Speech at the 30th Anniversary of Dundrum Adult Training and Education
Adult Education Centre, Dundrum, Dublin, 3rd February 2015
A Chairde go léir,
It is my great pleasure to be here with you this morning to celebrate the 30thanniversary of Dundrum Adult Training and Education, better known locally as DATE. I wish to thank DATE Committee for their invitation to take part in this event – and I am delighted that several founding members of that Committee have joined us today, some of whom are still dedicated members of the current Committee.
May I thank, too, Mary Cummins for her kind words of introduction, and all of you for your warm welcome.
Ever since the initial meeting convened by the late Mary McCarthy and Liam Bane, thirty years ago, DATE has contributed in a very real and positive way to the lives of people within the local community.
Am chrua ab ea iad lár na n-ochtóidí in Éirinn, tréimhse – cosúil leis an lá atá inniu ann – a raibh cúlú eacnamaíochta, rátaí ard dífhostaíochta agus eisimirce ann. Bhí sé rí-thabhachtach ag an am sin, agus sa lá atá inniu ann, a bheith in ann brath ar dhaoine a raibh meas acu ar a bpobail agus a raibh sásta a gcuid ama agus a gcuid eolais a roinnt ionas go mbeadh deiseanna foghlama ar fáil do mhuintir na bpobal seo.
[The mid-1980s were difficult times in Ireland, a period – not unlike ours – marked by economic recession, high unemployment and steep emigration. It was as vitally important then as it is nowadays to be able to rely on people who cared for their community and were willing to give of their time and knowledge to offer learning opportunities for other members of this community.]
Vocational Educational is an embodiment of truly inclusive citizenship and emancipatory practice. It recognises that nobody is ever entirely limited by their present circumstances, however difficult these may be. There are always possibilities for the positive transformation of one’s life – and the acquisition of new skills and knowledge can be an important instrument of that transformation.
Today, the Adult Education Centre is firmly established at the very heart of the hive of activity that is Dundrum Town Centre. The quality of the service that DATE offers and the reality of the needs for which it provides are evident in the impressive level of enrolment in your classes, ranging between 850 and 1000 learners per term across an interesting and varied range of subjects.
This achievement is testament to the dedication and vision of the volunteers and professionals who are involved with DATE, and to the constructive partnerships they have built up over the years with, in particular, Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board[1]. This is a wonderful example of a voluntary group and statutory agencies coming together to work for the benefit of all citizens within the community.
DATE has stood the test of time by adapting its programmes to ensure they are meeting the needs of the learners. It has done so by engaging with and listening to the local community – thus fostering a spirit of friendship, active participation and an enthusiasm for learning. In this, DATE is representative of the great work carried out by so many other vocational educational groups across Ireland.
Indeed it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the significant role that Vocational Education Committees have played in the educational history of this island over many decades. The Irish Free State was just eight years old when the Vocational Education Act came into effect in 1930, making the VECs an intrinsic part of the newly independent Ireland. It was an Ireland that was beginning to recognise the right of all its citizens to a basic education, with, for example, the new School Attendance Act making school attendance compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 14.
Of course, we no longer consider formal education to be the preserve of the young, or our opportunity for formal education to be definitively foreclosed once we leave our schooldays behind. There is no single path to education and learning: as this particular audience knows so well, citizens can, at any stage in their life, decide to explore new fields of knowledge and new ways of realising their potential.
Adult education is about empowerment. It is about acquiring the tools and skills – be they basic literacy and numeracy or more elaborate knowledge – that will enable us to think and act more consciously and critically. Indeed education is essential to the sharpening of our critical capacity, our ability to challenge the inevitability of that which is too often presented as given and unchangeable.
The variety of classes offered by DATE reminds us, too, that education is not just useful; it is also enjoyable. One does not undertake learning only because it makes one more effective, or more readily “employable” – but because it enriches our life and experience; because it broadens and deepens our outlook on the world around us.
This is not to say, of course, that knowledge should be sought for itself, and not for its practical utility. But it is important, I suggest, never to reduce the process of learning to one of mere utilitarian significance. And I am pleased to see that DATE endorses such a holistic approach to education and learning, as manifested by the eclectic mix of courses it offers, ranging from computers and digital camera use, basic literacy and languages to art, history, philosophy, creative writing, tai-chi and yoga.
May I thank all of you for putting together and operating such a rich programme for the benefit of learners of all ages and social backgrounds in the Dundrum area. This vibrant Centre where we are gathered this morning owes everything to the many dedicated people who have worked so hard and so generously to give life to this greatest of projects – to make good education accessible to everybody.
In a previous life, I worked for a time on developing extra-mural teaching in University College Galway, now NUIG, and on making adult evening classes available across the west of Ireland. This allowed me to experience first-hand the hard work and dedication that is required in setting up an adult education service and the joy that comes from witnessing the sense of fulfilment that flourishes in learners.
All of you – volunteers past and present, learners of today and yesterday, teachers, education officers – can justifiably be proud of what you have achieved together. You have brought Dundrum Adult Training and Education a long way since it started at the Taney Old School in 1984. And you have made a very valuable contribution, not just to this area, but to Irish society at large.
I wish all of you, who work and learn here, the very best in your future endeavours.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.
[1] Formerly: “County Dublin Vocational Education Committee”