Education chief warns of hiring freeze threat to PLC courses

TRAINING courses for the disadvantaged are under threat because of a Government staffing freeze, the head of the vocational education sector has warned.

The Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA), which represents the country’s Vocational Education Committees (VECs), said the Department of Education has refused to allocate additional teachers for next autumn despite 2,000 extra students enrolling on Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses this year.

Many of the 29,000 participants in these and other VEC courses come from the most vulnerable sections of society and would otherwise have no chance of returning to education and work, according to IVEA general secretary Michael Moriarty.

He said the cap on teacher numbers means students will be unable to complete two-year courses they began last autumn or some courses will have to be dropped.

“The capping of teacher numbers is a short-sighted knee-jerk reaction which is at variance with Education Minister Noel Dempsey’s declared policy of promoting the needs of the disadvantaged,” Mr Moriarty said.

A Department of Education spokesperson acknowledged that appeals on staffing levels have been received from a number of VECs and she said the situation is being monitored.