Education JC 3 February 2000
Education Sector
Dublin Castle, 3 February 2000
Joint Communiqué
1. A meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council in Sectoral Format was held in Dublin on 3 February 2000 to discuss enhanced cooperation in education.
2. The Irish Government was represented by the Minister for Education and Science, Dr Michael Woods, TD. The Northern Ireland Executive Committee Delegation comprised Mr. Martin McGuinness, MP, MLA, Minister of Education and Mr Dermot Nesbitt, MLA, a Junior Minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.
3. Both sides acknowledged the significance of the meeting as the first meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council in the Education Sector.
4. Before moving to the education related business of the meeting, the Council appointed Michael Walker to the Board of the Food Safety Promotion Board.
5. The Council reviewed the high level of existing co-operation between the two Departrnents and discussed the matters for enhanced co-operation in Education which were mandated by the Inaugural Plenary of the North/South Ministerial Council in Armagh on 13 December 1999. See Annex.
6. In its discussions, the Council examined proposals on how best to take these matters for cooperation forward, having regard to the common concerns and interests of both sides. In this regard, the Council established a number of joint Working Groups which were charged by the Council with delivering concrete progress in each of the matters for cooperation. These Working Groups will bring proposals to the next meeting of the Council on the priorities which they have identified, the delivery measures they propose to put in place and the projected timescale for addressing and reporting on these tasks.
Special Education, Educational Underachievement & Teacher Mobility
7. Specifically, the Council agreed to establish a North/South Special Education Co-ordination Group; Joint Working Groups on the following key issues in the area of educational underachievement - pupil attendance/retention, literacy, numeracy and child protection; and a Teachers Working Group to examine a range of issues related to teacher mobility.
School, Youth & Teacher Exchanges
8. In addition, the Council agreed to commission the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh to undertake an evaluatlon of the range and effectiveness of current initiatives in the area of school, youth and teacher exchanges and to make recommendations to a Steering Committee representative of both administrations, on the adoption of a coherent integrated strategy for the future.
9. The Council recognised the contribution made by initiatives such as the European Studies Project and Co-operation Ireland Projects in this area and considered that it was now opportune to build on those achievements and in particular to examine the scope for restructuring the European Studies Project in order to address the needs of a wider range of target groups.
10. The Council discussed and will have further consideration of the administrative machinery necessary to assist in supporting exchanges and in evolving common policies and promoting co-operation between the two jurisdictions and with other jurisdictions in this field.
Date of Next Meetings
11. The Council considered and agreed a draft schedule of future Sectoral meetings on Education. It plans to meet on three further occasions in 2000, with locations alternating between North and South.
12. The Council agreed that its next meeting in this Sectoral format would take place in Northern Ireland in May 2000.
Joint Secretariat
3 February 2000
Annex
PROPOSED NORTH/SOUTH COOPERATION ON EDUCATION
Education for Children with Special Needs (for example autism, hearing impairment.)
- The exchange of information and expertise on meeting educational needs.
- Closer collaboration in the development of policy responses across the range of special needs.
- The scope for collaboration in the provision of highly specialised services.
- Areas where joint surveys or research would be beneficial in assessing needs.
Educational Underachievement
- The exchange of expertise and experience in catering for children who are educationally disadvantaged.
- The scope for collaboration in the development of initiatives to address disadvantage.
- The scope for sharing information on research into disadvantage and the scope for joint research or pilot initiatives.
- Links between schools and educational organisations in both jurisdictions to facilitate co-operation on operational issues.
- Specific issues relevant to both Departments such as the needs of traveller children.
Teacher Qualifications
- Barriers to the movement of teachers between North and South at both primary and post-primary level, including the Irish Language requirement, superannuation entitlements and approval of qualifications, and the scope for removing or ameliorating these.
- The development of General Teaching Councils in both jurisdictions and co-operation between them, with a view to rationalising approaches to teacher qualifications.
- Collaboration in teacher education in areas of mutual benefit such as training of teachers for Irish-medium education.
School, Youth and Teachina Exchanqes
- A more integrated and coherent approach to exchanges, including the clarification of of policy objectives, targets and common criteria for the assessment of exchanges.
- The scope for further development of exchanges in areas or sectors which have not previously participated.
- Issues of concern in both jurisdictions such as child protection arrangements, measures focused on disadvantaged children and young people, evaluation and research, conflict resolution and cross-community activity.
- Mechanisms for facilitating co-operation in the area of youth exchanges including the need for linkages between the Youth Council for Northern Ireland and the Irish National Youth Council.
