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Education Infrastructure

Education Infrastructure

CSO statistical publication, , 11am
The CSO, through Ireland's Institute for SDGs (IIS), supports reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.
 

 

SDG 4.7.1 Extent to Which (i) Global Citizenship Education and (ii) Education for Sustainable Development are Mainstreamed in (a) National Education Policies; (b) Curricula; (c) Teacher Education; and (d) Student Assessment

SDG 4.7.1: Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment.

Definition

The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 4.7.1 metadata document:

SDG 4.7.1/12.8.1/13.3.1 measures the extent to which countries mainstream Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in their education systems. This is an indicator of characteristics of different aspects of education systems: education policies, curricula, teacher training and student assessment as reported by government officials, ideally following consultation with other government ministries, national human rights institutes, the education sector and civil society organizations. It measures what governments intend and not what is implemented in practice in schools and classrooms.

For each of the four components of the indicator (policies, curricula, teacher education, and student assessment), a number of criteria are measured, which are then combined to give a single score between zero and one for each component.

The indicator and its methodology have been reviewed and endorsed by UNESCO’s Technical Cooperation Group on the Indicators for SDG 4-Education 2030 (TCG), which is responsible for the development and maintenance of the thematic indicator framework for the follow-up and review of SDG 4. The TCG also has an interest in education-related indicators in other SDGs, including global indicators 12.8.1 and 13.3.1. The TCG is composed of 28 regionally representative experts from UNESCO Member States (nominated by the respective geographic groups of UNESCO), as well as international and regional partners and civil society. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics acts as the Secretariat.

Information collected with the questionnaire for monitoring the implementation by UNESCO member states of the Revision of the 1974 Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms will be used for the construction of the global indicator. Only information for primary and secondary education will be used for calculation of indicator SDG 13.3.1.

National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development

At a national level, information relating to SDG 13.3.1 is outlined in the Second National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development: ESD to 2030, co-sponsored by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS), the Department of Education (DoE) and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY). ESD to 2030 is aligned with UNESCO’s Framework for ESD for 2030 and has been adopted by UNESCO as Ireland's Country Initiative for ESD.

ESD to 2030 sets out five key priority areas for action:

  1. Advancing policy: ESD is embedded in education and other relevant policies and frameworks as part of a lifelong learning approach.
  2. Transforming learning environments: Learners have opportunities to acquire the knowledge, skills, values and dispositions needed to promote sustainable development and to experience sustainable development in action through a whole of institution approach to ESD.
  3. Building capacities of educators: Educators have the opportunities to develop capacities to foster societal transformation for a sustainable future, with ESD integrated into the offerings of education and training providers.
  4. Empowering and mobilising young people: Young people are supported to be agents of change for sustainable development.
  5. Accelerating local level actions: Enhanced collaboration exists between education providers, local authorities, local communities, civil society organisations and enterprise in ESD as part of lifelong learning, towards achieving sustainability at a local level.

The strategy embodies a lifelong learning approach, spanning the continuum from early learning and care to third level education and research, and extending beyond to engage with local communities, youth groups and enterprise. ESD to 2030 provides a framework to support the contribution that the education sector is making and will continue to make towards a more sustainable future at a number of levels: individual, community, local, national and international. It supports in particular implementation of the SDG National Implementation Plan, the Climate Action Plan and DFA/ Irish Aid’s Global Citizenship Education Strategy 2021-2025. The co-sponsoring departments for the strategy’s implementation phase will also work to ensure strong alignment and complementarity between ESD to 2030 and relevant education and research policies and strategies of the three departments.

The development of the strategy was informed by a public consultation process that was facilitated by the DoE and DFHERIS. It was also informed by relevant policy documents and research literature, both national and international.

A first progress report on ESD to 2030 for the period January 2022 to June 2023 was published in November 2023. A second progress report July 2023 to December 2024 will be published in early 2025.

A report by the Department of Education’s Inspectorate Living Today for a Better Tomorrow (PDF 820 KB) presents insights into effective support and promotion of education for sustainable development (ESD) in early learning and care (ELC) settings and schools:  

Important policy documents include:

  1. UNESCO’s Roadmap for ESD for 2030
  2. The European Green Deal
  3. The European Education Area Communication
  4. The European Declaration on Global Education to 2050 is also an important European level policy document
  5. Further information on ESD to 2030 is available on the Government of Ireland website

SDG 4.a.1 Proportion of Schools Offering Basic Services, by Type of Service

SDG 4.a.1 Proportion of schools offering basic services, by type of service is published in the Department of Education Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 report.

