TALKBACK:THE GOVERNMENT has invested some €32 million in the new Labour Market Activation Fund. This funding is intended to upskill 12,000 of the less skilled and those formerly employed in declining sectors such as construction, retail and manufacturing.
There is a particular emphasis on helping both the under-35s and the long-term unemployed. It sounds like a laudable initiative but does it deliver long-term benefits to those availing of it?
The budget is certainly generous, working out at €2,666 per person trained; the work was subcontracted out to organisations across the private, not-for-profit and public sectors.
One of the new projects, supported under the fund, Job Fit, provides a 13-week programme in 11 centres throughout the country. The aim of the programme is to help people who have been let go from their jobs, or who have left the education system early, get a job or move on to further education or employment-related training.
The programme offers training that leads to nationally recognised qualifications, work placements with local employers, and tailored support and guidance.
One would hope that at a public investment of €2,666 per head, we are getting good value for our money. The successful tender provider for this particular programme is TBG Learning, which has focused on meeting the needs of disadvantaged people and has contributed to a range of programmes designed to reduce unemployment in the UK.
It secured the contract to advise and support 1,444 people in June, one element of the overall €32 million programme.
TBG itself is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Rehab Group, the Irish group which supports those with physical, sensory and intellectual disabilities, people with mental health difficulties, people with autism and people with an acquired brain injury.
All very reassuring .
The problem is that the personnel working for TBG Learning, many of whom are UK business graduates, while promoting “advice and guidance/ further education progress”, are not all qualified to deliver guidance in Ireland under the criteria laid down by the Department of Education and Science.
Over the past few weeks a number of TBG staff have quite sensibly sought the advice and support of Irish guidance counsellors who work in our existing adult guidance services run by the VECs.
It would appear that many of these UK-based staff don’t have any understanding of the complexity, responsibilities and commitment involved in the provision of meaningful career and educational guidance counselling services in Ireland. Understandably, they also have limited knowledge of the Irish education system, our adult education, literacy services and/or our community education programmes.
They cannot and should not be blamed for this. They have been sent over to Ireland to deliver a 13-week programme and they are doing the best they can. But there is a fundamental issue about the use of public resources here.
How can they possibly assist Irish people move on to further education or employment-related training if they have no detailed knowledge of our education and training system? What will be the long-term benefit of the €2,666 spent on each recipient of this service, either to themselves or to the Irish taxpayer who is funding it?
Would it not have made more sense to have invested the €32 million in boosting existing services? The Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Seán Haughey, recently paid tribute to the adult education and guidance service in Ireland. So why are we outsourcing this work to external providers?
Brian Mooney is a former president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors
