Irish Vocational Education Association

IVEA fully agrees with the findings of the Innovation Taskforce Report that innovation and enterprise will be at the heart of Ireland's blueprint for competitiveness. To support this, Ireland is part of the European initiative for an "Innovation Union" by 2020.

The Innovation Taskforce Report reflects a number of the recommendations of Europe 2020, the new European Commission strategy for the development of Europe's economy up to 2020. Europe 2020 proposes increased expenditure in growth-friendly areas such as research and development, and education.

Brussels is calling on national governments to prioritise knowledge expenditure, including the use of tax incentives to promote greater research and development investment. The Innovation Taskforce Report is translating these critical EU objectives to national level targets. The Taskforce target of government investment of 3% of GDP in research and development mirrors the commitment in the Europe 2020 Strategy.

General Secretary of the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) Michael Moriarty comments, "I am absolutely convinced that Ireland cannot have a sustainable smart economy without a high-performance education system, and this requires an enhancement of investment in education and training.

"Any sea change in attitude towards innovation and enterprise also requires a sea change in attitude towards investment in education. This has not been the priority of the government of late.

"Education, training and lifelong learning have a crucial role to play in the realisation of the Taskforce objectives. Vocational education and training must now be seen as a key element in achieving those objectives, inextricably linked to the development of the Irish economy and Ireland's - and Europe's - efforts to re-position itself in the global economy. It is the vocational education and training sector which is closest to the labour market."

Commenting further on some key recommendations of the Innovation Taskforce, Mr Moriarty states:

"Information transfer between industry and education sectors has been very poor in recent times. I welcome the Taskforce proposal for placement of senior civil servants in major companies in order to give them practical experience of business. I am convinced that such placements should happen at school level also, giving teachers of business, economics and commerce recent practical experience of the world of business. There is considerable merit in having something of the order of a one-month placement in business for teachers every four to five years.
"Closer co-operation between the business and education sectors needs to happen at all levels. IVEA has called for an enhancement of workplace and apprenticeship schemes to enable second-level students gain knowledge of the world of work.
"It is through greater co-operation between the business and education sectors that we can stimulate the education sector to respond rapidly to the needs of the smart economy and the requirement also for innovation in education to support the business sector.

"Finally," Mr Moriarty observes, "there must be robust accountability measures to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the Innovation Taskforce. Such road maps need an implementation strategy.

"There must also be recognition that investment in education and training is a prerequisite for investment in innovation and enterprise. The government's current policy of cutting investment in education, through the application of the recruitment moratorium and other measures, is at variance with the innovation agenda.

"Vocational education and training need to be further recognised as the bulwark for the development of an innovative and entrepreneurial culture in Ireland. The creators of government policy must realise that Ireland will remain at the end of the queue in terms of developing its smart economy unless there is significant further investment in education and training."

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© IVEA 2012