This conference was held for EPALE Ireland’s National Day on 25 November 2021. It focuses on the most important life and work skills in 2021 and beyond.

This event is joined by keynote speaker Roisin Doherty, Director of Further Education and Training Learner Support at SOLAS, as well as Mary Stokes of NCGE.

Story inputs are provided by:

• Dörte Stahl, adult educator, Germany
• Greet Vissers, theatre director, Belgium
• Sverre Helge Bolstad, department Head of Technology and Learning at Bergen Public Library, Norway

The workshop facilitators are:

• Dr Abiola Muhammed-Ogunfowora, psychologist and co-founder of Racism on the Couch
• Joe Houghton, educator and EPALE Ambassador
• Stephen Eustace, educator and Microsoft Surface Specialist
• Marie Cleary, founder and director of ThirdSpace Consultants

EPALE connects educators across Europe

The webinar begins with Manika-Nia Dixon of EPALE Ireland welcoming attendees. Manika-Nia runs through the schedule for the event, which includes insights from EPALE guest speakers in Germany, Belgium and Norway.

Manika-Nia gives participants a brief overview of EPALE, the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe. EPALE is the largest hub in Europe for adult learning, and is a place for practitioners to connect, collaborate and innovate with their peers. She then shows the word cloud collected from the +150 participants demonstrating what they find to be the most important life and work skills.

EPALE is a valuable platform for adult learning professionals that helps to promote better adult education opportunities. It empowers members to make connections and attend events that give them important life and work skills such as collaboration skills and confidence.

Events such as the National Day garner participants nationwide, and result in engaging insights and conversation. EPALE is known by its members for its ability to help nurture digital competence, connection, community and confidence. Become an EPALE member for free.

Manika-Nia introduces Mary Stokes, Further Education and Training Guidance Programme Coordinator at NCGE (The National Centre for Guidance in Education).

Mary explains that NCGE is an agency of the Department of Education and Skills that works to support and develop guidance practice throughout all sectors of education. NCGE also has a representative for Ireland in meetings held by the EU Commission. They aim to promote the implementation of best practice guidance counselling and advise the Department on policy and strategy for the promotion of a continuum of guidance in the context of lifelong learning.

Develop the skills that facilitate confidence

Mary opens the conversation by recognising some of the skills she believes to be most important within the workplace. She notes that skills such as project management, problem solving, communication and interpersonal skills are all significant.

These are skills that facilitate mobility and career-building, she explains.

The development of skills depends on your confidence, on people’s confidence in you as educators facilitating peoples’ confidence, Mary continues. “Trust is vital. So again, your relationship with the learner is vital to support people on their journey. Confidence is key and it’s boosted, as you know, through systems of engagement, through skill development and facilitating informed choice, and that then is where I would see the role for career guidance, guidance information revision across a lifespan.

Level the playing field with career guidance

When it comes to helping learners to achieve their potential, Mary notes that everyone must be on a level playing field, and that this can be facilitated with career guidance. She highlights the possibilities that exist when further education and training guidance is given, such as greater clarity about funding, eligibility and choice.

Mary explains that, ultimately, each learner will have their own set of circumstances. She believes that career guidance

has to be about the individual, meeting that individual’s needs and recognising how valued they are in their position, no matter where they are in their journey.

Educate without exclusion

Manika-Nia introduces the webinar’s keynote speaker, Roisin Doherty. Roisin works for SOLAS, the State agency developing further education and training in Ireland.

Roisin begins by highlighting the skills for life and work valued by SOLAS. “Everyone here today and for years in the past has highlighted the critical area of literacy, numeracy and digital skills for life,” she says.

Everyone here will know if you don't have those skills, if you're not able to access digital, if you're not able to understand the information that is being presented to you...you automatically are excluded, and you’re left behind.

When it comes to education, we must be a united front. Roisin notes that the advice from a group of 35 advisors across society and government was the absolute importance of inclusive education.

I suppose it ties in with the good work of EPALE and the focus on adult education and the focus on delivering sustainable development goals where no one is left behind, Roisin comments.

See more about EPALE’s sustainable development goals.

I'm really proud of that for Ireland, we’ve come to that place now that leaving no one behind is important. Because if you're left behind, you're not going to have the proper health, you’re not going to be able to engage in society, you won’t have that civic participation, you won't have the skills because you’re not able to and you feel excluded.

Move beyond traditional success metrics

Roisin tells the group that SOLAS were asked by the government to develop a strategy for change. This led to the government implementation of a new indicator in the Wellbeing Framework for Ireland. “I think that’s fantastic because it's moving beyond just measuring GDP, it's measuring the wellbeing of society and that framework will be integrated into the budgeting process to ensure wellbeing is key to the success of Ireland.”

In order to develop the best strategy, advice was sought from many different sources. A group of 35 stakeholders, cross-government groups and inter-departmental groups chaired by the Minister along with voices from the general public were consulted in order to create this plan.

Unmet literacy, numeracy and digital needs are a cross-societal issue, explains Roisin. For this reason, the strategy to tackle this problem involves a national coalition working with regional coordinators at a local level to ensure the needs of each area. Roisin mentions the importance of being able to identify people who need help in these areas and making resources available. One such resource is www.adultliteracyforlife.ie which has over 210 contact points.

Build accessibility into the design

When it comes to education and training, Roisin highlights that it must be accessible for all members of society.

When systems are being built, they should be built in an inclusive manner along the lines of universal design—plain language, accessible formats would be built in, such as assisted technology.

Roisin mentions that Simon Harris will sit on an oversight committee to monitor the progress of SOLAS’s strategy, along with support from NCGE, NALA and AONTAS. She mentions the work of lobbyists for years in order to get this issue heard and acknowledges their efforts.

Get involved

Roisin ends her speech by encouraging participants to get involved.

Because we can’t do this alone, it’s cross-government, it’s cross-society—if anybody wants to get involved, help, support or anything like that, contact us.

Read The Most Important Life and Work Skills in 2021 and Beyond - Part 2 HERE