Education, employment and training debate

Speaking during an Assembly debate which addressed the issue of the number of 16-19 year olds who are not in education, employment or training, Ulster Unionist MLA Ken Robinson said that the issue was one of huge importance and one that needed to be addressed.

Speaking in the Chamber, the UUP MLA stressed that not all our young people are NEETs - young people 'not in education, employment or training' saying, "This problem cannot be ignored and there is an imperative on society and government to put resources into tackling this problem."

He continued, defending the position of the DEL Minister Sir Reg Empey; "Whilst the Department of Employment and Learning has a responsibility of dealing with the consequences of younger people not being in education, employment or training, the die is often cast for these young people much, much earlier - in their primary school years."

"Where a child moves into post primary school with minimal capabilities in reading and writing, and not able to add, subtract, multiply and divide, then they are going to experience severe difficulties as they move from primary class based teaching to post primary subject based teaching. If after seven years of education, children arrive in post primary education unequipped to be able to do the classes and the work, and unlikely to catch up, they will get little or nothing out of a further five years of schooling.

"Primary education is fundamental to addressing the challenge of NEETS - focussing on what happens at age 11 misses the point entirely.. Improving basic literacy and numeracy at Primary level will have a major impact on the size of the NEETs problem although obviously it will take a few years for this improvement to come through at 16 to 19. And if we make serious inroads into the level of young people classified as NEETs, we will achieve major improvements for out country, economically and socially."

"We have an economic and social duty to do better for our young people - The Minister of Employment and Learning is proactive in his approach to this matter."

"However the largest part of this problem, and the means of making the greatest impact to reduce the level of NEETs in the longer term, lies with the Department of Education. The allocation of money and resources at primary level and programmes to improve literacy and numeracy is fundamental to addressing the economic and social challenges posed by the far too high numbers of our young people who are NEETS, whose talents and skills are wasted."