NACED in the 21st Century argued strongly that the Director of Adult Education post was linked to that of Deputy Principal which was exempt from the moratorium. NACED worked closely with the ASTI and TUI and put forward a motion supporting our campaign at the ACCS Conference in March 2010. This motion was passed unanimously. After a yearlong campaign, in July 2010 Minister for Education Mary Coughlan issued Circular 42/2010 which essentially removed the Director of Adult Education post from the moratorium. NACED was very pleased to see that Circular 42/2010 contained a section titled ‘Director of Adult Education at Deputy Principal Level’. Our contention was that the post of Director of Adult Education was linked to the post of Deputy Principal and therefore should have been exempt from the moratorium. Critically, there were now two Department Circulars, 46/2000 and 42/2010, confirming this link. However, there followed a nine month delay in the implementation of Circular 42/2010. In November 2010, the then Labour Spokesperson for Education, Ruairi Quinn TD, gave an address entitled ‘A Vision for Adult Education in a Time of Recession’ at our Annual Conference. NACED members informed him that the delay in implementing Circular 42/2010 would effectively end the The Future provision of adult education in Community and Comprehensive At the time of writing, NACED’s membership has dropped below schools. forty. A variety of factors have contributed to this: very few Community and Comprehensive schools have opened in the last Within three months, Mr. Quinn was appointed as Minister for number of years; delays in or the non-replacement of retiring Education and Skills. In January 2011, NACED embarked on an Directors; and Adult Education being considered as an ‘optional intensive round of communication to harness support for the extra’ in Community and Comprehensive schools. This view of implementation of Circular 42/2010. Finally in May 2011, the adult education is in direct contrast to the documents which logjam was cleared and faour NACED schools were given the go founded Community and Comprehensive schools in the early ahead to appoint replacement Directors of Adult Education. The 1970s. The challenge for NACED in the future is to work with alleviation also applied to Directors in VEC schools. NACED is ACCS and ensure that the rich and long-established tradition of very appreciative of the support of Ciarán Flynn, then General adult education provision in Community and Comprehensive Secretary of ACCS, Diarmaid de Paor, Deputy General Secretary schools is maintained and actively supported and promoted. of ASTI and Peter McMenamin, then TUI General Secretary, in our campaign to save the provision of adult education in Community and Comprehensive schools. Joint Further Education Representative Group (JFERG) At the NACED conference in November 2010, Finola Butler from the Further Education Service (FESS) informed members about Validated Programmes and FETAC Awards. Ms Butler was giving similar presentations to teachers who were running Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses in Joint Managerial Body (JMB) secondary schools. During discussions subsequent to the NACED conference, it was suggested that future FESS presentations should be made jointly to the relevant teachers from ACCS and JMB schools. Further meetings took place and, in June 2014, a Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Engagement with Certain Aspects of Further Education was agreed by representatives of NACED, ACCS and JMB. This JFERG will have the authority to represent JMB and ACCS schools which provide further education in negotiations and discussions with the Department of Education, SOLAS, QQI, FESS, and Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI). At the 2008 NACED Conference were (l-r): Sean McCann, Eileen Salmon, General Secretary of ACCS, and Michael ACCS General Secretary from 1994-2004 with Ciaran Redmond, Assistant General Secretary of JMB, have done great Flynn, ACCS General Secretary from 2004-2014. work to form this alignment of providers from ACCS and JMB schools. Page 15 - NACED - 40th Anniversary 1974 - 2014 NACED - Through the years Listening attentively at a NACED Conference. At the Further Education Exhibition in the RDS, Dublin, in 2008 were NACED representatives (l-r): Donal Digan, Pobalscoil Rosmini, and John O’Neill, Newpark Comprehensive School. Anne-Marie Daly, Ballincollig Community School (right) At the 2008 Conference were Pat Hurley, then ASTI President, pictured with Susie Hall, former ASTI President at a with Maria Kenny, Bishopstown Community School, Cork, NACED conference. and ASTI Executive. Page 16 - NACED - 40th Anniversary 1974 - 2014 Hands On... Arts and crafts have always been a huge cornerstone of adult education. Here are the results of some night class students' handiwork Page 17 - NACED - 40th Anniversary 1974 - 2014 Collaboration in Cork Community Schools in Cork operate a unique co- operative – from as early as 1976 after UCC ran a course for