VEC members told to study Education Bill

VEC members told to study Education Bill


Anton McNulty

MAYO VEC members have been encouraged to study the new Education Bill which paves the way for VEC involvement in primary education.
The new bill was introduced last week by the TΡnaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan (pictured) and it provides for a legislative framework to allow VEC’s to become involved in primary education provision.
The Bill provides for the establishment of community national schools under VEC patronage and, in certain circumstances, for a VEC to become patron or joint patron of an existing primary school. At last week’s Mayo VEC meeting, the CEO Dr Katie Sweeney urged members of the committee to read the bill and become familiar with it.
“This will have huge implications for our sector going forward,” she told the committee meeting. “It will allow the VEC involvement in primary education and provisions and will give more power and duties to VEC’s in relation to primary schools. I urge people to read it and become familiar with it.”
The Bill also provides for the employment in certain circumstance of persons who are not registered teachers following consultation with management, unions and the Teaching Council. The Department explains that this is due to the challenges facing schools where it is not always possible to engage a registered teacher due to many factors such as geographical, increases in population and allocation of additional posts.
The new community national school model was piloted in two locations in Dublin since September 2008 and three further locations have become involved in Dublin, Kildare and Meath since this September. Committee member Pat Kilbane said that while these were challenging times, this  was a ‘massive opportunity’ to enhance vocational education nationwide.
Speaking at the publication of the Bill, the TΡnaiste said; “The changing shape of Irish society is placing new and complex demands on our education system in responding to the diverse needs of our communities. My core objective is to maintain the focus on providing the best education for all our children in a time of increasing diversity of demand and challenging economic conditions.”