resources. On the basis of some evidence from schools, there is a need to adopt a more transparent model which is seen to provide a more equitable distribution of Special Needs resources. We need a system which is more obviously underpinned by the principles of equity and fairness, and the current allocation model does not inspire full confidence in this regard.

The Education and Training Boards Act has been signed by the President and awaits commencement. The Act provides for the establishment of 16 new education and training boards to replace the soon to be dissolved VECs. The ETBs will have significantly greater functions than VECs and will also take on the current training functions of FAS when the 16 FAS training centres are transferred to the ETBs.