those running adult education in the county, the city’s schools have worked in tandem with each other. Mayfield Community School was the first school to offer adult education in 1976, followed shortly by Douglas, Ballincollig, Ashton, Bishopstown, and Carrigaline. On a purely voluntary basis, and supported by their principals, those running adult education in the six schools agreed to meet once a month to pool ideas and agree a collaboration that lasts to this day. The schools agreed that they would not compete with each other and would advertise night classes as a unit. In addition, the schools agreed to the training and sharing of tutors. If a class could not run in one school, the students and tutor would be referred to the nearest community school. Significantly, the community schools run a shared stand at the annual Adult Education Adult education directors in Cork (from left to right): Jerry O’ Mahony, Douglas Community School; Gene Cahill, Exhibition in Cork’s City Hall. In addition, the six schools Carrigaline Community School; John O’Sullivan, Ashton have a joint open evening in Cork and all night classes Comprehensive School; Anne-Marie Daly, Ballincollig Community School. Missing from photo: Michelle O’Brien, across the schools start on the same date and cost the Bishopstown Community School. same. The impact of this collaboration has also had a national impact. In the late 1980s, early 1990s, the directors of adult education in Cork identified financial accountability as an issue given the amounts of cash that were being generated by the success of the night class programmes. Protocols were established around record-keeping and transparency and subsequently led to the use of online booking. Serving almost 5000 night class participants each year, it’s clear that this model of collaboration in Cork works. Night classes appeal to all ages. Here, an older gentleman attends an art class in Ballincollig Community School. Ashton Comprehensive School: www.ashton.ie Ballincollig Community School: www.balcs.ie Bishopstown Community School: www.bishopstown-cs.ie Carrigaline Community School: www.carrigcs.ie Douglas Community School: www.dcscork.ie Mayfield Community School: www.mayfieldcommunityschool.ie Page 18 - NACED - 40th Anniversary 1974 - 2014 From ancestors to computers... Here, retired adult education director Patrick Clarke of Moyne Community School, Co. Longford, recounts the changing trends in night classes. I became adult education officer in Moyne in 1998 and tend to think of our mortality and Bible Studies and prayer inherited a tradition of providing night classes going back groups were making a comeback as I retired and passed to the early 1950s when Ballinamuck Vocational School was on the baton. founded, known in Irish as the Ceard Scoil where a great In the midst of the success and failure of trying to organise emphasis was placed on the practical subjects. This classes, tutors, dates and times, you could always ring provision of a night class programme was continued on in NACED and get advice and help. I want to place on record the new amalgamated Moyne Community School. my sincere gratitude to the different members of that Computer classes ranging from beginners up to completing committee who helped me over my twelve-year tenure. I the seven modules for ECDL were the most sought after at always looked forward to our two-day conference each the end of the 1990s and 2000s, coupled with courses like November, meeting up with such great friends and coming welding, car maintenance, furniture restoration, arts and away with renewed enthusiasm and vigour for the following crafts. year. I haven’t been back to night classes since I retired but I still harbour thoughts of learning to play the fiddle or accordion. I have been busy since retiring, between farming and restoring an old stone-built farmhouse and racing trips to Cheltenham, Punchestown and Leopardstown with a fellow retiree from Moyne. Last year, I fulfilled a lifelong ambition of visiting the Holy Land for two weeks and what a lesson in Religion, Politics, History and Geography that was! Pat Clarke (left), retired adult education director in Moyne Community School, Co Longford, with Ruairi Quinn TD, then Labour spokesperson for education, pictured at NACED’s 2010 conference in Athlone, Co Westmeath. However, as Ireland began to enjoy the prosperity of the Celtic Tiger years, demand for courses changed. We were now putting on courses in Spanish and French as we abandoned the caravan park in Rosses Point and headed for sunnier climates. Aerobics and toning, beauty and skincare, and style coaching were now in popular demand and even some reflexology just to keep the head clear. Alas the Tiger years didn’t last and the dreaded ‘R’ word - recession - arrived. Now, computers and ECDL were popular again and Trace your Ancestors became a favourite as our siblings, now in their droves in Australia and Canada, An impressive wood sculpture from Malahide wanted to know if they had any relations out there whom Community School.