Union calls for a new skills policy for a new economy

A new report from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) contains new policy proposals that seek to tackle the serious challenges facing the Irish labour market and produce an improved vocational and educational training (VET) system in the years ahead. The report calls for a new skills and training agency focused on work-based training, active involvement of employers and trade unions in the control of VET systems, creation of a new skills fund and immediate policy action.

In a report (6.33Mb PDF) published in May 2011, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) calls for an overhaul of the national skills and training system in Ireland. The ICTU proposals to the Irish Government are designed to tackle some of the serious challenges facing the Irish labour market in the context of the deep-rooted crisis besetting the country. This is reflected in an unemployment rate of almost 14% and a rising number of people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) – a problem particularly acute among younger people. The policy report’s conclusions are summarised below.

Reformed skills agency

The report proposes the creation of a new skills and training agency that would focus on work-based training and would identify where future skills deficits might arise. The new skills agency would have a remit to provide a wide range of courses through work-based learning. This model would be based on Ireland’s existing apprenticeship system, which is well-regarded internationally.

Following criticism in recent years, the National Training and Employment Authority (FÀS) is being restructured and its role redefined. ICTU suggests that, with the benefit of hindsight, the establishment of such a large body with such a wide range of tasks was not a good idea. An ensuing weakness of this wide mandate was that much of FÁS’s activity focused on employment schemes, some (but not all) of which had questionable relevance and outcomes. For ICTU, FÁS’s strengths derive mainly from its training activities and its range of work-based training programmes, which have high completion rates and rates of progression to employment. In the report, ICTU calls for the training side of FÁS to be rebranded, based on its original roots as a training agency.

Credible certification

ICTU argues that state certification is a form of currency which requires a certifying authority with a high level of credibility and actively applied and robust quality assurance procedures. The opportunity should be taken to use current legislation to amalgamate the current certifying bodies in order to protect against the ‘light touch’ approach seen in some recent incidents.

Evidence from abroad presented in the report indicates that the active involvement of employers and unions in the control of vocational and educational (VET) systems improves their effectiveness and binds them to the needs of the labour market.

New skills fund

The report also proposes the creation of a new fund to finance upskilling of the workforce as ‘one of the surest forms of insurance against unemployment’. This would be done by diverting a portion of Ireland’s existing National Training Fund to individual and collective upskilling. Although ICTU suggests that the various stakeholders should debate how to pay for this upskilling, it is critical of individual training voucher systems. It argues that:

• at best voucher schemes reinforce the effect that those receiving the most training get more;

• at worst voucher schemes provide an opportunity for corruption on the part of a small number of private trainers.

Action is needed

The policy report concludes by suggesting that debates on political and economic change cannot go on forever and sooner or later a conclusion must be reached and implemented through legislation. The report is intended to contribute to the debate on the future structure of Ireland’s VET system. ICTU’s view is that the best result would be a reformed skills agency for Ireland providing work-based learning certified to the highest standards. It believes such an agency should be based on best practice in smaller EU Member States like the Netherlands or Scandinavian countries.

ICTU advocates a coordinated rather than a market-driven approach to reforming Ireland’s VET system. According to ICTU, the ‘hidden hand’ of the market will not bring about the necessary policy changes while room for financial manoeuvre is severely restricted – in the context of Ireland’s crisis and its obligations under the EU International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout. If Ireland is to have a well-functioning VET system in the years after 2014, ICTU suggests ‘we have to plan for and design that system now’.

Reference

ICTU (2011), A new skills policy for a new economy (6.33Mb PDF), Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Dublin.

Tony Dobbins, NUI Galway