Support your local 'Tech', East Londonderry UUP urges constituents
Robert Carmichael, the East Londonderry Ulster Unionist Association chairman, has called on everyone in the constituency to support their local Further and Higher Education college campuses to ensure their continued futures.
Mr Carmichael said the local ‘Techs’, as they are affectionately known in East Londonderry, had progressed over the years to become some of the central hubs in the constituency’s educational sector.
“The concepts of lifelong learning and adult education are vital to building an efficiently trained workforce in our constituency. Reviews of the administration of all areas of the Province have been conducted.
“Clearly one of the implications of such reviews will be to identify areas where savings can be made in administrative duplication in Further Education and Higher education. This is so that the cash saved can be spent on the educational needs of the community and the development of our constituency’s regional colleges in particular.
“The FE sector, and the colleges especially, have played a vital role in the life of the community in the East Londonderry area and funding should be made available so that they can continue to stand at the centre of our community.
“The importance of the role of FE in the community has not been fully recognised by educational theorists. FE, through the ‘Techs’ and now the regional colleges, has made a major contribution to society in the region. It gave young people - who perhaps had not achieved as well as they would have liked at school - another chance to carve out a meaningful career with recognised qualifications.
“FE has also made a significant contribution in the non-vocational sector where young people were allowed to develop a satisfying and worthwhile hobby or educational interest alongside an older generation.
“The present set-up in the FE sector is cash driven. This has denied the community of many of its non-vocational classes. The ‘pay as you learn' system being adopted is a copycat approach to an American educational system and we in the UUP do not think it will achieve the objectives being set out by educational theorists.
“FE should be a blend of the vocational and non-vocational aspirations of the community and our regional colleges in East Londonderry should be at the centre of activity throughout the week in the community.
“However, the community has its role to play, too, in ensuring the future of its local regional college campuses. It can support its local campus by enrolling in part-time or full-time classes which will benefit their learning experience or advance their qualifications.
“There has been much speculation about another rationalisation programme within the FE sector. As members of the community, it is imperative that all of us, young and old alike, play our parts in the fight to ensure the future of the regional colleges in our East Londonderry constituency,” said Mr Carmichael.