OECD outlines skills opportunities and challenges at meeting with National Skills Council

Ireland has large-scale opportunities and challenges around green, construction and digital skills and lifelong learning, the OECD will tell the National Skills Council Extraordinary meeting today. The meeting is part of the OECD Skills Strategy Project launched by Minister Simon Harris last November to analyse how well Ireland is equipped to meet current and future skills needs, and will kick off a series of stakeholder events planned for June. 

Meetings will clarify and detail the challenges and opportunities arising for Ireland around green, construction, digital, and transversal skills; the importance of dynamic skills and labour market data for decision making; and the imperative for a step-change in engagement in lifelong learning.

Speaking after the meeting, Minister Harris said: “We know that in a dynamic economy, there will always be skills challenges. Our goal is to create an agile, responsive system to leverage the opportunities these challenges bring. The work of the OECD is essential to helping us understand how we can improve our third level system, and to create a system that works for everyone at any stage in life. Today’s meeting will help us engage with business leaders, education providers and others, to hear about what the OECD are finding to date and discus possible opportunities for improvement in Ireland’s skills system.”

Speaking today, Andrew Bell from the OECD Centre for Skills, said: “Ireland is already a strong performer in many areas related to skills policy, and is regularly cited as a good practice example, especially for the governance of its skills system, which involves considerable engagement. However, Ireland still faces several challenges in ensuring that adults are equipped with the right sets of skills to participate fully in future economies and societies. Not only will Ireland need to ensure that its skills system responds effectively to changing skills needs and helps to drive innovation, productivity and growth, but also that it encourages and supports the aim of lifelong learning for all.”

Everyone is encouraged to contribute to the project via the second OECD stakeholder survey, available until 8 July.