AQW 18890/17-22

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 14/05/2021
Answered On Date: 26/05/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy, given the impact of COVID-19, to outline the action she is taking to support students leaving post-primary education to take their next steps towards further or higher education.

Answer:

My Department’s Careers Service offers impartial advice and guidance to all pupils in their final years of post-primary education, on all the options available including further and higher education, apprenticeships and higher level apprenticeships and employment.

Over the past year Careers Advisers have worked with schools to ensure that young people could access personalised support digitally through email, telephone or video calls. To date 16,500 pupils have accessed this service this year and Careers advisers will continue to offer support over the summer period to help students make informed decisions about their career options.

My Department is continuing its investment in the Further Education (FE) estate to deliver modern, efficient, fit for purpose campuses that are welcoming, comfortable, healthy, neutral and vibrant places to learn and innovate.

In 2020, two major capital projects to build new campuses were completed in Banbridge and Armagh with a further new campus, in Enniskillen, being completed in April 2021. It is hoped that sector wide marketing and promotional campaigns undertaken over the coming months will encourage increased number of students leaving post primary schools in 2021 to avail of the state of the art, accessible facilities, offering significantly improved student facilities and support infrastructure and providing an enhanced curriculum offering, utilising the latest technology and equipment.

This capital investment has taken place alongside a major investment by my Department in college administrative systems meaning that learners can now apply and enrol on-line for courses at their local FE colleges. This is particularly important during the current public health restrictions removing the need for large numbers of learners on-site at a particular time.

Colleges have the capacity and are particularly well placed to accommodate any students who have found their education disrupted by the recent pandemic and will provide them with the knowledge, skills and support they need to progress to employment or higher education.

In order to raise public awareness of these opportunities available through FE, DfE has now commissioned the six colleges to work together to create a collective identity for the sector and to develop an annual campaign which will focus specifically on promoting the unique product offering for full time FE including higher education (HE) provision.

The Department recognises the clear potential for learning deficits to affect people who are entering higher education this coming year, due to the impact of the pandemic and officials are in discussions with both the HE and FE sectors on how best to mitigate this.