Post-Leaving Certificate course funding linked to firms

Funding for post-Leaving Certificate courses will depend on their ability to match the staffing needs of local employers, under proposed new regulation of the sector.

More than 32,000 students take part each year in further education courses in the post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) sector, mostly at colleges and schools managed by education and training boards (ETBs).

But, as reported in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, an evaluation by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found that the courses have not been fulfilling all their requirements to justify their continuation.