(1.) HFETE Committee accepts that this Review relates primarily to the Department of Education and its associated Assembly Committee.

(2.) Nevertheless, there are significant cross-cutting issues between the Departments of Education (DE) and Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment (DHFETE). The HFETE Committee would like to highlight these so as to ensure that these matters are not neglected.

(3.) Perhaps most notably, secondary level education provides the main input of students and trainees for tertiary education and training. We are concerned that there are already signs of gaps or contradictions in the trends as regards the throughput from the one level to the next. We seek reassurance that any changes in the transfer procedure and secondary level structure do not make this situation worse. Ideally, there should be the closest possible integration between the activities of DE and DHFETE.

(4.) In particular, it is crucial, especially in the light of the evidence that key sections of the Northern Ireland economy (e.g. construction, software, computing, aerospace engineering, catering, tourism and hospitality) are already constrained by labour shortages, that schooling (whether to the age of 16 or 18) provides enough of a supply of suitably qualified candidates for vocational and technological courses at tertiary level.

(5.) Relating to point (4.), we wonder whether the Common Curriculum has been working. In particular, has there been an unhealthy tendency for all schools in Northern Ireland to attempt to imitate grammar schools in the range and type of subjects pursued? Any re-structuring of secondary level education needs to go hand and hand with appropriate reform of the Curriculum. We would also suggest that any implications for the numbers (and quality) of pupils studying mathematics and sciences at GCSE and A Level be considered.

(6.) Should any vocational streamlining ensue from the Review, the Committee would envisage a possible role for Further Education Colleges to provide vocational training, in certain circumstances, for those 14 years of age and over.

(7.) Whatever happens to the transfer procedure it is crucial that all pupils in Northern Ireland schools have access to a well-developed, impartial careers guidance which can direct them in the most appropriate directions.

(8.) The DHFETE Committee notes with great concern the mass of evidence from comparative international surveys implying that Northern Ireland, along with the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, has one of the worst records for adult basic skills within the western world. About one-fifth of the adult population can barely read. Steps should urgently be taken to prevent this problem repeating itself in future generations. This will be mainly an issue for policy at the primary and pre-primary levels but we would want this inquiry to factor in provision of basic skills education into its review of the secondary level.

(9.) The DHFETE Committee is grateful of this opportunity to flag a range of cross-cutting educational issues will need to be addressed regardless of which particular model of post-11 education is finally adopted.

Dr Esmond Birnie
Chairperson, Higher & Further Education, Training and Employment Committee

Links to HTETE minutes dating 01 March 2001