Irish Vocational Education Association

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IVEA welcomes Barnardos publication on Investing in Education
14 May 2009
The Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) has welcomed the publication today of the Barnardos research document “Investing in Education: Combating Educational Disadvantage”. IVEA particularly welcomes the document’s conclusions that “investment in education yields very significant economic and social benefits for society at large” and that “recent expenditure cuts…. are likely to have a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged students, especially those attending non-DEIS schools.” These findings have been a priority issue for IVEA and concur with recent statements by IVEA General Secretary, Michael Moriarty.
Before the 2009 Budget was published last September, Mr Moriarty issued a pre-budget statement which emphasised that “Government must ensure [that the] most vulnerable students are protected from the cost cutter’s scalpel. Otherwise, the consequences for Irish society will be grave.” Following the publication of the Budget, Mr Moriarty stated, “In terms of equity, the decision not to ring-fence the disadvantaged students in all schools is a seriously flawed policy decision.”
In a recent speech on educational disadvantage, Mr Moriarty emphasised the need to concentrate resources on early childhood learning, another point made in the Barnardos document. “We need to concentrate and focus resources as early as possible in a child’s life if we are to adequately support the child from disadvantaged circumstances through the educational life cycle,” said Mr Moriarty.
In the same speech, Mr Moriarty also emphasised the need for a framework that can provide “coherence in terms of efficient delivery of services and supports to the educationally disadvantaged”, which is reflected in the point made in the Barnardos document that “there is a need for joined-up planning and provision.”
The Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) represents the interests, at national level of Ireland's thirty-three Vocational Education Committees (VECs).

The VECs are statutory education authorities currently delivering educational programmes up to 100,000 second level pupils and 200,000 adult education learners. The day-to-day administration of the association is carried out by the secretariat, headed by the General Secretary, Mr Michael Moriarty in the IVEA's head office in Dublin.
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