The President of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), Lynn Ruane, spoke on a panel at the Education World Forum (EWF) addressing education equality and the importance of investing in education.
The forum took place from Sunday until yesterday in Westminster Hall, London, with more than 80 ministers for education and education experts from around the globe in attendance.
Speaking to The University Times, Ruane emphasised how important it was for her to “represent Trinity and to represent education equality” at the conference. Commenting on how she benefitted from attending the forum, she said “when I got here I realised just how much I need to learn and that college needs to learn and Ireland needs to learn.”
Ruane’s speech revolved around equal access to education and the importance of public spending on education. She described the significance of the Trinity Access Programme (TAP) and talked about how schemes like TAP can have a “ripple effect” on future generations. She stressed the importance of investment in second-level education as a means of improving progression rates.
She also spoke about class issues and how education can break down social and cultural barriers. She suggested that second-level teachers teaching in deprived areas have additional training to understand the social context that they are teaching in.
Speaking about the public and private benefits of education, Ruane, who is running for the Seanad on this platform, emphasised that people with education are less likely to go to prison, to experience homelessness and to become unemployed during times of economic downturn. This reduction in social issues would “alleviate pressures” on the government.
Ruane spoke alongside Eric Hanushek, Neil Gaydon and Dr Nouria Benghebrit. Eric Hanushek, an expert on economic analysis of education, spoke about the positive impact investment in education can have on GDP. The President and CEO of SMART Technologies talked about the standardisation of technology in education. Benghebrit is the Minister for Education in Algeria and she explained how the education system in her country works.
Expressing her disappointment at the lack of representation from Ireland on the forum, Ruane stated: “Ireland’s attendance was very bad.” She further commented that other countries had as many as 10 delegates representing them and this was disappointing considering that “we are only a short plane flight away”. She and Martyn Farrows from Learnovate TCD, who chaired a different discussion at the forum, were the only Irish attendants.
The Provost was “very supportive” of Ruane attending the conference and she intends to report her experience back to College Board and to TCDSU Council.
Dominic McGrath also contributed reporting to this piece.