Definition

The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 4.a.1 metadata document:

The percentage of schools by level of education (primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education) with access to the given facility or service.

Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027

The Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 (PDF 8.3 MB) builds on the achievements and ambition of the previous strategy (Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020) and aims to further support the school system to ensure that all learners have the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills they need to successfully navigate an ever evolving digital world. The strategy was developed following a wide ranging and extensive consultation process and sets out high level objectives under three key pillars. The Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 stated that all post primary schools, and some 58 special schools offering post primary programmes, had been provided with minimum connectivity speeds of 200 Mbps and where usage in a school showed it required a higher level of connectivity, this is put in place, with some schools on speeds of up to 1Gbps. For primary schools and the remainder of special schools, the policy of the Department is to provide minimum connection speeds of 100 Mbps or greater. Since publication under the Schools Broadband Programme, all primary schools and special schools now have access to high speed connectivity, with all now on minimum speeds of 100Mbp/s.

SDG 4.b.1 Volume of Official Development Assistance Flows for Scholarships by Sector and Type of Study

SDG 4.b.1 Volume of official development assistance flows for scholarships by sector and type of study is reported by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Definition

The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 4.b.1 metadata document:

Gross disbursements of total ODA from all donors for scholarships.

Department for Foreign Affairs

Ireland’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) 2022 spending included €6,588k on scholarships, as measured under SDG indicator 4.b.1 and reported through the OECD Development Assistance Committee Credit Reporting System. This was concentrated in the higher education sector, through the Irish Aid funded Ireland Fellows ProgrammeSee Table 6.1.

€6.6 million
Ireland's ODA spending on scholarships
Table 6.1 - SDG 4.b.1 Irish official development assistance scholarships spending, 2018-2022

SDG 4.c.1 Proportion of Teachers with the Minimum Required Qualifications, by Education Level

SDG 4.c.1 Proportion of teachers with the minimum required qualifications, by education level is published in the Government of Ireland, The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028 report.

Definition

The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 4.c.1 metadata document:

The percentage of teachers by level of education taught (pre-primary, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education) who have received at least the minimum organized pedagogical teacher training pre-service and in-service required for teaching at the relevant level in a given country.

Childcare – Early Years Educators Qualifications

Preschool services are delivered outside the formal education system by a diverse range of private, community and voluntary interests and are described variously as crèches, early years centres, nurseries, pre-schools, naíonraí (Irish language pre-schools), playgroups and day care services.

Under the Child Care Act (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016, all early years educators working directly with children in an Early Years Setting must hold a minimum of QQI Level 5 Major Award in Early Childhood Care and Education. Under the ECCE scheme all ECCE room leaders must hold a minimum QQI Level 6 Major Award in Early Childhood Care and Education (or equivalent). A higher capitation is available to Preschool Services where the Preschool Leader has achieved a major award in early childhood care and education at Level 7 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) and where the assistants have achieved the minimum Level 5 Award.

Data published in Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare 2022-2028 shows that the proportion of early years educators in centre-based early learning and care (ELC) services with higher qualifications than the minimum has been steadily increasing, with the proportion of the workforce holding a qualification at level 7 or above on the NFQ estimated at 34% in 2021, up from 12% in 2012. However, the proportion of early years educators who have a qualification at level 7 or higher working with groups of 3-5 year olds (40%) is nearly double the proportion working with 1-2 year olds (21%) and nearly three times higher than the proportion working with children under 1 year old (14%). See Table 6.2.

40%
Early years educators working with 3-5 year olds with level 7 or higher qualification
Table 6.2 - SDG 4.c.1 Qualifications of early years educators in centre-based early learning and care services, 2021

Primary, Lower and Upper Secondary Teacher Qualifications

All teachers at primary and secondary level in Ireland are fully qualified. Only registered and qualified personnel should be employed by schools and unemployed teachers should be offered employment in preference to those who have retired.

The Teaching Council is the statutory body in the Republic of Ireland for the recognition of teaching qualifications and for the registration of teachers.

Circular 0031/2011 (for post primary) and Circular 0044/2019 (for primary) sets out the criteria for Teacher Recruitment.

The Minister for Education and Skills signed the commencement order for Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 on 01 November 2013 to come into operation from a legally operative date of 28 January 2014. The Department of Education and Skills and Education and Training Boards (ETBs) will be prohibited by law from paying unregistered people employed in teaching positions in schools on or after that date, except in specified circumstances and for very short time periods as provided for in the Unregistered Persons Regulations (See Circular 0052/2013).