Debate contribution: Further Education: Arts Sector
Debate contribution by Dr Caoimhe Archibald on .
- MLA
- Dr Caoimhe Archibald
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 5 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Further Education: Arts Sector
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5774337
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for her question. The programme was launched, I think, in April. It is about strengthening the further education sector and doing exactly what the title says: making sure that it is fit for learners, communities and the broader economy in the future. Our colleges are a really important part of our skills ecosystem, which constantly changes, and our colleges constantly evolve their programmes to keep up with that, particularly with newer economies such as the green economy and the digital economy. They also play a really important role in supporting young people with special educational needs. We face significant challenges across a number of areas, including the number of young people with additional educational needs and the proportion of our population that is economically inactive, as it is called, because of the barriers that are faced. Our colleges therefore play a really important role not only in education but in social inclusion, so it is important that they are structured, funded and focused in the right way to deliver against the programme's objectives, which are about having real impact for learners, supporting employers and supporting the broader economy. There are four strands of work to the programme. As I mentioned, part of it is about developing a curriculum framework to introduce a new approach to how we measure performance, review and fund further education and consider how we can get greater collaboration across our colleges. The work is ongoing. We are at the early stages of it, but it will roll out over the next months.
260 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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