REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE PRE-CONFERENCE DINNER OF THE CAO/UCAS/IRISH
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE PRE-CONFERENCE DINNER OF THE CAO/UCAS/IRISH INDEPENDENT ALL IRELAND CONFERENCE
Tá lúcháir mhór orm bheith anseo i bhur measc anocht ag an ócáid seo. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as ucht an chuireadh a thug sibh dom.
Minister, Ambassador, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak to you on the eve of tomorrow’s very timely and important conference.
In his poem “From the Canton of Expectation” Seamus Heaney memorably describes the world of his generation, the first to break loose from “under the high, banked clouds of resignation”. The key to their liberation was free education - its impact captured brilliantly in these words:
“And next thing, suddenly, this change of mood.
Books open in the newly wired kitchens.
Young heads that might have dozed a life away
Against the flanks of milking cows were busy
Paving and pencilling their first causeways
Across the prescribed texts”.
The release of pent up energy and creativity is palpable as this generation floods into third level with “their intelligences brightened and unmannerly as crowbars”.
I was one of that familiar breed, the first generation to go to university, born of parents who left school in their early teens but who like so many knew that education was the tide which would lift the stricken boats. I imagine most people in this audience could tell the same story.
I remain deeply conscious of the extraordinary impact that experience has had on my life and the lives of so many contemporaries. It opened up doors to a world which previous generations believed to be the preserve of the privileged few. Its impact went far beyond our individual lives, creating a sea-change in expectations and attitudes within society as a whole. It recalibrated relationships; it seed-bedded a driving new ambition for this country which blossomed in the spectacular success of this decade, economically and culturally. Those “high, banked clouds of resignation” no longer envelop and swamp a whole people but of course there are many individuals whose genius, whose talent is still straitjacketed, still doomed to remain unlocked and for as long as we unlock only part of our talent we can only hope to realise part of our potential.
In the years I spent at third level institutions in the intervening years, I watched great strides being taken to further broaden access across different age groups, across gender barriers, social classes and people with disabilities. Tomorrow’s conference is an acknowledgement that, despite the very real progress that has been made, there is still a long way to go.
It is however a journey that is driven not just by Heaney’s “grammar of imperatives, the new age of demands”, but also by the clear evidence of the bleak world inhabited by those who exit the education system too early.
Against the background of the forthcoming report by the Commission on the Points System, as well as a developing debate on the system of entry to higher education within the United Kingdom, it is timely that we stop to consider the shape and direction we want our future education systems to have. The decisions that are taken now will undoubtedly have an impact for many years to come, not only on education, but also on the face and fabric of our society as a whole. If we want a society which is governed by fairness and equity, one in which the talents and ambition of all individuals are given the chance to thrive – education is the place to start. And in a society where change has become the norm, it is equally important that this ethos applies not just to school-leavers but also throughout a lifetime of learning and relearning new skills.
One of the most important and beneficial aspects of this Conference is that it brings together policy-makers and experts from across Ireland, North and South. Having worked in universities in both parts of the island, I know that we have much to learn from one another, that both systems will benefit by sharing information and experience, and by building on existing co-operation.
I would like to pay tribute to those of you who have been developing new initiatives in recent years within each of the systems, to improve access and progression to third level. Some of these initiatives have been developed on a national basis, while others have been put in place by individual third level institutions, with national support. I am thinking in particular of the special pathways for mature and disadvantaged students, the provision of outreach campuses in marginalised areas, the widening of admission criteria to include non-academic values, the provision of customised pre-third level access courses and many more.
Progression is another important issue which I understand you will be discussing tomorrow. It is of particular relevance in view of the new Qualifications (Education and Training) Act, under which a National Qualifications Authority will be set up. We all know that learning should be lifelong – both for employment and personal development purposes. The intention of this framework is to make that aspiration a reality, by enabling individuals to move in and out of the national framework of qualifications according to their own needs and wishes. It should provide for better co-ordination between the providers of education and training and enable workers to improve their skills or be retrained in a way that leads to recognised national awards.
Tomorrow’s Conference will provide an opportunity to look at these issues in much more detail, to learn more from each other and about each other. I would like to warmly thank Harold Fish, and everyone in the British Council, for hosting this event, as well as the Irish Independent for their generous sponsorship.
I hope that the spirit of co-operation and consultation which inspired this Conference will continue in the years ahead, creating new links both professionally and personally for all of you. You would not be here if you did not have a fresh vision for education, if you did not hope that ways could be found to make that vision real. I wish you every success in your future work.
Go n-eirí go geal libh. Go raibh maith agaibh.