Lifelong Career Guidance: A Future Vision. Academia Study Visit Ireland
Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) hosted it’s first Academia Study Group from 8th to the 10th May 2024 (inc). The base location for the Academia visit was the Liberties College of Further Educaiton and Training (FET) in Dublin City. The Liberties, where the college is situated, is one of Dublin’s oldest and most historic sites with a view of the beautiful St. Patrick’s Cathedral from it’s classrooms.
The theme of the study visit was ‘Lifelong Guidance – A Future Vision’. This theme was underpinned by our National Strategic Framework for Lifelong Guidance and Strategic Action Plan (2024-2030) which was launched in Ireland on December 2023. The four pillars of the framework fed into sub-themes of our programme of events. The four pillars are:
- Visability and Awareness of lifelong guidance services and information provision
- Standards and quality throughout th lifelong guidance system
- Access, Inclusion and Universal Design
- Career management skills and lifelong career mobility
We began our programme on Wednesday 8th May with a warm welcome from the principal of the Liberties College who informed us on the programmes offered as well as a brief history of the area. This was followed by a general overview of ETBI, FET in Ireland and the Guidance and Information services therein. We were also given a brief synopsis of the local Guidance and Information service by City of Dublin guidance professionals. In the afternoon we visited Trinity College for people with intellectual disabilities (TCPID). Here we were welcomed by Dr Conor McGuckin and Des Aston who informed us on the work in the centre. This was followed by presentations on Universal Design in Guidance (UDG) by Dr Mary Quirke and an experiential look at life in education in Ireland by Dr. Patricia McCarthy. Patricia is vision impaired and was joined by her assistance dog Gaston who was very popular with the group.
On Thursday 9th we visited Dublin City University (DCU) where Aisling Fleming, Assistant Professor and MSc in Guidance Counselling Programme Chair, gave us a consise description of the programme and modules covered. This was followed by a visit to the Virtual Reality (VR) Lab where we all got a chance to experience VR in fun, learning, team working and immersive environments. After lunch we travelled to Baldoyle training centre where we were given a tour of the facilities and training programmes taking place.
On Friday 10th we were back in the Liberties where Dr. Carol Guildea informed us on the National Strategic Framework for Lifelong Guidance and Dr. Stephen O’Neill talked to us about self-care.
The weather in Ireland for our Academia visit was exceptionally beautiful (for Ireland). I’d like to finish with a lovely quote from the German delegates who said ‘Wenn Engel reisen, scheint immer die Sonne’, ‘When Angels travel, the sun always shines’.
Check out our youtube video which will give you a visual of the visit:
