"Ireland needs integrated education strategy" - DCU President
- 13 November 2009

Speaking at a graduation ceremony held today in St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, one of DCU's linked colleges, DCU President, Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski said that Ireland needs an integrated education strategy.

"As we await the publication of the report on the higher education strategy to be submitted by the working group set up by the Minister for Education and Science, it is worth looking at the need for an overall strategy on education.

"Ireland's education system has always been considered to be a key national asset, but we need to ask whether that is still true. There are a number of problems and issues that need to be considered urgently, including:

• whether we are adequately addressing pre-school or early childhood education - the evidence is that we are not, and that this is creating major human and social costs;
• whether national needs and priorities, including the need for skilled scientists and engineers, are being properly addressed through the whole educational experience of young people (by the time they reach third level, it's too late);
• whether the education system as a whole is being adequately prioritised in resourcing terms, and whether 'free fees' at third level are actually preventing funding of urgent educational and social priorities;
• whether we have a proper sense of what the role of religious and other organisations should be in the education system.

"Our schools, universities and colleges are staffed by dedicated professionals, but they are being asked to work in an education system that has not changed fundamentally over the years, but where society's needs and aspirations are now totally different", he said.