Education JC 10 December 2008
Education Sectoral Format
Dublin, 10 December 2008
Joint Communique
1. The 7th NSMC meeting in Education Sectoral format was held in Dublin on Wednesday 10 December 2008.
2. The Irish Government was represented by Batt O’Keeffe, Minister for Education and Science. The Northern Ireland Executive was represented by Caitríona Ruane, MLA, Minister of Education and Junior Minister Jeffrey Donaldson, MP, MLA. Minister O’Keeffe chaired the meeting.
Educational Underachievement
3. Ministers endorsed proposals for future work on Educational Underachievement which will initially focus on interventions to support parents and families in helping their children with education and challenges facing children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.
4. Ministers noted the positive report from the successful first joint conference on numeracy. The areas identified in the report for further development including possible collaboration in the area of mathematics in initial teacher education, are under consideration by the two Departments.
5. Ministers welcomed:
- the establishment by the Department of Education of a Taskforce on Traveller Education which will bring together a wide range of stakeholders across the island;
- the proposal to hold a North South conference on Best Practice in Traveller education in March, 2009;
- the proposal to hold a peer learning event in March 2009 on the subject of school attendance.
Teacher Qualifications & Teachers’ Superannuation
6. Ministers noted:
- the seminars for student teachers to provide information on the Irish language qualification requirements for teaching in Southern schools;
- the communication and cooperation between the Inspectorates of both Departments of Education in relation to the professional development of inspectors;
- the collaborative work on leadership development issues and the joint research project on how best to attract and develop new school leaders;
- the collaborative work on the portability of teachers' pensions.
7. The Council welcomed the findings of a study on the North South Student Teacher Exchange Programme which had been a great success in terms of developing greater knowledge of each other’s education system and curriculum.
Special Education Needs
8. Ministers noted the further progress made in the last 6 months on the services provided by the all island Middletown Centre for Autism, including the development of the Centre's training schedule for the current academic year.
9. Ministers noted:
- the completion of the Centre’s detailed consultation with parents and other interested parties on how the Centre's services can best be provided;
- the main conclusions and findings of the consultation exercise, which will be published on the Centre's website. 90% of those who responded agreed with the Centre’s residential approach;
- that the Centre is developing, with key partners, the important processes and criteria for referral to, and attendance at, the Centre;
- that a planning application has been made for the main rebuilding and refurbishment programme and welcomed the completion of the refurbishment of the office accommodation.
10. The Council welcomed plans by the two Departments of Education to jointly organise an Autistic Spectrum Disorders Conference in November 2009.
School Youth and Teacher Exchanges
11. The Council welcomed the ongoing commitment to cross border School, Youth and Teacher exchanges as a means of fostering mutual understanding and exploiting opportunities for mutual benefit.
12. The Council also welcomed the work programme for the North South Exchange Consortium (NSEC), which will support the work of the two Departments in developing a joint approach for the future management and funding of educational exchanges. The Council will consider a report on progress achieved at a future meeting.
Date of Next Meeting
13. The Council agreed to meet again in Education sectoral format in April/ May 2009.
