Mr Sammy Wilson
Committee for Education Chairperson
To All MLA’s
7 May 2008
Committee for Education Motion
‘Education and the Economy’ - 12 May 2008
- The following Committee Motion is scheduled for debate in the Assembly on Monday 12 May 2008 at 2.00pm (indicative time) for up to 2 hours. For Members’ ease of reference, the terms of the Motion are as follows:
‘That this Assembly notes the growing needs of our indigenous economy with particular reference to the engineering sector, and calls on the Minister of Education to bring forward proposals, complementary to the DEL Strategy ‘Further Education Means Business’ and the Programme for Government Objective under PSA 2 to ‘Increase skills and career choices in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects’, geared towards our primary and post-primary school children that will address the future needs of our economy.’
- The Committee agreed to prepare a short ‘Information Brief’ to be made available to all Members of the Assembly in advance of the debate. This contains documents relating to two key submissions, which the Committee received and heard presentations on at its meeting of 18 April 2008. These triggered the Committee’s unanimous agreement to table the above motion.
- The Committee received a presentation from some members of an Education Task Force (ETF), which launched its Report last year on the needs of the Northern Ireland economy in terms of how much the education sector provides the necessary skills.
The ETF Report (attached at Item 1 with an Executive Summary, along with other related summary documents) ‘urges the Minister of Education to emphasise Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in our schools, [and] to strongly and actively support the study of such subjects’. The ETF Report also ‘recommends the appointment of an advisory body to look in depth at the many interacting problems which it has highlighted and to make recommendations to develop a vision and a strategy for education-driven economic growth in Northern Ireland’. The Committee commends this Report’s analysis and recommendations for consideration by Members of the Assembly.
- The second set of documents which the Committee would wish to draw to your attention is those received by the Committee from Schrader Electronics Ltd – see Item 2. Representatives from this award winning design and manufacturing company detailed to the Committee their growing difficulties in recruiting engineering and technical posts. The Committee has concerns that the current Education system in Northern Ireland does not appear to be making an effective contribution to addressing the skills gap at technician level and for engineering posts in this sector. The Committee recognises that other Departments and Agencies have a role in this matter and has forwarded the submission from Schrader Electronic Ltd and the ETF Report to the Committee for Employment and Learning for its consideration.
- Finally, the Research and Library Services of the Assembly have produced some background information on the general subject of ‘Education and the Economy’. The Committee wishes to draw this to your attention – it is available as Item 3 of the ‘Committee Information Brief’ published on the Committee for Education’s website at http://archive.niassembly.gov.uk/education/2007mandate/CommitteeMotions.htm. A full copy of the Committee’s ‘Information Brief’ has been deposited in the Assembly Library.
Yours sincerely
